The Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity (OHBA) is part of the Oxford University Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (OxCIN).
A single-storey building to house the Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity and its MEG (Magnetoencephalography) scanner was constructed in 2006. In 2016 the facility, which is now part of the NIHR (National Institute for Health and Care Research) Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre, underwent a £4.5 million upgrade, adding a second floor and an MRI. This building now houses a 3 Tesla MRI scanner, and two MEG laboratories – one based on traditional technology and one on newer and innovative Optically Pumped Magnetometers (OPM). The centre provides the following tools for research: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI); Magnetoencephalography (MEG); Electroencephalography (EEG); and Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). These methods are highly complementary; while MRI provides structural and blood-flow data, MEG and EEG allow researchers to track brain activity by the millisecond. TMS can be used to stimulate brain function in specific regions. This allows researchers to test the importance of a brain area for a behaviour.
Image: The neuroimaging magnet being lowered into place by a crane (three photos, 2016)
Photo Credit: Dept. of Psychiatry
