News

Photo Album of UBSN Animal lab induction for School of Optometry

UBSN welcomes School of Optometry, Dr. Samantha SHAN and her pupils to join our induction talk and animal lab tour across PolyU campus.

Photo Album of lab visit with representatives from United Nations and Esquel Group

We are honoured to welcome United Nations Resident Coordinator Mr. Siddharth Chatterjee and Esquel Group representatives.

Photo Album at the OSH Excellence Ceremony

UBSN's MRI team and its first MRI centre in PolyU received the OSH Excellence Silver Award at the ceremony hosted by HSO.

UBSN Newsletter Issue 07

We are excited to share with you the 7th issue of our UBSN Newsletter (click here to view online), featuring an ongoing MRI study conducted by one of our Capacity Building Scheme 2023 recipients.   Enjoy the newsletter and thank you for your support. 

New UBSN Equipment Accessory - OptoACTIVE

Dear Staff and Students,     We are excited to announce a new equipment accessory here at UBSN - OptoACTIVE, an MRI-compatible active noise cancellation system, now located in ZB216.   OptoACTIVE™ provides the highest level of noise reduction available in MRI-safe headphones, and is the only communications system to use real-time algorithmic, active harmonic noise cancelling, as well as Optoacoustics’ proprietary passive noise reduction techniques, to reduce 60 dB (over 95%) of MR EPI main gradient resonance noise for the patient.   Ultra-slim OptoACTIVE headphones are designed for advanced 20- or 32-channel coils used in 3T and 7T fMRI. OptoACTIVE provides the slimmest and most sensitive headphones available today for use in MRI, with a frequency response range of 50-20,000 Hz. Built-in optical microphones enable automatic self-calibration, SPL monitoring and real-time in-ear stereo sound recording. With its proprietary DSP and predictive behaviour algorithms, OptoACTIVE sets the standard for robust, dependable active noise control in a wide variety of applications and settings, regardless of the MRI platform.   For enquiries, please contact our officer-in-charge: Dr. Celia DONG (celia.dong@polyu.edu.hk). For more information, please go to our OptoACTVE information page.     Regards, University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience (UBSN)

New UBSN Equipment Accessory - ANY-maze software

Dear Staff and Students,     We are excited to announce a new equipment accessory here at UBSN - ANY-maze software, now installed on our behavioural computer in ST108b.   The ANY-maze Behaviour Tracking Software is a comprehensive yet easy-to-use video-tracking system for recording and analysing animal activity and movement during virtually any behavioral tests and mazes, such as light/dark box, plus-maze, Barns maze, water maze, etc. ANY-maze supports live or offline video analyses, data grouping for control and treatment groups, custom definition of arena boundary and zones, whole-animal tracking to detect position and orientation of the animal. ANY-maze also generates visualisation of common metrics such as location heatmaps, distance and velocity charts. Data can be further analysed within ANY-maze or exported to other softwares such as EXCEL or SPSS for parametric, non-parametric and post-hoc tests.   You are strongly encouraged to use our licensed copy of ANY-maze software with UBSN's animal behavioural equipment.   For enquiries, please contact our officer-in-charge: Dr. Howard CHAN (howardhw.chan@polyu.edu.hk). For more information, please go to our ANY-Maze software page.     Regards, University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience (UBSN)

Photo of Overseas Experts invited by HTI

We are pleased to welcome overseas experts invited by HTI to UBSN.

New UBSN Equipment - NIRSport 2

Dear Staff and Students,     We are excited to announce a newly acquired equipment here at UBSN -NIRSport 2, now located in ZB217. The NIRSport 2, a functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) platform, is used to measure cerebral hemodynamics using a non-invasive method. This detection is determined by two types of near-infrared wavelength spectroscopy (NIRS). By reflecting near-infrared light off the cerebral tissue, information on tissue oxygenation and metabolism can be obtained. The NIRSport 2 is lightweight and hence suitable for application in motion-based studies. It has been used in various research domains involving healthy populations and patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders.   For enquiries, please contact our officer-in-charge: Dr. Tommy LAM (lh-tommy.lam@polyu.edu.hk). For more information, please go to our NIRSport 2 page.     Regards, University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience (UBSN)

New UBSN Equipment - Mock MR Scanner

Dear Staff and Students,     We are excited to announce a newly acquired equipment here at UBSN - Mock MR Scanner, now located in ZB220.   The mock MR system is designed to provide participants an experience similar to what they will experience in the real MRI scanner. It includes a moving table, a realistic head coil, equipment for audio presentation of scanner noise, visual and audio stimulation system, and a set of button boxes for participants responses.   In practice, failed MRI scans and unusable data caused by claustrophobia, anxiety, and excessive head and body motion cost significant time and resources. Acclimating participants to the environment with a mock scanner will increase the rate of successful data acquisition and quality of fMRI data. The mock scanner is also extremely useful for young children to orient them to the MRI environment and for training for in-scanner tasks.   For enquiries, please contact our officer-in-charge: Dr. Celia DONG (celia.dong@polyu.edu.hk) For more information, please go to our MRI Overview page.     Regards, University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience (UBSN)

Extended MRI Service Hours Effective from 4 September 2023

UBSN is pleased to announce that the MRI lab at UBSN will have extended opening hours after 4 Sept 2023. The new schedule will be as follows:   Monday to Friday: 09:00-13:30 and 14:30-18:30 Saturday: 09:30-12:30 Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays   The Saturday sessions will be specifically designated for brain projects (excluding MRS) involving adult health participants. Due to the limited manpower, Saturday sessions will only be available for 3 out of every 4 weeks. Please note that UBSN reserves the right to determine the feasibility of conducting your project on weekends. The weekend sessions will be charged at a rate of 2000 HKD/hr for PolyU projects and 6250 HKD/hr for other university projects. It can be booked up to 30 days in advance.   For booking the weekend sessions, please e-mail Dr. Celia Dong (celia.dong@polyu.edu.hk).   Please be informed that this arrangement will be on a trial basis for one month. We will keep you updated if any further adjustments are made.