News

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.

New UBSN Equipment - Tobii Pro Glasses 3

Dear Staff and Students,     We are excited to announce a newly acquired equipment here at UBSN - Tobii Pro Glasses 3, now located in ZB217.   Tobii Glasses 3 is a wearable eye-tracking system. The head unit of Glasses 3 consists of eye tracking cameras, a high-definition scene camera and a microphone. This allows the system to record eye tracking data and a detailed first-person perspective simultaneously. Compared with the classical screen-based eye tracking system, the setting restrictions of this system is lower. It can be applied to both static and dynamic studies. A wider range of real-world environment could be explored, such as school environment, sports and consumer behaviour.   For enquiries, please contact our officer-in-charge: Dr. Tommy LAM (lh-tommy.lam@polyu.edu.hk). For more information, please go to our Tobii Pro Glasses 3 page.     Regards, University Research Facility in Behavioral and Systems Neuroscience (UBSN)

Photo Album of overseas experts invited by CBS

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

Photo Album of Junior Researcher Mentoring Programme 2023

Photos of high school students at our 'Junior Researcher Mentoring Programme 2023’ with PolyU Global Engagement Office. Project code JRMP2023_38. 

Press: Biofeedback posture training for correcting abnormal curvature of the spine

Biofeedback posture training for adolescents idiopathic scoliosis and adult degenerative scoliosis.   We are glad to share with you that one of our UBSN members, Prof. Joanne YIP, associate dean and professor at PolyU's School of Fashion and Textiles, was recently on TV to introduce her newly developed training system for sitting posture. This sitting posture training system mainly consists of detecting sensors and a computer feedback system, as explained by Prof. Yip. During the training at her clinic, the user's sitting posture can be monitored based on the information extracted by the detecting sensors. The computer feedback system then gives a visual cue, reminding the user to correct their sitting posture. Prof. Yip also applied this concept to a smart vest that users can bring home with them after training at the centre. After connecting the smart vest to a mobile app, whenever an incorrect sitting posture is detected, the app will remind its user to adjust their sitting posture via vibration generators in the vest. That way even when the user is doing regular daily tasks at home, they can further strengthen the posture taught at the clinic and develop a good sitting habit. This system is currently at the clinical stage and 30 patients have already completed the treatment course. Prof. Yip's research team will keep monitoring the sitting postures of their patients to ensure the efficacy of this treatment.   Online source: https://news.tvb.com/tc/local/63f4b2cf2e94f886334912f9

Photo Album of Undergraduate Physiotherapy Academic Visit by Western Syndey University

The study tour aims to facilitate academic and cultural exchange with universities, clinical sites, and NGO. We also work with a tech company from HK Science Park for an AR teaching tool development.