The goal of this project is to obtain funds to purchase a refurbished 37-channel BTI Magnes I biomagnetometer to replace an existing but now obsolete 7-channel unit. The user group in this application includes 3 full Professors (Reite, Pennington, Freedman), 2 Associate Professors (Adler, Rogers), 3 Assistant Professors (Miller, Rojas, Ross) and one Instructor (Arciniegas). Five project areas are already funded for MEG studies, including an RO1 (Reite) involving MEG measures in major mental illness, a Program Project Grant (Rogers) for MEG studies in autism, an R03 (Rojas) for MEG studies of brain development in children, a NARSAD grant (Rojas) for use of MEG for tonotopic registration in schizophrenia, and a Wallace Genetic Foundation grant (Miller) for MEG studies in sensory modulation disorder. There is an immediate need for MEG studies in a Schizophrenia Research Center grant (Freedman) on the genetics and neurobiology of schizophrenia, an RO1 grant (Adler) on electrophysiological studies in schizophrenia, and an R29 award (Ross) on eye movement abnormalities in children at genetic risk for schizophrenia. In addition, new research on reading disabilities (Pennington) and traumatic brain injury (Arciniegas) will benefit and/or expand with the award of this instrument. The latter groups have not yet been able to utilize MEG studies because of the lack of availability of a suitable instrument. The instrument will be located in the Neuromagnetism Laboratory in the Department of Psychiatry, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, in a shielded room provided by the institution. Users will pay a prorated share of operational costs. Instrument management and scheduling will be supervised by an Advisory Committee set up for this purpose.
