This application requests support for the eighth Gordon Research Conference on In Vivo Magnetic Resonance. This meeting will immerse workers from the physical sciences, life sciences, engineering and clinical sciences in an intense multidisciplinary environment, to encourage the integration of ideas and knowledge, to accelerate the development Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy techniques for humans and animals and to ensure their exploitation in biomedical science and improved clinical care, with the ultimate aim of improving human health. The eighth In Vivo MRI Gordon Conference will be held July 27 to August 1, 2014, at Proctor Academy, Andover, NH. The Chair is Penny A Gowland, PhD, Professor in Magnetic Resonance in the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, UK, and the vice-Chair is Jurgen K Hennig, PhD, Professor of Medical Physics in the Department of Radiology, University Hospital Freiburg, Germany. The seventh In Vivo MR GRC, held in 2012, was extremely successful (90% attendees evaluated the meeting """"""""above average"""""""" on all evaluation areas). Advances in magnet field strength and instrumentation, and an array of new imaging techniques, data analysis methods and contrast agents continue to create a rich environment for rapid growth. It is thus timely to gather together the leading individuals and future investigators in this area to address the next directions for this important field. The Conference will include scientific sessions, wit two or three speakers and a discussion leader (generally including at least one young scientist), addressing emerging technological, biological and health related issues that will significantly impact on the growth of this remarkable field. There will also be poster sessions, with most participants expected to present a poster, and discussions designed to facilitate close interaction between the participants. GRC meetings are small by conventional standards (150-200 participants) with participants invited/recruited to ensure attendance by a diverse group of junior and senior investigators representing academic and government institutions and individuals from corporate research programs. Students and postdoctoral fellows will be strongly encouraged to attend, with student stipends being offered to offset some of the costs of attendance;the support being requested from the NIH will be used to help provide stipends. Particular attention will be paid to encouraging attendance by women, minorities, and the disabled. Industry will be invited to attend and sponsor the meeting since industrial exploitation of new developments in magnetic resonance is essential to ensure their rapid translation and dissemination and for economic development. No other scientific forum in this field provides the same breadth and depth of program in such an intimate and informal setting, involving both internationally leading experts and new students from a diverse range of disciplines. Thus no other meeting produces such range of fruitful new interactions necessary to exploit new ideas in Magnetic Resonance for enhanced biomedical research and improved health care.
Support is requested for the eighth Gordon Research Conference on In Vivo Magnetic Resonance July 27 to August 1, 2014. Magnetic resonance techniques play a critical role both in the delivery of high quality health care and as a tool in biomedical research. This meeting will emphasize emerging technological, biological, and health related issues that will significantly impact the future growth and of this remarkable imaging fiel and its translation to the clinic.
