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Research Imaging Centre

CAMH’s new Research Imaging Centre is poised to build on the ground-breaking work of the Vivian M. Rakoff PET Centre, which is now part of the expanded imaging facility that opened in 2011. The new centre has positron emission tomography (PET) machines, a new magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) suite and genetics expertise in one facility, which uniquely positions CAMH to make further breakthroughs in brain research relating to mental health and addictions.

Over the past 20 years, the work of CAMH scientists using PET methods has had a major impact in understanding brain functioning, and in applying these findings to clinical treatment. These discoveries have led to:

  • earlier identification of mental illnesses such as schizophrenia
  • more accurate medication doses for depression and schizophrenia
  • potential targets to treat illnesses, such as post-partum depression
  • creation of widely-used chemical tools (radiotracers) to show brain chemistry changes using PET
  • more effective drug development

At the Research Imaging Centre, scientists will be exploring fundamental changes in the brain associated with a variety of disorders using functional MRI and imaging genetics. 

Read some recent discoveries from the Research Imaging Centre:

Brain chemical may explain why heavy smokers feel sad after quitting 
New combination of brain imaging and genetic analysis may help identify people at early risk for Alzheimer's disease
 Low brain serotonin transporter levels in ecstasy users

Facilities
The Research Imaging Centre has two PET machines, an MRI suite and the Kimel Family Translational Imaging Genetics Lab. The centre has also two cyclotrons and radiochemistry labs. The Research Imaging Centre is located in the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College St., Floor B.

People 
Director: Sylvain Houle
Radiochemistry: Alan Wilson, Amando Garcia
PET Facility: Pablo Rusjan, Alvina Ng (manager), Terry Bell (systems engineer), Peter Bloomfield (physicist)
Clinical Imaging: Jeff Meyer (mood & anxiety), David Mamo (geriatrics), Antonio Strafella (neurology), Romina Mizrahi (schizophrenia), Isabelle Boileau (addictions), Aristotle Voineskos (imaging genetics)
MRI Suite: Nancy Lobaugh (head), Sofia Chavez, Anusha Ravichandran (technician)
Human Brain Lab: Stephen Kish
Behavioural Neurobiology Lab: Jose Nobrega