Research magnetoencephalography (MEG) facility

The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario
What the facility does

Functional neuroimaging

Areas of expertise

The Research Magnetoencephalography (MEG) Facility provides SickKids and external researchers access to a non-invasive functional neuroimaging technique that allows investigation of human brain activity on a millisecond timescale. The site is staffed with a full-time research technologist and has an adjoining reception area, change room, bathroom and behavioral assessment room, which it shares with the research MRI facility. 

The CTF cortical MEG system comprises 151 axial gradiometer sensors in a head-shaped helmet with 29 additional reference sensors for environmental noise cancellation.  Each sensor is a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), an extremely sensitive type of magnetometer that  can measure the magnetic fields the human brain generates.  The system is located in a magnetically shielded room.  It includes an integrated 64-channel EEG system, and continuous head motion tracking.  Visual, auditory and somatosensory stimulus packages are available for performing tasks in the MEG, with many optimized published protocols to test various cognitive functions.  More recent equipment additions include a tactile stimulator and an eye-tracking system.

Research services

MEG data acquisition

Sectors of application
  • Healthcare and social services
  • Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment

Name of equipment

151-channel CTF MEG system