AND RATIONALE:? ? Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies yield important information on the structure and function of various body systems including the brain, muscles, joints, heart, blood vessels and other body areas. The NIA 3T MR Imaging facility will provide the NIA scientific community with the magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopic methods to delineate structure and physiology of aging of these and other body systems, as well as that of age-associated sarcopenia, neurocognitive, musculoskeletal, endocrine and cardiovascular diseases and their treatments. ? ? The facility: The facility will feature a new Philips 3T Achieva whole-body MRI scanner with full parallel imaging and heteronuclear spectroscopy capabilities. Magnet delivery is anticipated in early September. Acceptance testing will commence shortly thereafter, followed by applications training of facility and scientific staff and investigators. ? ? Staffing: We are fortunate to have recruited Dr. Suraj Serai as the facility manager. He has taken the lead overseeing all aspects of the facility construction, magnet installation and implementation of acceptance and pilot testing. Recruitment of a lead scientist is underway, as well as for a research MRI technologist. Additional positions include image and data processing personnel.? ? Pilot Testing: Unlike clinical MRI imaging, scientific applications often utilize techniques that require either de-novo development or modification of existing research or commercially available protocols prior to implementation in clinical studies. We have therefore developed a protocol that will allow for the development and refinement of MRI scanning procedures of human subjects. This protocol has received approval by the MedStar Research Institutional Review Board and testing will commence shortly. We will evaluate a variety of MRI pulse sequences on normal volunteers and individuals with a variety of medical conditions to determine optimal protocols for use in normal and patient populations.
