Funds are requested to establish a BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY REGIONAL RESOURCE to conduct magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy research at 4 Tesla magnetic fields. Until recently, human applications of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which has evolved to become an indispensable tool in clinical medicine, has been conducted at 2 Tesla or lower fields. Although, spectroscopy studies with animal models are most successfully conducted at higher fields, such as 4.7 Tesla and 7 Tesla, human applications have also been restricted to 2 Tesla or less, and has achieved only limited success. The University of Minnesota, Center for Magnetic Resonance, has recently installed a 4 Tesla/125 Bore whole body MR imaging/spectroscopy system. This is one of three 4 Tesla systems in the world located in non-industrial research laboratories. The availability of such systems provide for the first time the opportunity to a) develop unique spectroscopy and imaging applications that are either difficult or impossible to perform at lower magnetic fields, b) bring human MR spectroscopy into the SNR domain where it can have a significant impact on biomedical research and clinical medicine, as demonstrated with successful animal experiments at similarly high magnetic field strengths and c) examine the advantages and disadvantages of higher magnetic fields for imaging and spectroscopy with humans. A central aim of the Core and Collaborative projects, is to obtain simultaneous information on aspects of organ function, perfusion, oxygen extraction, metabolism, and anatomy in humans, non-invasively, and using the same modality. Four Tesla studies with such multifaceted information will be used to i) examine the validity of conclusions reached from animal model studies and ii) investigate biomedical problems in humans for which no animal models exist.
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