Our series of short courses are aimed at health professionals who wish to gain hands-on experience of MR scanning. All courses have a practical component, utilising the suite of MR facilities at the Centre for Advanced Imaging.
CAI short courses offer CPD points from both the Australian Society of Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy (ASMIRT) and Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR). For more details on any of our courses please contact our Education team or to express your interest, please click here.
Course fees include GST, any course materials as well as afternoon tea and lunch. All courses are subject to minimum enrolment numbers. In the unlikely event that this is not met, participants will be given two weeks notice and will be issued a full refund of registration fees.
Have an enquiry? Please contact the CAI Education Officer who will be happy to help: education@cai.uq.edu.au
Upcoming Courses:
Introduction to Breast MRI - date TBC
More details coming soon.
Free Courses:
edX Introduction to Biomedical Imaging Self-paced (Commenced August 2017)
edX in partnership with UQx offers a free 12 week massive online open course. Students can add a Verified Certificate for $99. This MOOC is an introductory course to biomedical imaging.
Imaging technologies form a significant component of the health budgets of all developed economies, and most people need advanced imaging such as MRIs, X-Rays, and CT Scans (or CAT Scans) during their life. Many of us are aware of the misinformation sometimes offered in TV dramas, which either exaggerate the benefits or overemphasise the risks.
What you'll learn
- Why there is a need for different imaging modalities
- The basic principles of each modality and the terminology used
- The patient experience and why things happen during the imaging procedure
- How to select the most suitable modality for a given clinical case
- How to provide basic advice on imaging modalities to your peers
To register for this self-paced course, visit the edx site.
Other Courses:
Click the titles below to see the details of our other short courses available, completed for the year.
You can register your interest for the next available course by clicking the Register your interest button.
Introduction to MRI is a 3-day introductory course, specifically designed for people with little or no MRI experience. The course is held at the Wesley Hospital, Brisbane. Upon course completion, participants will be familiar with basic MRI physics and have practical scanning experience in imaging of the brain and spine.
Syllabus
Theory is covered during the morning on the following:
- MR spin physics
- Pulse sequence design
- Artefacts
- MR safety
- Common clinical indications of the brain and spine
- Imaging protocols of the brain and spine
Practical scanning is held in the afternoons, where participants will be involved in:
- Patient positioning
- Scanning techniques of the brain and spine
- Fundamental MR anatomy
Practical scanning will take place on state-of-the-art Siemens Sonata 1.5 T imaging systems.
This course is run on demand.
Functional MRI (fMRI)
Friday 20th - Sunday 22nd November 2020* Location: Centre for Advanced Imaging
The functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) workshop is available as a 2 or 3-day course with Days 1 & 2 covering the basics and Day 3 covering more intermediate techniques. The program is designed for people with little or no fMRI experience. The course includes lectures, practical demonstrations, and data analysis and interpretation. This course is suitable for radiographers who want to learn more about data analyses and how to report fMRI findings, as well as researchers who are keen to gain a comprehensive understanding of the basic principles of fMRI, its applications, interpretation and advanced acquisition and analysis strategies.
Day 1 & 2: Friday 20th and Saturday 21st November 2020
- Physics of fMRI
- Functional anatomy
- Experimental design
- Pre-processing and artefact detection (e.g. movement or physiological artefacts)
- General Linear Model and statistical inferences
- Single level analysis and statistics
- Four practical sessions:
- Scanning
- Intro to data analysis software
- Pre-processing
- First level analysis
Day 3: Sunday 22nd November 2020
- Group level modeling and analysis
- Processing fMRI data on High performance Computing systems
- Panel discussion
- Two practical sessions:
- Group analysis
- Analysis in the scanner
Fees:
| Days 1 & 2 | Days 1,2 & 3 | |
| Early Bird (register by 25th October 2020) | $815 | $1200 |
| Full course fee | $950 | $1400 |
| Group discount: 3+ attendees from the same institution/organisation (price per person) | $610 | $900 |
| CAI Alumni and Current UQ Students** | $475 | $700 |
* Proof of enrolment may be required.
Registrations for this course closed on Sunday, 15 November.
Introduction to Diffusion is a 1 or 2 day short course. The theoretical section can be taken independently as a 1-day course (no caps), and will cover the basic physics behind diffusion imaging, the different methods of acquiring and analysing diffusion information, and how they can be applied. Practical hands-on experience in acquisition and analysis will be conducted on day 2 and can be added for an additional cost (capped at the first 20 applicants).
Syllabus
Day 1: Theory
- Pulse sequences and spin physics in diffusion/what is diffusion and how do we measure it in MR
- Simplistic models of diffusion – how to acquire and analyse
- Advanced models of diffusion – acquisition and introduction to analysis
- Tractography
- Workshop – what technique to use when/what they measure
- Applications of diffusion imaging
Day 2: Practical scanning and analysis
- Acquiring diffusion images from volunteers
- Tools available for diffusion viewing
- Preprocessing of diffusion images
- Tensor analysis
- Advanced analysis
- Tractography analysis
- Group and case study analysis
Practical scanning will take place on state-of-the-art Siemens imaging systems.
Fees:
| Day 1 | Day 1 & Day 2 | |
| Early Bird (register by 22nd September 2017) | $430 | $815 |
| Full course fee | $500 | $950 |
| Group discount: 3+ attendees from the same institution/organisation (price per person) | $320 | $610 |
| CAI Alumni and Current UQ Students* | $250 | $475 |
* Proof of enrolment may be required.
The Introduction and Basic Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging Short course is a 3-day course designed for people with little or no cardiac MRI experience. The course is held at The Wesley Hospital, Brisbane.
Syllabus
Theory is covered in the mornings. Course content includes:
- basic cardiac MR physics
- key pathologies and MRI appearances
- basic cardiac set up and scanning techniques
Practical demonstrations and hands-on scanning are held in the afternoon. Practical scanning will take place on state-of-the-art Siemens Sonata 1.5 T imaging system at The Wesley Hospital.
This course is run on demand. Register your interest here.
Advanced Cardiac MRI
The Advanced Cardiac MRI is a 2-day course designed for people with basic cardiac MRI experience.
Syllabus
Theory and Practical components of the course cover:
- congenital abnormalities
- paediatrics
- post-surgical appearances
- advanced data analysis
This course is run on demand.
Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th March 2018* Location: Centre for Advanced Imaging
Introduction to MR Physics is a two day introduction to how magnetic resonance imaging works and what it can be used for. Students can enrol either in Day 1 as a standalone theoretical course, or both Day 1 and 2 to take advantage of the extensive practical. This course is ideal for radiographers (professional and undergraduate), radiologists (ideal background for the RANZCR exam), biomedical students or professionals, veterinarians, medical physicists, and scientists within the health science fields (image processing, physics, engineering, medicine, psychology etc). You do not need a background in magnetic resonance imaging to enrol.
Day 1: Saturday 10th March, 8:30am-5pm (capped at 60 enrolments)
- The basic principles of MR, including magnetic moments, Lamour frequency, spatial encoding and k-space, and the role of gradients and RF in forming an image.
- How contrast is generated in a MR image
- Fast imaging
- MR safety
- Spectroscopy and fat suppression
- Common MR artefacts and how to correct
- MR instrumentation
- Diffusion, perfusion, and magnetic resonance angiograms
Day 2: Sunday 11th March, 9am-3pm (capped at 15 enrolments)
- Parallel imaging and gating
- Hybrid MR-PET
- Hands on scanning of the brain, looking at spectroscopy, parallel imaging and artefacts, MR safety and instrumentation, diffusion and arterial spin labelling.
- Hands on scanning of the abdomen, looking at susceptibility artefacts, chemical shift, and gating.
Introduction to Spectroscopy
*Future dates to be advised. Location: Centre for Advanced Imaging
Note: this course is run on demand.
Introduction to Spectroscopy is a 3-day short course designed for both the novice and the established spectroscopists. Morning sessions will comprise of lectures and each afternoon practical sessions will take place on one of our Siemens clinical systems. As each day builds on the material from previous sessions, it is highly recommendad that participants attend all three days of the course in their entirity. Some of the topics covered include:
- Introduction to Spectroscopy
- Selection - PRESS
- Clinical MRS
- Step by Step Set Up
- TE Effects on the Spectrum
- STEAM- Stimulated echo volume selection
- Spectral Processing
- Metabolite Quantification
- Lactate doublet- the ups and downs of spin coupling
- Practical scans with Phantom and volunteers
*Please note that this course is subject to minimum enrolments. Participants will be given two weeks notice and will be issued a full refund of registration fees if the course does not go ahead.
Fees:
| 3 Day Course | |
| Early Bird (register by 21st September 2018) | $1200 |
| Full course fee | $1400 |
| Group discount: 3+ attendees from the same institution/organisation (price per person) | $900 |
| CAI Alumni and Current UQ Students** | $700 |
** Proof of enrolment may be required.