Every MRI project has a unique set of acquisition parameters that vary according to the type of sequences and tasks included in that particular study.
The MRI sequences to be used, along with the acquisition parameters for these sequences, must be communicated to UNF staff before your pilot acquisition session. A minimum delay of one week before your pilot session is strongly recommended to ensure that the protocol can be created with the correct parameters before your arrival.
What needs to be done:
Coil selection¶
This depends on the part of the body you will study in your experiment and what type of sequences are included in your project, as well as the peripheral equipment you plan to use (eye-tracking equipment, auditory stimuli, etc.).
For head acquisitions, you must choose between a 20-, 32-, or 64-channel coil. You can contact UNF staff for any additional information regarding the choice of coil for your study.
List of sequences¶
The different sequences used correspond to the types of images you want to acquire, for example functional imaging (BOLD), DWI, spectroscopy, anatomical imaging, etc. The types of sequences used for your study must be part of the protocol that has been approved by the scientific and ethics committees for your project.
To configure your protocol, it is important to know the number of MRI sequences you will use, their type, the order in which they will be executed, and their duration.
Parameters¶
Each MRI sequence is defined by a set of values called parameters. The parameters that need to be configured for each sequence include, among others, TR/TE, delay in TR, FOV, number of slices, voxel size, etc.
Protocol¶
The choice of coil, the list of MRI sequences used for your project, and the parameter values associated with them constitute your protocol. Once defined, it normally remains constant for the rest of your study. It is strongly recommended that a document describing the details of the protocol and listing these choices (coil, sequences, and parameters) be signed by the technologist and the researcher at the beginning of the study to ensure that everyone agrees on the protocol used.
Project name for the MRI scanner¶
Participant names are not used for research projects at the UNF.
Each project uses a code specific to that project and a participant identifier.
Choose something that relates to your project, the participant, and the session number.
You will use this information to download your data when
you are ready to begin data analysis. It is therefore important to always keep the same name to facilitate retrieval and analysis of the data later in the project; for example: WMT_sujxx for a study with a Working Memory Task.