BIC Investigator's Meeting - 2/24/2023

Key Updates

A copy of the slide deck from the meeting can be found here:  BIC Investigators Meeting - CBB seminar - 24Feb2023

BIC Staffing: 

We have recently expanded our team.

Paige Stetson joined BIC as a Student Technician in February and will be providing day-to-day support at our sites in HDB and NHB.

Sujatha Jayaraj has been hired as our RESA II Facility Coordinator and will coordinate center operations and admin to start in March 2023. 

Tyler Hovland will support BIC as a part-time MRI Technologist and will assist with MRI conversion training from our Skyra system (VE line software / electronics) to our Vida and Prisma system (both XA line platforms).

Vida O/S Failure:

The underlying issue was a bug in the installation process for non-product sequences in SyngoXA, specifically the CMRR MultiBand EPI sequence which has successfully been installed at dozens of other sites around the world without issue. Unfortunately, the failure required a full reinstall of the Vida's O/S including both Windows and the Syngo overlay, which is unprecedented by BIC, CMRR and Siemens. Fortunately, no data was compromised but recent scan or study protocol modifications in DotCockpit were not recovered. IF, the updated protocol was executed prior to the O/S failure, then it can be recapitulated using Siemens' PhoenixReport function. Please check whether the scan protocols you require for your upcoming studies are present on the system in advance of your next session, and contact Julie DiCarlo if you need support to recover the protocol. In light of this issue, we have updated our procedures for the installation of non-product sequences and have revised our response mechanism for dealing with major system failures.

Skyra → Prisma Upgrade

Linbeck are now on-site in NHB (as of 2/13/23) and the BIC suite is an active construction zone. The Skyra will remain operational through 3/12/23 (formerly 3/5/23)., and the Skyra to Prisma Upgrade page of the Wiki has been updated and includes full construction and look-ahead schedules for upcoming work. Please use that page as your resources for information regarding the project including current status and key milestones.

To support the transition of Users to the new system, Working Groups are being established for key areas of interest: Anatomical imaging, BOLD-EPI, Diffusion, and Perfusion. A temporary Working Group to assess the Incidental Findings process will also be created and additional working groups for other areas will be established in the future. If you would like to be a member of a particular working group, please volunteer. I will also be contacting individual PI's to solicit their involvement.

Tyler Hovland will be supporting BIC by assisting with conversion training from Syngo VE to XA.

Policies and Procedures

User Safety:  Due to the limited availability of cellphone signal in all our facilities, and to ensure that all users can contact BIC staff in an emergency, we are requiring that each facility user has WiFi-calling enabled on their mobile phone. Instructions for how to activate this functionality on your device will be available from the manufacturer. If this feature is not available on your phone, please contact us (see User Support, below) and we can suggest alternative options for emergency communications.

User Support: We have revamped the Get Support page on the BIC Wiki so that it is a more informative resource for current users and new investigators, with further updates coming soon. Please use this page as your go to guide for how to receive the support from BIC that you require. Support requests related to ongoing projects should be filed by submitting an Imaging Equipment Support Request, which is a dedicated ServiceNow interface for BIC - do not submit a ticket to the main ServiceNow page as this will not get routed to us. Also note that support@biomedimaging.utexas.edu was retired in December '22, and direct email requests for support will bounce. Please avoid submitting multiple support requests for the same issue.

Session Overruns: We are in the process of revising our procedure for how to handle imaging sessions that overrun their allotted time. The goal of this revision is to improve communication and good faith among the community by placing the onus of reporting onto the user whose session is running behind. An updated policy and reporting process will be distributed very soon.

Scheduling Policy: To help avoid overruns, remember that sufficient set-up and takedown time for your study should be incorporated into the booking. Groups must book a minimum of 15 minutes dedicated time in addition to the total time running scan protocols. Additional time may be required for studies with more complex setups or involving particular participant populations. Note that the reserved imaging sessions is for the exclusive use of that study / user and other individuals should not enter the scanner Control Room.

Updated Resource Rate Definitions: With the guidance of the BIC Advisory Committee, we have updated how our resource rate designations are defined.

Prime Time:     Hours during which staff support can be anticipated – 7am - 5pm, weekdays.

Out of Hours:  Hours when where there is no support from BIC staff, except in the case of an emergency e.g. equipment failure. Users scan at their own risk and the time is non-refundable. However, fee waivers may be submitted under the same policy and process as during Prime Time. To better support Users scanning out of hours, additional documentation will be provided to help troubleshoot the imaging systems and peripheral equipment.

Development:  Typically used for scan protocol development or equipment troubleshooting that does not involve data collection and occurs occasionally in the lifetime of a particular study / project. See the Development Time Flowchart to establish if a scan session qualifies as Development Time. As a rough rule of thumb, if the data obtained will be presented / published, or if the work performed is a feature of a funded research project, then this does not qualify as Development Time. Development is restricted to Out-of-Hours, unless BIC staff support is required and arranged in advance, and is limited to 6 hours / year, per major study. Additional hours of Development Time and/or sessions during Prime hours can be obtained by paying the appropriate resource usage fee.

Legacy updates from the 18 Nov 2022 All-User Meeting

Skyra to Prisma Upgrade:  Up-to-date information can be found on the BIC Wiki. Discussion of prospective dates for Skyra deinstall and Prisma install. The Prisma O/S will be Syngo XA30 – BIC will offer VE → XA conversion training, starting Dec '22. Standard scan protocols should be established for key imaging functionalities to enable data pooling / cross-group comparisons.

Study Migration to Vida:  Will require the cooperation of the community to ensure the Center operates smoothly during the transition Skyra → Prisma. 

BIC is looking to hire a RESA II level Center Coordinator to support our operations.

Development time will be restricted to out-of-hours only, scheduled study durations need to be as accurate as possible, and session overruns need to be reported and monitored.

Scan cancellations will migrate to a 72-hour lockout period, and the user-base should also be notified of an impending cancellation via a system-specific email distribution list, e.g bic-vida@utlists.utexas.edu. 

Study checkout procedures (accessible via QR code) have been implemented on all systems.

Data Management: POD accounts will be set to have a common expiry date of 5/30/23; a reminder email will be sent to instruct that your account needs to be renewed. Please monitor data transfers to BIC_PACS at the scanner (Vida) to ensure they complete successfully, and that the appropriate number of scan instances have been sent. Please do not send datasets > 1x.

User Support: Use the appropriate mechanism to get support and take advantage of our updated website and Wiki. Use BIC ServiceNow, as direct contact via support@biomedimaging is ending. Note that there is a 3 business day response time to support requests. So for urgent issues – that prevent you scanning right-now – contact us directly via phone / email / MS-Teams.. New investigators or requests for new services should email BIC staff directly. The BIC ServiceNow site is getting a full update to make it more effective and user-friendly.

Education and Training: BIC is expanding our support for the education and training of our community. Please make use of the User Guides for our equipment, available on the Resources page of the Wiki, and the system documentation in the BIC's Box account (link on request). These will be updated regularly and will be the initial resource for equipment troubleshooting.

We are also developing a 'BIC Educationals' curriculum – a series of short, ~30min, presentations to cover imaging theory and applications. A subset of these sessions will eventually form the core of our Level 1 and Level 2 MRI training, but the 'Educationals' will also offer an enhanced experience for those who wish to extend and enhance their knowledge and capabilities. If any faculty would like to contribute a session to the series these would be a great addition to our communal resources. 

In response to the high volume of training requests (~30 per month) and to ensure that BIC continues to offer a high-quality of education to our users and that training rigor is maintained, BIC will be changing the way we deliver user-training from Jan 2023 forward. MRI Level 0 training will be offered for free; Level 1 training will be offered as a one-time fee of $100 per trainee; and Level 2 training will be a one-time fee of $500 per trainee. Full access to the BIC Educationals curriculum will be included for all MRI Level 1 and Level 2 trainees.