Initial consultations are free to DPHB faculty or trainees, with grant-supported effort for long-term collaboration and the activities below based upon project scope, services, and project complexity. Through funding provided through DPHB, the CNRC also supports a limited number of subsidized projects with the goal of growing the department’s imaging portfolio. See Subsidized Collaborative Models for more information.
Grant and project development. Core faculty provide consultation on cognitive theory and network neuroscience models, neuroimaging methodology, hypothesis testing strategies, power analyses and imaging analysis plans. Core faculty typically serve as a co-investigator or MPI on projects, as the neuroimaging expert and collaboratively draft relevant grant sections. While rush applications can typically be accommodated, note that 3 months’ lead time or more is ideal for a highly competitive application and Brown’s subaward approval process must be started 14 days before the prime institution’s internal deadline.
Mentorship for career development applications or research fellowship projects. Service as the imaging mentor for the application or project. Faculty help trainees identify resources for the training plan and provide feedback during the grant drafting process. Development of a highly competitive application should begin 3-6 months prior to target submission date, especially for those without prior neuroimaging experience. Less than 3-6 months to go? No problem, but plan on doing significant catch-up project development between submission cycles. Mentees and fellows commit to biweekly meetings and are supplied a limited number of subsidized staff hours to kickstart the project.
Programming, data management, & preprocessing services. Whether MRI or EEG, neuroimaging datasets tend to be large and require significant cleaning and curation before they can be analyzed. These activities require strong programming skills and specialized training. Core staff can be hired to perform these activities, deliverables include monthly data quality reports.
Statistical analysis. Core members have expertise in univariate fMRI modeling, resting-state and task-based functional connectivity, structural imaging methods such as diffusion MRI and morphometry, and MR spectroscopy. Pipelines for more advanced multivariate methods can also be designed and applied. Effort determined by project complexity, deliverables include a full statistical report, drafting of relevant manuscript sections.
After-hours MRI operation. Investigators needing to scan outside of regular Brown MRF hours can only do so if they bring their own MRF approved MRI operator. Availability of this service is subject to staff availability and only outside of the Brown MRF’s regular business hours, as MR operator time has already been purchased as part of the hourly rate for scans.