The Scottish Imaging Network: A Platform for Scientific Excellence (SINAPSE) brings together scientists from the universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling and St Andrews to form what's being dubbed a "virtual clinical imaging laboratory".
The five-year programme will concentrate primarily on imaging of the brain, using a range of structural and functional imaging modalities including MRI, PET/SPECT and EEG/MEG. There are also plans to develop novel radioactive tracers for different diseases.
In terms of operational priorities, the SINAPSE collaboration will fund five new professorial chairs, 17 mid-level posts and 24 PhD students. Their remit will range across areas such as image analysis, neuroimaging physics and functional imaging.
SINAPSE has secured £6.3 million from the Scottish Funding Council (a government agency) and £35 million investment from the partner universities. The universities also hope to secure funding from intergovernmental organizations, the European Union and industry partnerships.
Arlene Astell of the dementia research group at the University of St Andrews' school of psychology described SINAPSE as an "exciting development bringing together expertise in studying the relationships between brain and behaviour with the latest imaging technology".
SINAPSE will be coordinated from the University of Edinburgh in the first instance.