At the present time, the University of Minnesota in vivo NMR group has a 4.7 Tesla 40 cm bore imaging/spectroscopy system equipped with an Oxford magnet and a console manufactured by the Spectroscopy Imaging Systems (SIS) Company, Fremont, CA. This NMR system is used heavily and exclusively for seven NIH funded projects that are concerned with the development and biomedical applications of spatially localized in vivo NMR spectroscopy. Based on the needs of these seven NIH projects, matching funds are requested from the BRS Shared Instrumentation Grant Program to replace the magnet and the associated gradient set of the 4.7 Tesla / 40 cm instrument with a 7 Tesla / 33 cm bore system; a $600,000 request towards the acquisition,of this 7 Tesla/33 cm bore magnet and gradients has already been awarded in an NIH program project grant (2POl HL32427) which includes three of the seven projects that form the basis of this particular application. Beyond enhancing the research endeavors of the primary investigators utilizing in vivo NMR spectroscopy at the University of Minnesota, the availability of a 7 Tesla/ 33 cm system would represent a major advance in NMR spectroscopy applications in animal models in general, and would definitively provide the impetus and the means to drive this field forward beyond its present capabilities.
