This center will include four already funded 3T MRI-systems for neurobiological research. The already existing neuroimaging platform will be massively extended by the Advanced Neuroimaging Center in the Body & Brain Institute Münster, which is scheduled to open in 2023. A special expertise is the combination of multi-site cohorts and quality assurance protocols across several sites, and the collaboration with national and international neuroimaging consortia. Available are all techniques and tools in functional, structural and metabolic neuroimaging and analysis pipelinies in a dedicated computer infrastructure. A neuroimaging platform implemented by several in-house partners performs high-throughput MRI measurements in large neuroimaging cohorts, and a unique MEG-facility in the Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignal analysis (275-channel MEG with simultaneous recordings of peripheral signals).These measures create a substantial gain in potential and quality such as uniform standards and SOPs enabling the collective use of data, collaboration with regional, national and international consortia.
The use of joint research platforms supports patient recruitment, the standardisation of study protocols as well as the provision of databases and analysis pipelines. Münsterland Mental Health research network and a network in Ostwestfalen Lippe including the University of Bielefeld and Bethel is embedded in existing standardized research platforms that are a prerequisite for the generation of longitudinal and clinical cohorts as well as their clinical and neurobiological exploitation. Mental Health relevant research at the Department of Mental Health, UKM, and its regional partners, e.g.