Dear YNiC users,
*YNiC will be closed to users for the week commencing the 6th of September
for vital maintenance*. This will include disruption to YNiC computing
resources for at least the 6th and 7th.
*No operator cover will be available for the week commencing the 20th of
September*, however, researcher's can use the facilities by providing their
own operators in this period.
For the entire of September, YNiC staff availability will be limited, so
signatures for conditional exceptions on consent forms should be requested
a week ahead of the scan booking.
We are holding *level 0 operator training on Wednesday the 25th of August
at 13:00 *and we have space for 2 more trainees.L0 training is available to
allow researcher's to run their own MRI sessions with reduced reliance on
YNiC operators. This training should only be undertaken by researcher's who
have projects that will require operators imminently.
If anybody wants to attend this L0 training please contact
support(a)ynic.york.ac.uk
Cheers,
Rich
--
Dr Richard Aveyard
Senior Research Technician
York NeuroImaging Centre
University of York, UK
Dear GE Signa Excite 3T MRI
You did your last shift for us this afternoon.
At least 3100 research participants have had a lie down inside you (some
of those nearly 200 times like me) and your relaxing purr has sent many
of them to sleep when they were supposed to be doing our experiments.
You have launched many careers, and probably ended a couple too.
Thank you for 17 years of solid service and all the memories - although
we may not miss the recurring routine 4am callouts when your humidity
sensors went nuts every summer.
And like most 17year olds, you're now going to head off on a world tour
(probably India).
We'll miss you.
--
André
************************************************************************
André Gouws PhD
CQC Registered Manager
Operations Manager
York Neuroimaging Centre and York Diagnostic Imaging
University of York
The Biocentre
York Science Park
Heslington
YO10 5NY
Tel: +44 (0) 1904 435327
Fax: +44 (0) 1904 435356
(Apologies if you have already received this through Psychology)
*Postdoctoral Research Fellow*
Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, John Radcliffe Hospital,
Oxford
Grade 7: £32,817 - £40,322 per annum. (A less experienced candidate may
be appointed at Grade 6 (£29,176 - £34,804 p.a.) with a commensurate
adjustment in essential criteria, responsibilities and duties)
We are seeking a postdoctoral research fellow to join a 4-year
MRC-funded research programme led by Dr Betina Ip and Professor Holly
Bridge, based at the Wellcome Integrative Neuroimaging (WIN) Centre,
part of the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the
University of Oxford. The role will investigate the neural mechanisms
underlying binocular vision plasticity.
The successful candidate will conduct research to evaluate the potential
of the binocular visual system to reorganise in the normal and abnormal
visual system using a combination of complementary approaches. Alongside
the focus the project has on neurochemical measures measured with
magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the postholder will also employ visual
perceptual learning, pharmacological manipulation, models of binocular
vision abnormality and multimodal MRI (MRS, MRI, DTI, RSN). They will
design and perform original research within this programme and bring to
this position relevant expertise in behavioural psychophysics and/or
non-invasive brain imaging.
It is essential that the postholder hold, or be nearing to completion
of, a PhD or DPhil in Neuroscience or other relevant discipline and an
interest in the visual system, plasticity and neuroimaging. It is also
vital that they have relevant experience in conducting neuroimaging
and/or behavioural research to develop and test novel hypotheses.
It would be beneficial if the successful applicant has knowledge and
experience of conducting perceptual training and neuroplasticity
studies. It would also be of benefit to the role if they have an
interest in increasing accessibility to neuroscience through both
engagement with the public and broadening access to scientific careers.
The post is full-time for a fixed-term until 31st July 2025 in the first
instance.
Only applications received before 12.00 midday on 12th August 2021 will
be considered.
Interviews will be held as soon as possible thereafter.
Contact Person: Recruitment Team
Vacancy ID: 152175
Closing Date & Time: 12-Aug-2021 12:00
Contact Email: recruitment(a)ndcn.ox.ac.uk
--
Thanks
Joe Lyons, UNIX Systems Administrator
York Neuroimaging Centre (YNiC), University of York
joe.lyons(a)ynic.york.ac.uk - 01904 435343
Hello all,
With the Government removing legal restrictions on Monday, we thought we
would clarify our position on COVID policies and procedures for the
foreseeable future.
*Mask wearing*
As Charlie Jefferies outlined in his 'Our journey out of lockdown' email,
consideration for our colleagues is the most important thing. Some of your
colleagues may be keen to return to 'normal', whilst others may be anxious
about the easing of restrictions. We strongly encourage you to continue
wearing a mask wherever possible around the building and in common areas at
YNiC.
For operators of all modalities, please be aware that mask wearing is
still *mandatory
*whilst dealing with participants and in the entire research corridor. This
is alongside the PPE we have been wearing for this last year.
Please make your participants aware, particularly now, that refusal to wear
a mask in the building is a *contraindication* to participation in your
study, just like a pacemaker or metallic implants would be.
*Access to YNiC*
Those who have assigned desks at YNiC can continue to come in as usual.
If you have been working remotely, and need to come in for a specific
reason (ie to test a stimuli script, analysis that cannot be done on remote
access etc), can request to do this through support(a)ynic.york.ac.uk . You
will be asked to come in through reception, and have your temperature
taken, before coming in to open plan.
*Master's Students*
We understand that this has been a frustrating year for students and that
they have missed out on the opportunity to collaborate and work in YNiC as
the cohorts before them did. We have allocated a group workspace in a
section of open plan which can be booked for four hour slots from Tuesday
to Friday. Please email support(a)ynic.york.ac.uk to book a slot.
*Moving Forward*
We understand that this is a frustrating and difficult time, and that many
of you will have wanted us to remove more COVID procedures, whilst others
would want us to be more strict. We hope this clarifies what our position
is for now, as we look towards a more 'normal' future.
Best wishes
Becky
--
Rebecca Lowndes
Research Technician
York Neuroimaging Centre
Hello
We've put together a new system to allow participants to upload their
General Consent forms directly to us over the Internet. We hope this
will provide an easier and more secure way for you to get participants
registered.
I've attached 2 documents, one which includes details for the Project
Investigator (/YNiC Upload System Instructions.pdf/) and one you can
send to the participant
(/YNIC_Document_Upload_Guide_for_participants//.pdf/) with instructions
on how to upload their form.
We do specify that you need to print out the General Consent form so it
can be completed by hand and signed. We realise that not everyone has a
printer at home and so it can be tricky to obtain a printed out copy.
*_Online PDF Editors_*
We're looking at a better way to get the form completed online without
the need to print. Online PDF editors must **not** be used. Most require
you to upload the form to be completed, potentially leaving a signed
consent form full of personal details with an unknown third party.
Some software packages like *Adobe Acrobat Reader* allow you to fill in
and sign the form then export it as a pdf. University students/staff
should have access to this on the VDS (Virtual Desktop Service). There
is also a mobile/tablet version called *Adobe Fill & Sign* which also
allows you to fill in and sign the form. Please do **not** use Microsoft
Word as it will mess up the formatting.
As before, you can still bring the form into YNiC or send it in the post
and the form should reach us 24 hours before the session.
If you have any questions, please email support(a)ynic.york.ac.uk.
Thanks
Joe
--
Thanks
Joe Lyons,
York Neuroimaging Centre (YNiC),
University of York
joe.lyons(a)ynic.york.ac.uk - 01904 435343
Hi all,
Its been great seeing so many of you at the centre again - we look forward
to seeing more of you soon! On that note:
*Access to YNIC*
We are all at the mercy of the government and university review of
restrictions and with increasing case numbers the guidance given to us is
going to come relatively slowly (I expect). So please bear with us. For
now, access to the centre remains restricted to those who have an allocated
workspace here and investigators who are attending for scanning.
*You sharing information with us - securely*
We have a new system in place where you can share confidential docs with us
via a secure upload site (e.g. your participant could take a photo of their
registration form and upload it directly to us from their phone). Please
see the follow up email from Joe Lyons later this week.
*Us sharing information with you - securely*
If you require participant information, please email us at
support(a)ynic.york.ac.uk and leave us a phone number to call you back on -
we will call you as soon as we can.
Hope to see you all soon
The team @ YNiC
--
André
************************************************************************
*André Gouws PhD*
*Operations Manager *
*CQC Registered Manager*
*York Neuroimaging Centre and York Diagnostic Imaging*
*University of York*
*The Biocentre*
*York Science Park*
*Heslington*
*YO10 5NY*
*Tel: +44 (0) 1904 435327*
*Fax: +44 (0) 1904 435356 *
If you need an R-number(s) for your participant(s) DO NOT EMAIL US
PARTICIPANT NAME(S)!
Please send an email to support(a)ynic.york.ac.uk
Just tell us that you need some R-number / participant information and
give us a phone number to call you on. We will call you ASAP on the
number you have provided and get the name(s) from you over the phone.
Please , DO NOT EMAIL US PARTICIPANT NAMES.
(sorry for shouting - this is really important).
--
André
************************************************************************
André Gouws PhD
CQC Registered Manager
Operations Manager
York Neuroimaging Centre and York Diagnostic Imaging
University of York
The Biocentre
York Science Park
Heslington
YO10 5NY
Tel: +44 (0) 1904 435327
Fax: +44 (0) 1904 435356
Dear YNiC users,
As scanning resumes we are continuing to follow cautious covid-19
procedures, and for this reason we are not accepting general consent forms
from participants in person.
Instead, researchers should provide general consent forms to their
prospective participants, and then the researcher should deliver the
completed forms to YNiC themselves. In the unusual circumstance that no-one
is available to receive the forms in person, the forms should be left in
the grey letterbox next to the reception door.
We realise this is inconvenient, and we are working on a secure electronic
solution, so this should only be a temporary stop-gap measure. *Please do
not email completed general consent forms.*
It is important that general consent is completed more than 24 hours before
the scan time as this constitutes a part of your ethical responsibility to
provide informed consent and allow the subject time to reconsider their
participation. If absolutely unavoidable, general consent forms can be
signed on the day of a scan but the researcher should contact us in advance
at support(a)ynic.york.ac.uk to let us know this will happen, and must still
talk the participant through the form in advance.
Best wishes,
Rich
--
Dr Richard Aveyard
Senior Research Technician
York NeuroImaging Centre
University of York, UK
Hi all,
Further to our previous communications, scanning services have now resumed
at YNiC. We have procedures in place to do this safely, and continue to
monitor the situation and adapt as we all begin to resume day to day
activities.
Note that while a great deal of effort has gone into this, we will
inevitably have overlooked a couple of details so please work with us to
get things going smoothly.
Operator slots are being added to the booking system, and you can book
non-operator time if you have qualified operators. You can now recruit
participants from outside your research group as long as the Dept of
Psychology's face to face testing procedures have been followed, and you
work within the guidelines of using the centre. These procedures are
relatively unchanged from those we sent you in October/November 2020 (when
we had a brief period of research activity).
As a reminder, here are the requirements and processes in place (these
first 3 have always been standard practice):
- In advance of the visit, you should make sure your participant is
registered at YNiC by completing and submitting to us the YNiC general
consent form :
-
https://www.ynic.york.ac.uk/forms?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=GeneralCo…
- We also advise that you go through the MRI safety screening form
with them in advance of the date to ensure that it is safe to scan them in
MRI
-
https://www.ynic.york.ac.uk/forms?action=AttachFile&do=get&target=sMRISessi…
- You should complete your study-specific consent forms as submitted
and approved by the ethics committee.
Additional requirements relating to Covid-19 measures:
- Before being given access to resume scanning at YNiC your lab will
sign a form to confirm:
- You have read, understood the YNIC participant journey document:
-
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1A1Jh-JJ21o0WoxqAvIR9CntyN5MyAsxq/view?usp=…
- You have read, understood the YNIC MRI specific research risk
assessment:
-
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cAAGZM0X-AxFvEJMdaObYDrxx9LZKqBE/view?usp=…
- You have read, understood and followed the steps in the Dept of
Psychology's "Face-to-Face Testing in Psychology" guidelines at:
-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SftgbpdU8dkImMMHEt5nY7lOIH1-7Rse5o38rFi…
- As part of that process will need to complete, and have certified by
the HoD, the “Face to Face Research Activity COVID-19 Secure Check
Sheet”
-
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hl-TXlkGnC87JF4AkYxAg5pfj7wDzn286wlAghr…
- As part of the safety screening of the subject on their scan day, they
will complete an additional Covid-19 specific screening and information
form:
-
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jNvsW1hV5yWMisPLhmL5qCQv48tBGYoI/view?usp=…
<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jv51X_wJe50FBSjwbBPADrKpFHIAcSomkWh0uxz…>
If you have any queries please contact us at support(a)ynic.york.ac.uk
See you soon!
--
André
************************************************************************
*André Gouws PhD*
*Operations Manager *
*York Neuroimaging Centre and York Diagnostic Imaging*
*University of York*
*The Biocentre*
*York Science Park*
*Heslington*
*YO10 5NY*
*Tel: +44 (0) 1904 435327*
*Fax: +44 (0) 1904 435356 *
Please see the MEG status update, prepared by Richard Aveyard, below:
Dear YNiC users,
With the anticipated resumption of research at YNiC in the coming
months, we will once again be offering time on the MEG system. While
doing so, we are keen to make sure that all researchers are aware of the
status of the MEG equipment.
The new MEG system was installed in the autumn/ winter of 2019 and
trialled on MSc projects through February 2020. The trials were largely
successful, with good quality data recorded. However, a small number of
recordings had to be aborted due to issues with the power supply to the
signal processing electronics. At around the same time, the manufacturer
of the system ceased trading, so can no longer offer support.
To resolve the problem with an increasingly unreliable power supply,
custom electronics were installed by YNiC staff through 2020. The
modification work is now complete, and the MEG system is once again
ready to make recordings. We are doing everything within our power to
ensure the ongoing quality of MEG recordings: the stability of the power
supply is constantly being monitored, and regular quality assurance
recordings are being performed.
As such, we are now offering MEG recording facilities with the proviso
that the system has not yet undergone long-term testing, so we are
unable to guarantee reliability.
In the coming weeks a number of projects will begin making recordings on
the MEG system, and we welcome any further projects. We understand that
in some cases, researchers may prefer to defer starting a project until
more data has been successfully acquired. However, we can offer the
assurance that in the event that recordings are spoiled due to equipment
failures, projects will be reimbursed all charges.
If you would like any further information regarding MEG at YNiC, please
contact us at support(a)ynic.york.ac.uk <mailto:support@ynic.york.ac.uk> .
--
André
************************************************************************
André Gouws PhD
CQC Registered Manager
Operations Manager
York Neuroimaging Centre and York Diagnostic Imaging
University of York
The Biocentre
York Science Park
Heslington
YO10 5NY
Tel: +44 (0) 1904 435327
Fax: +44 (0) 1904 435356
