Work Flow

A technician prepares a scan using UB's GE discovery PET-CT scanner, one of three high-powered scanners in the CTSI dedicated solely to research.

The following steps outline the general work flow for investigators using the services of the Center for Biomedical Imaging (CBI).

Steps:

Request consultation: Initiate a request using the CTSI service request portal.
Discuss logistics with CBI staff: experimental protocols, number of subjects per group and time points, housing, injection techniques, imaging techniques, resolution, tissue collection, contrast agents, image reconstruction, image analyses and statistical analyses.

PIs must have an approved IACUC/IRB protocol which includes the imaging procedures.
CBI staff may provide assistance with the imaging-related aspects of the regulatory approval.

External investigators must transfer preclinical models to the CBI IACUC Protocol using the appropriate UB LAF procedure prior to the imaging.
Models will need to be transported to the CTSI LAF facility using the institutional transfer mechanisms and applicable quarantine times.

PIs must amend their protocol to include imaging procedures, and have an approved IRB protocol. CBI staff may assist with the IRB protocol creation.

Detailed guidelines for scheduling measurement time will be provided after the initial consultation.

Depending on the investigator's needs, imaging data will be converted to the required format and provided via an internet-accessible data server.
CBI personnel may advise and provide training for image analysis. Typically, image analysis is the investigator’s responsibility or will be performed in collaboration with other UB investigators, including those from Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC).

All published or otherwise presented work involving resources of the CBI – including manuscripts, conference abstracts and presentations – must must acknowledge the NIH CTSA grant support as follows:

Research reported in this publication was funded by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under award number UL1TR001412 to the University at Buffalo. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Work that used the 3T Toshiba scanner must acknowledge the Toshiba equipment grant as follows:

This study was supported by an equipment grant from Toshiba Medical Systems Corporation and Toshiba Medical Research Institute, USA.
CBI will provide assistance in the description of the employed methods in publications. We may assist/provide guidance in preparing images and videos.