MRI Project Onboarding Process

Please feel free to reach out to the MRI Team as soon as you are thinking about starting an MRI project. We are happy to assist at all stages of project development, including providing input on MRI related grant applications. It also helps for us to be aware of upcoming demand on the MRI Schedule, and to plan for any unique aspects of your project. There are many components that can be worked on in tandem to avoid running into a series of delays.

Project Setup

There are four main pillars of MRI Project onboarding which can mostly be worked on in tandem 

  1. Baycrest Research Ethics Board (REB) Approval. Please visit the Baycrest REB Website for instructions on submitting your research proposals for ethical approval. Please note the “Research MRI wording for consent forms” and “Open Science wording for consent forms” templates in the “Forms” section which both contain wording necessary for the majority of MRI Projects. When you have received REB approval, please provide copies of the Approval Letter, Informed Consent Form, Personnel Log (please note which users require access to the scheduler and to RRINiD/XNAT), and Protocol Document to the MRI Team. 
  2. Rotman Institutional Oversight Committee (IOC) Approval. Complete and submit the Rotman MRI Application Form to the MRI Team. Please note the additional documents requested on this form. You do not need to submit a technical MRI Protocol (Siemens pdf, etc) with the IOC form if you don’t yet have one. We simply require an outline of the types and number of scans you are interested in running. You can start work on your scanning protocol with Jacob and Garry before or after submitting this form.
  3. Rotman MRI Level 1 MR Safety and Orientation Training. Once a month our Senior MR Technologist, Garry Detzler, hosts a virtual webinar covering MR Safety and Orientation specific to the Rotman MRI Facility. Garry sends out a monthly email to the rri.allresearch list with the details and registration link to sign up for this webinar. After completing this webinar, an in-person tour of the suite must be scheduled with Garry. Completion of this training is mandatory for researchers who will be attending MRI sessions, and for access to the MRI web scheduler. 
  4. MRI Scanning Protocol Development. Our MRI Specialist, Jacob Matthews, and our Senior MR Technologist, Garry Detzler, will work with you to set up your scanning protocol on our scanner. Please reach out with an outline of the types and number of scans you are looking to run, and we can start working out the details. We can also start working from existing papers or protocols if you have them, most easily from other Siemens scanners (we can import an exar file directly if you have one from another Siemens scanner). If you’re not exactly sure what scans you need, but know what you would like to achieve, we can also start from there. For more standard protocols, we often have appropriate template scans set up which have already been tested or used in other projects. If you are running something that is new to us, we may run some technical test scans, free of charge. These may be simple validation scans or more involved tests that require the researcher to be involved in running test analysis.

Project Activation

When the above requirements have been completed and the IOC has granted project approval, Garry will issue a project activation email to the Primary Investigator and associated researchers, including the assigned MRI Project Number. A comprehensive Protocol Document will be issued following completion of the pilot sessions.

Project Piloting

Once Project Setup has been completed, you  may schedule up to two pilot scan sessions, at no charge, with Garry (pilot scans will not typically be conducted by our casual technologists). These pilot scans are intended to give the researchers and technologist the opportunity to smooth out the flow of the scanning session and make sure that everything is able to be completed in the allotted time. These pilots will be booked with an additional 30 minutes in case scanning runs over time. Adjustments to the scanning or experimental protocol will be necessary if the scans cannot be completed in the allotted time by the second pilot. Projects with scanning sessions over two hours in length will only be granted one pilot scan session. The principal investigator has the obligation of reviewing and verifying the quality of the pilot scan data. It is strongly recommended that the pilot data be analyzed with the intended software or pipeline to ensure that there are no issues with compatibility and workflow.  Any changes to the MRI protocol should be made prior to scanning their first actual participant.  Later changes to the MRI protocol are not entitled to any further pilot scan sessions.

Pilot Subject Tip: Researchers are often tempted to use lab mates or other internal researchers for pilot scans. This can be helpful because they are unlikely to cause delays during scanning. However, these subjects are often too ideal, speeding through the changing and table setup phases in below average times. Instead, consider an external, young, healthy control who you think will be generally compliant, but not an “expert participant”. This will give a more realistic sense of setup and instruction time. This also saves your internal volunteers to use as on-site backup participants on the days that you have last minute cancellations.