Europe's First Virtual Brain Imaging Lab Offers Hope For Stroke Sufferers

Main Category: Stroke
Also Included In: MRI / PET / Ultrasound;  Neurology / Neuroscience
Article Date: 16 Oct 2008 - 3:00 PDT

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Research into conditions like strokes, Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia and cancer will be significantly advanced by a unique collaboration between six Scottish universities.

The £40m initiative is the first project in the world to see separate institutions share state-of-the-art technology able to film the workings of the brain.

SINAPSE (The Scottish Imaging Network: A Platform for Scientific Excellence) brings together researchers from the universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, and St Andrews to form the first virtual clinical imaging laboratory.

The official launch of the project, on Thursday 16 October, will see experts from the six universities, as well as leading research institutions in England and the Netherlands meet to discuss how the project works and what it will mean for treating brain conditions in the future.

Joanna Wardlaw, Professor of Applied Neuroimaging and Honorary Consultant Neuroradiologist at the University of Edinburgh said: "This new collaboration will be internationally unique and will ensure an enhanced and competitive presence for Scotland in international research. Working together, we can make new discoveries for the benefit of all patients, which would be hard to make by working alone."

"Several key advances in medical imaging originated in Scotland, so we are continuing what is a strong research tradition."

The equipment the six universities will be sharing under SINPASE includes PET, MRI and CT scanners.

Source:
Anna Smyth
University of Edinburgh

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