Starting New Research Project at DISC
Investigators must complete following steps:Note that there may be additional steps to complete during COVID.
- Choose and complete the correct Project Application Form (PAF). All PAFs are reviewed, and approved by the DISC Committee based on:
- Scientific merit
- Feasibility of the research on existing equipment
- Availability of equipment
- IRB/IACUC approval
- Safety of research
- Meet with DISC Team A zoom call be scheduled between the PI and the DISC team to go over examcard protocols, safety issues, data formats and access, rates, etc. For new studies without an existing protocol, 2 hours of developmental time is provided at no cost to the study. Taking advantage of DISC staff, Cole Anderson and Swati Rane Levendovszky, to make the Exam Card, is highly encouraged. This Exam Card is used to run your experiment scan sessions. For any issues that arise with the protocols, please contact the DISC Director. She will work with you and Philips to resolves any outstanding questions. Direct contact with scanner vendor is strongly discouraged.
- Complete Basic Safety Training. All personnel involved in running or monitoring the imaging study and seeking entry to DISC should complete this training.
- Enabling scan scheduling Once the above steps are completed, a project account is created. PI must add all of his/her project members who will be scheduling scans to the project database, so they can access the DISC MR 3T schedule.
- Optional: Sign up for XNAT This is an optional paid service provided by DISC that allows direct transfer of data from the scanner. Data is stored as long as the PI needs it. Please reach out to , Tina Guan , our IT specialist, should you need this service. Note that data will be stored on XNAT for 7 years since the date of the last MRI scan, then it will be purged permanently.
Unfunded pilot time is not guaranteed. Approval is at the discretion of the DISC Director. Please contact DISC Support for details.
Note that minimum scan time is 30 minutes. After that, charges are per 15 minute intervals. Technologist support is included
Optional Complete Operator Training if applicable
For projects that will have their own scan operator, PI must send request for the person to obtain training and become certified to operate scanner. Please note the operator training requires Director's approval and is extremely rare.
- Request operator training course with the Lab-certified Tech by email to DISC Support
- Complete operator hands-on training with certified Tech on site
Failure to abide by the above policies could result in a ban from using DISC facilities.
For other technical support and learn more about conducting research at DISC, please email DISC Support.