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Penn State's Chandlee Laboratory, recently renovated at University Park for a new life as the ground- and first-floor home to the Social, Life and Engineering Sciences Imaging Center, or SLEIC, held an open house Monday afternoon (April 13) to celebrate its new multidisciplinary research scanning facility.
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Michael Wenger, director of the Human Electrophysiology Facility (HEF), explains how scientists can use skin-surface EEG readings to study how the brain works. Using 32- and 128-channel electrode arrays, like the one he is holding, the HEF lab records electroencephalograms, or EEGs -- which demonstrate small changes in bioelectrical activity in the brain -- on subjects ranging from infants to... Read more ›
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Jason Mandell, graduate student in bioengineering, demonstrates how the brain structures of mice are measured. While he points to an image on a laptop screen, Mandell's right hand touches the spot where mice are held in a metal tube that is placed inside the imaging center's most powerful MRI machine. Recent research has studied mice for effects of diabetes, Down syndrome and Alzheimer's... Read more ›
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On the lower left corner of this research poster is an image of a mouse in the tube. The live animal is being prepared to undergo an MRI scan. The study described on the poster used mice to examine diabetic retinopathy, a leading cause of blindness.
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Susan Lemieux, a research physicist at the imaging center, explains how SLEIC's mock scanner prepares human subjects for the scanning experience in the 3 Tesla MRI machine, the University's largest-diameter and newest MRI equipment. This rehearsal avoids data-collection delays and errors caused by anxious or oversized subjects. The mock scanner saves both time and money by giving subjects a... Read more ›
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The new MRI machine, a Siemens Magnetron Trio 3T, can record a human body's structural activity and blood flow. Faculty researchers across many disciplines, as well as medical practitioners overseeing the care of patients -- such as student-athletes who have suffered traumatic brain injuries such as concussions -- will use the MRI machine.
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Accompanying state-of-the-art software maps the brain in three dimensions. In this example, a researcher points to the area of the brain activated when a subject was asked to perform a finger-tapping exercise while in the MRI machine. Because of the high demand for its use at the Social, Life and Engineering Sciences Imaging Center, a subject can be monitored inside the Siemens MRI machine for... Read more ›
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SLEIC's first official research participant inside the Siemens MRI machine was none other than Penn State President Graham Spanier, whose side view brain scan was on display during the open house. The president noted that his experience as a study subject was remarkable not only for the wide range of innovative research he encountered but also for the enthusiasm of the staff and researchers... Read more ›
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President Spanier, Eva Pell, senior vice president for research and dean of The Graduate School; Heinrich Kolem, president and CEO of Siemens Medical Solutions USA; and Rick Gilmore, associate professor of psychology and acting director of SLEIC; were among those on hand for the official dedication of the imaging center.
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Heinrich Kolem, president and CEO of Siemens Medical Solutions USA, noted the longstanding partnership between Siemens and Penn State and emphasized that the imaging center's new diagnostic tools were a cornerstone that would help Penn State "play a major role" in the long-term development of innovative multidisciplinary research.
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In front of a packed crowd of open house attendees, Rodney Erickson, executive vice president and provost of the University, officially cut the ribbon to open the doors of Penn State's new Social, Life and Engineering Sciences Imaging Center. (2009)
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