Trainees have access to a diverse group of research centers, including the UB Canon Stroke and Vascular Research Center, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, and various clinical facilities within the departments of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
UB Canon Stroke and Vascular Research Center (CSVRC) was established in coordination with other UB faculty as a multi-disciplinary research group and was based on a major donation from the Canon Medical Systems Corp of digital angiography equipment dedicated to research. The Center is housed on the eighth floor of the new Clinical Translational Research Center (CTRC) located above the Jacobs Institute and the Gates Vascular Institute which is a part of the Buffalo General Medical Center on the Buffalo/Niagara Medical Campus. Additional support by foundation, corporate, and government sponsors have contributed to making this exciting center a unique place for research training in multidisciplinary, translational areas.
The CTRC includes offices, labs, and conference rooms for the Medical Physics Program and dedicated research imaging suites (fluoroscopic interventional systems, CT, PET/CT, and MRI) along with complete animal facilities and additional research labs for cardiac and vascular investigators. The CSVRC has substantial imaging capabilities including two complete rooms of digital subtraction angiography equipment with C-arms capable of 3D cone beam computed tomography.
Other radiation sources including a micro CT machine which was built by our group, are also available for research. Unique micro-angiographic fluoroscopic detectors being developed by our group are available, as well as specialized capabilities such as a laser micro-welder, computer controlled scanning platforms, and other tools for prototype development of endovascular devices used in new image guided interventional procedures. The nuclear medicine physics group is involved with a cyclotron facility which is responsible for PET isotope production. There is also a clinical PET scanning facility at the adjacent VA Hospital, and there is a research micro-PET scanner as well.
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center is the base for the therapeutic radiation physics group and has four clinical linear accelerators, IMRT capability, a gamma-knife installation, and a complete brachytherapy facility. For MRI at Roswell Park, there is a 4.7 T small animal imaging system dedicated to research as well as clinical MRI scanning facilities.
In addition to the dedicated research facilities such as the UB Canon Stoke and Vascular Research Center, most clinical facilities of the departments of Radiology, Neurosurgery, and Nuclear Medicine of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences are available for research; equipment includes a variety of modern medical radiographic and fluoroscopic machines, computed tomography and ultrasound scanners, various radioisotope sources and nuclear medicine cameras. Specialized research facilities include massive parallel computing capacities, 3D rendering workstations, complete hemodynamics and flow laboratory, and an electronics laboratory and shop.
