The purpose of this proposal is to facilitate the purchase of a 3 Tesla whole-body MRI scanner. This high field MRI scanner shall provide up to 50 mT/m gradient strengths, significant improvements in signal-to-noise ratio, increased imaging speed, and exceptional spatial resolution. The key additional capabilities of obtaining diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and multi-nuclear NMR spectroscopy (MRS) on the 3T scanner are critical and urgently needed for our clinical research activities. The high field MRI scanner will be located at the Research Imaging Center (RIC) at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). Space and substantial infrastructure for operations and technical support for the 3T MRI scanner is already in place. The total cost for purchasing a 3T MRI scanner is approximately $2.7M. Besides the requested $2M from this proposal, the Departments of Radiology and Psychiatry at UTHSCSA have committed the funds in the total amount of $700,000 towards the purchase of the 3T MRI scanner. The RIC is a department-level entity of the Medical School and our mission is to promote the development and synergistic application of non-invasive imaging techniques to a broad range of medical research disciplines. The organization, staffing, equipment procurement, and operational funding of the RIC are all designed to assure the success of this mission. Presently, the RIC supports a total of 12 active NIH projects (1 P01, 8 R01, 1 K08, 1 K23, and 1 R03) and 4 other funded projects in a total amount of $20M. All these projects extensively utilize MRI scanners. In addition, more than 8 NIH R01 and other grant proposals are pending. Due to the lack of the DTI and multi-nuclear MRS at our current facility, a number of funded NIH projects cannot be fully accomplished. With the approval of the purchase of the 3T MRI scanner, all the research projects will be cost-effective and successfully completed. The state-of-the-art high field (3T) MRI imaging capability will benefit the biomedical research community in South Texas, which includes UTHSCSA, UT at Austin and San Antonio, Wilford Hall Medical Center, Brooke Army Medical Center, and Southwest Research Foundation.
