Caltech Brain Imaging Center

The Caltech Brain Imaging Center (CBIC) was founded in 2003 through a generous gift from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The Center, led by Dean Mobbs, Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, provides neuroimaging resources for the Tianqiao and Chrissy Chen Institute for Neuroscience at Caltech.

The overarching goal of the CBIC is to understand human consciousness with the following intermediate aims:

To explore and characterize the neural basis of higher brain function.
To develop new tools for the imaging of brain structure and function.
To train a diverse student and faculty group in structural and functional neuroimaging.
To foster interdisciplinary research in brain science.

The 8,100 square foot CBIC facility is located in the Broad Center for the Biological Sciences at Caltech and houses four high-field MRI systems and associated technical resources.

Ralph Adolphs (left) and colleague in the lab.

Credit: Caltech Brain Imaging Center

This image of brain connectivity in a person who lacks a corpus callosum, the fibrous connection between the brain's two hemispheres, was produced by Caltech Brain Imaging Center researcher Michael Tyszka, professor Ralph Adolphs, and collaborators using diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging.

Credit: Mike Tyszka, Caltech

CBIC staff photograph in front of scanner

Caltech Brain Imaging Center Staff

Credit: Caltech Brain Imaging Center

Structural images from a Caltech investigation of six of rare hemispherectomy patients, all of whom received the surgeries as children and now have relatively normal cognitive abilities. Brain networks in these patients - controlling walking, talking, and other functions - were remarkably intact. This study, published in Cell Reports [https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20191119-095728876] was funded by The Brain Recovery Project: Childhood Epilepsy Surgery Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Science Foundation.

Credit: Caltech Brain Imaging Center

Ralph Lee, Manager of MRI Education and Technologies, Caltech Brain Imaging Center (left) and colleague preparing a subject for scanning.

Credit: Caltech Brain Imaging Center

Research Groups Affiliated with the Caltech Brain Imaging Center

Ralph Adolphs
Richard Andersen
Colin Camerer
Dean Mobbs
John O'Doherty

Antonio Rangel
Mikhail Shapiro
Shin Shimojo
Doris Tsao