Functional Imaging Research Center Medical College of Wisconsin

Welcome to the Functional Imaging Research Center (FIRC) at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

The center was founded in 2002 with the mission of uniting basic and clinical scientists of various disciplines to further the development and application of functional imaging in health and disease. The Center will also oversee the development and maintenance of infrastructure to support the currently funded research projects in functional imaging.

In 1992, investigators in the Medical College's Biophysics Research Institute demonstrated that magnetic resonance imaging could be used to measure brain function. Their discovery of functional MRI (fMRI) simultaneously with the Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard University and the University of Minnesota is widely viewed as the single most important technological breakthrough in functional imaging to occur in the 1990s.

During the past decade, the College has continued its efforts in the technological advancement of fMRI and is using the technique to understand brain systems activated when healthy individuals perform sensory, motor and cognitive tasks in the scanner. More recently, MCW fMRI investigators have begun to apply the technique to diagnose and monitor patients with a variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including brain tumors, stroke, epilepsy, drug abuse, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, attention deficit disorder, multiple sclerosis, head injury, visual disorders, gastrointestinal disorders and schizophrenia. The results have lead to earlier disease detection, closer monitoring of brain conditions, and the effectiveness of investigational therapies. The Center will foster the extension of this technology into promising areas of new research, such as molecular imaging.

As of 2002, MCW functional imaging research is supported by over $35 million of extramural funding. This includes a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program project grant, an NIH training grant, and 30 individual research grants funded by the NIH, private foundations, and industry. Approximately 25 percent of the clinical research projects supported by MCW's Clinical and Translational Research Center involve fMRI technology. The College's fMRI research has resulted in 10 patents that are in commercial development.

Our current team of investigators includes faculty members from 10 Medical College departments (anesthesiology; biophysics research institute; cell biology, neurobiology, and anatomy; medicine; neurology; neurosurgery; pharmacology and toxicology; physiology; psychiatry and behavioral medicine; and radiology) as well as investigators from Marquette University, the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Cleveland Clinic's Schey Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging.

The Center oversees the operations of two dedicated MRI research scanners on campus: one located at the Froedtert East Clinics and the other at the Medical College's MACC Fund Research Center.

The Interim Director of the Center is Jeffrey R. Binder, M.D., Professor of Neurology. The Center's Scientific Advisory Board consists of:  Alan S. Bloom, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology; Edgar A. DeYoe, Ph.D., Professor of Cell Biology, Neurobiology and Anatomy; Andrew S. Greene, Ph.D., Professor of Physiology; Lotfi Hacein-Bey, M.D., Associate Professor of Neuroradiology; Anthony G. Hudetz, Ph.D., Professor of Anesthesiology; James S. Hyde, Ph.D., Professor of Biophysics; Shi-Jiang Li, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biophysics; Thomas E. Prieto, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neurology; Stephen M. Rao, Ph.D., Director, Schey Center for Cognitive Neuroimaging; Robert C. Risinger, M.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine; Kathleen M. Schmainda, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Radiology; Reza Shaker, M.D., Professor of Medicine; and John L. Ulmer, M.D., Associate Professor of Radiology.

Use the navigation bar on the left (or the links below) to learn more about the FIRC.