McConnell Brain Imaging Centre

• Book a scan (account required)

• Feindel Brain Imaging Lecture Series

• IT order form - Order IT resources or services from the BIC.

• Scan pricing - Reference document for scan and IT pricing.

• Submit news or event - Suggest timely content you think we should share. 

• Consent forms - Access a collection of approved participant consent forms via the MUHC. 

• Nagano  - Access the REB ethics system via the MUHC (account required) 

• Ethical guidelines - Review ethics policies and protocols via the MUHC.

More Than 120 Principal Investigators and Their Teams Use BIC’s Facilities

The BIC gathers one of the largest scientific communities in North America dedicated to imaging of the human brain. Launched in 1984 by the late Dr. William Feindel, with the generous aid of the McConnell Family Foundation, the BIC is based at The Neuro and is now home to 29 world-class researchers, 30 highly qualified personnel, and more than 300 trainees and research assistants. Consequently, it is widely regarded as one of the top brain imaging research centres in the world. Finally, what makes the BIC even more unique is the integration of all these resources with the hospital at The Neuro, a 60-bed facility with specialized neurology and neurosurgery clinics, hence fostering translational research for the benefits of Canadians and patients worldwide

BIC Members are Leading the Way

In addition, many of us play a leadership role in various scientific initiatives, thereby stimulating collaborations on the provincial, national and international scenes. For example, J. Doyon was the founding director (2008-2019) of the Quebec Bioimaging Network (QBIN). The BIC is also a hub for major programs such as the Canadian Open Neuroscience Platform (A. Evans, J.-B. Poline), the Canadian Consortium on Neurodegeneration and Aging, the Global Brain Consortium (A. Evans). Other BIC members are also acting as leaders for the Organization for Human Brain Mapping, Working Group on Brain Network Nomenclature (N. Spreng), the International League Against Epilepsy Neuroimaging Task Force (B. Bernhardt), the Canadian Center on Substance Use and Addiction (M. Leyton), the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada (D. Arnold), the International Epilepsy Neuroimaging Data Exchange Initiative and the International Multicentric Artificial Intelligence in Epilepsy Initiative (A. & N. Bernasconi) as well as the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (J.-B. Poline, A. Evans).

From Academic and Clinical Research to Industry

Several BIC members are also stimulating economic development in Quebec and Canada, as they have founded successful spin-off companies implicating the acquisition and analysis of multimodal neuroimaging data (e.g., NeuroRx [D. Arnold], Biospective [A. Evans, B. Bedell], "True-Positive Medical Devices" [L. Collins, S. Duchesne]). These entrepreneurial endeavors create numerous jobs for highly skilled staff in technology and software development applied to imaging devices and clinical trials.

A Highly Productive Environment

Faculty members of the BIC show an exceptional level of scientific productivity. Together, in the last 5 years, we have published 1,397 scientific papers (i.e., 279/year) in leading scientific journals (e.g., Science, Nature, Neuron, Nature Neuroscience), and received more than $104.5M (i.e., $20.9M/year) in research funding. Also worth noting is the fact that one of us (A. Evans) has lead a Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) grant initiative, which was awarded to McGill to support ($84M) a structuring project (Healthy Brain for Healthy Lives [HBHL]) in neuroscience.

BIC Researchers Have a Real Impact on Society and Economy

A Broad Impact on Society

The broad societal impact of the BIC stems from the very nature of the research performed at the Centre, which is at the convergence between clinical and cognitive neuroscience and cutting-edge biomedical engineering and large-scale neuroinformatics. A salient example is in the development of new imaging biomarkers for a wide spectrum of neurological and neuropsychiatric syndromes including neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's and Parkinson’s), Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Multiple Sclerosis, etc. In sum, the McConnell Brain Imaging Centre is a one-of-a-kind resource in Quebec and Canada to achieve fundamental progress in brain imaging science and techniques, while being an excellent vehicle for industrial transfer and collaboration.

Steps to booking a scan

Kindly follow the instructions below in order for us to set up your study so you can have booking privileges in the BIC booking software:

Note that in order to have access to the BIC booking software you must have a valid McGill ID number and McGill email address. If this is not the case, kindly request one by filling out this form [Z2] and email it to bic-finance.mni [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Request%20McGill%20ID%20number)

If you already have your McGill University ID, please download and fill out this form [Access to BIC booking form] and email it to bic-finance.mni [at] mcgill.ca (subject: Study%20set%20up) . We can then setup your study in our system.

Once the study is set up, the Principal Investigator will receive an email prompting him or her to log into the software to verify and approve the study.

Scientific Committees & Ethics Approval

Any study requesting data collection at the BIC needs to be reviewed and approved by one of scientific committees. This is also a prerequisite before obtaining ethics approval. To access guidelines and requirements for each scientific committee, follow the links below:

• PET Working Committee
• Magnetic Resonance Research Committee (MRRC)
• Magnetoencephalography
• Small-animal Research Committee

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) administers research ethics boards. 

• Research Ethics Boards (REBs) at MUHC
• Submit ethics applications through Nagano 
• Animal care information and management system: Darwin.

Policies & pricing

Pricing (Rates for scanner access, radiotracers & high-performance computing and data storage)

To Reserve Time on the Scanners:

All reservation requests must be entered on the software via this link: https://coreservices.medicine.mcgill.ca/ords/f?p=282

1. Log in as a PI or USER (default)
2. Username is your McGill email and password
3. Click on Calendar
4. Select a core service Brain Imaging Centre
5. Select a study –studies for which you are authorized to book scanning services are listed here.
6. Select modality – choose the scanner you wish to book
7. Jump to date – click on the date you would like to book, click on the time you would like, complete the request form and submit. You must complete one request for each subject.
8. Once the BIC receives your request, if it is approved, you will receive a confirmation email. Note that your request must be approved in order for your time to be reserved. You do not have to print or bring this to your appointment.

Billing

Researchers with affiliation outside the McGill Campus (i.e. Douglas, JGH, RI-MUHC):

1. Must provide the BIC with a standing Purchase Order issued by the hospital or company who is paying for the services.
2. This PO # must also be provided at the time of booking for all scanning services for any given study.
3. The total amount of the standing PO must be large enough to cover all scan requests until the end of the fiscal year at your institution.
4. Purchase Order is to be made out to:

McGill University
Accounts Receivable
3465 Durocher St., Suite #323
Montreal, Quebec
H2X 0A8

Once the PO is issued, please send it to us by email, for processing.

Information about BIC imaging platforms

• PET Unit
• MRI Unit
• MEG Unit