The purpose of this application is to bring together the neuroscience, engineering and imaging communities at the University of Michigan with the purchase of a 7 Telsa, 30 cm bore MRI scanner for functional MRI, engineering development and other imaging studies in animals. The University of Michigan has very strong neuroscience, engineering and imaging communities, but these communities have had only limited interactions in functional neuroimaging in animal models. The proposed system provides critical enabling technology for several neuroscience studies that currently lack imaging components, several imaging technology grants that presently have access to only human MRI scanners, and several projects being undertaken by different biomedical engineering groups that currently do not have easy access to MRI. The proposed system will have a larger bore than existing very high field (e.g. 7 T) MR units at the University of Michigan and thus will enable neuroimaging studies on larger animal models. The facility will be located immediately adjacent to the Functional MRI Laboratory, which will allow leveraging of the community of researchers and ancillary resources at this facility and will help to form a larger critical mass of researchers in functional neuroimaging. The proposed system will also allow imaging researchers, more flexibility to investigate imaging technology and the physiology of brain activity. The proposed system, unlike existing human scanners on campus, will allow easy hardware modifications and will also provide 4 independent transmitters for new imaging development. Investigations of the spatial and temporal properties of the functional MRI response will be more easily performed with the high resolution capabilities of the high field system and the physiological manipulations that are possible using animal models. Finally, several investigations related to therapeutic and imaging ultrasound studies being conducted by engineering groups would benefit from a high-field imaging device located in the """"""""biomedical engineering quadrangle."""""""" These studies will make use of high field MRI to examine changing tissue properties and investigate the ability of high field MRI to detect changes in susceptibility contrast surrounding small bubbles. The proposed device will provide a truly enabling resource for maximal impact on the biomedical research community. ? ? ?
