Final Report Summary - NEUROPHYSICS (Methods in Neuroimaging)
The Marie Curie Initial Training Network NeuroPhysics (webpage: www.neuro-physics.eu) was set up to specialize 12 early stage researchers (PhD students) and 2 experienced researchers (Postdoctoral fellows) in the (human) neuroimaging field via in-depth integrative training. In doing so, the Neurophysics training network aimed to enable them to contribute in a significant, international and multidisciplinary way to the development of new human imaging frontiers.
The network partners were Maastricht University (UM, coordinator), Research Centre Jülich (FZJ) , University of Liege (ULg) and Glaxo-Smith-Kline (GSK). The 12 PhD-students and 2 post-doctoral positions have been divided among the participating institutions, with 3 PhD students working at each of the 4 partners, and with Postdocs assigned to FZJ en UM.
The network has fulfilled its research goals (leading to ample dissemination and publication) and educational goals (leading to interdisciplinary scientists and career development) (see also http://www.neuro-physics.eu/). Specifically, in a cutting edge research environment enabling researchers to work with (f)MRI at 3T, 7T and 9.4T with PET and hybrid PET/fMRI, with EEG and other methods, the network has delivered new imaging hardware (Physics projects), new data acquisition tools (Acquisition projects), new data analysis tools (Analysis projects), and new ways for combining methods of data acquisition (Combination projects). These developments have yielded findings with both fundamental and clinical relevance. The education provided within the network through this research experience, but also through a highly successful Neurophysics Education Program will putting a new brand of scientists on the market who will strongly catalyze progress in the field of brain imaging, and increase the yield of investments in this domain. Together, these realizations bring important positive impact to society, initially in the field of neuroimaging, but ultimately to society at large. As the work carried out in our consortium is intellectually and technologically challenging, the 3-years PhD funding has in most cases proven insufficient to complete projects, and most PhDs are being prolonged by the different partners from other sources. Thanks to these additional investments, all PhD students are fully on track to obtain their degree, and the first two graduations are expected in the next 3-4 months.
The network partners were Maastricht University (UM, coordinator), Research Centre Jülich (FZJ) , University of Liege (ULg) and Glaxo-Smith-Kline (GSK). The 12 PhD-students and 2 post-doctoral positions have been divided among the participating institutions, with 3 PhD students working at each of the 4 partners, and with Postdocs assigned to FZJ en UM.
The network has fulfilled its research goals (leading to ample dissemination and publication) and educational goals (leading to interdisciplinary scientists and career development) (see also http://www.neuro-physics.eu/). Specifically, in a cutting edge research environment enabling researchers to work with (f)MRI at 3T, 7T and 9.4T with PET and hybrid PET/fMRI, with EEG and other methods, the network has delivered new imaging hardware (Physics projects), new data acquisition tools (Acquisition projects), new data analysis tools (Analysis projects), and new ways for combining methods of data acquisition (Combination projects). These developments have yielded findings with both fundamental and clinical relevance. The education provided within the network through this research experience, but also through a highly successful Neurophysics Education Program will putting a new brand of scientists on the market who will strongly catalyze progress in the field of brain imaging, and increase the yield of investments in this domain. Together, these realizations bring important positive impact to society, initially in the field of neuroimaging, but ultimately to society at large. As the work carried out in our consortium is intellectually and technologically challenging, the 3-years PhD funding has in most cases proven insufficient to complete projects, and most PhDs are being prolonged by the different partners from other sources. Thanks to these additional investments, all PhD students are fully on track to obtain their degree, and the first two graduations are expected in the next 3-4 months.