University at Buffalo 
Clinical and Translational Science Institute
Clinical and Translational Science InstituteAdvancing research discoveries to improve health for all
About Us
John M. Canty Jr., MD; SUNY Distinguished Professor; Albert and Elizabeth Rekate Professor; chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine; chair, Center for Biomedical Imaging Steering Committee
The Center for Biomedical Imaging (CBI) is a key core facility of the UB Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) and the NIH-funded Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA).
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Imaging exclusively for research
The CBI provides infrastructure and advanced imaging expertise that is completely dedicated to performing research imaging. It is located on the 7th floor of the Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC).
The imaging facility is adjacent to the laboratory animal facility and the preclinical departments and basic research laboratories of the CTRC, which also houses the Clinical Research Center (CRC) on the 6th floor, which has a dedicated suite for clinical research. The CBI has approximately 7,500 square feet of available space.
Our mission
The CBI strives to extend the boundaries of current knowledge about neurological diseases and disorders through innovative research imaging techniques and the application of bioinformatics resources.
The CBI is a world leader in performing advanced imaging research using lesional, atrophy, magnetization transfer, diffusion imaging, spectroscopy, susceptibility, perfusion imaging and other advanced MRI techniques, with clinical and experimental biomarker outcomes in preclinical and clinical research models.
Peer-reviewed publications, books and book chapters reflect this high quality research activity. Since its inception, CBI research projects have involved international collaborations with clinicians and scientists pursuing the use of quantitative MRI to study neurologic and cardiovascular disorders.
Advanced MRI scanners can assess myelin and axonal loss changes, deposition of iron, assessment of functional and structural connectivity, assess gene expression and study cell trafficking, to mention a few of many applications relevant to our UB investigators. The translation from proof-of-concept studies in rodents to large animals and humans has been problematic in the past, but facilitated by the unique position of the CTSI animal facility and the CBI on the same floor of the CTRC.
The CBI is also promoting the development of a strong interdisciplinary biomedical research imaging program that serves as an important training and educational facility for investigators throughout UB.
Our history
There is a great need to advance the use of MRI in preclinical models in order to translate molecular imaging to patient care. UB has made a major institutional commitment to advance clinical and translational research by establishing the UB CTSI in the Clinical and Translational Research Center (CTRC), which opened in 2013.
The CBI currently hosts three research imaging scanners:
- General Electric Discovery PET/CT 690
- 3 Tesla Toshiba Vantage Titan MRI
- 9.4T Bruker Biospin BioSpec 94/20 USR preclinical MRI
The GE Discovery PET/CT 690 system was installed in May 2012, funded by an NIH Large Instrumentation Award to John Canty, MD (NHLBI S10), Director of CBI 2013-2017.
The 3 Tesla Toshiba system was sited in April 2014 through an equipment grant from Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation and Toshiba Medical Research Institute, USA.
The Bruker 9.4T small animal scanner was purchased by the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and installed in March 2013.
The NIH Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) grant has been a critical element in enabling the CBI to leverage the unique expertise in translational imaging throughout UB. Until the CBI’s creation, investigator-initiated translational research in applied imaging had been conducted using hospital-imaging equipment only during times when scanners were not required for clinical care.
