The University of Illinois will establish a Science and Technology Center for Magnetic Resonance Technology for Basic Biological Research. The Director of the Center will be Professor Paul C. Lauterbur. The goal of the Center is to develop the world's most advanced magnetic resonance imaging instrumentation technically feasible for the study of living organisms, individual cells, live animals, and humans and apply it to the most challenging problems in the life sciences, with a specific focus on brain physiology, anatomy, and function. Five institutions will contribute to the program in a coordinated fashion. These comprise the University of Illinois, the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, the Texas Accelerator Center, the University of Chicago, and the IBM Watson Research Laboratory. The two principal elements of the Center's program are: 1. The development of magnetic resonance imaging instrumentation covering a wide range of methodologies and technical approaches, including the design and implementation of a four Tesla, one-meter bore magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy system, advanced NMR microscopy instrumentation for both imaging and spectroscopy, further development of targetable NMR reagents for the study of perfusion and cell labeling, and the development of tools for mathematical modeling of complex physiologic processes. 2. The application of this instrumentation and its associated methodologies for the study of a wide range of the most challenging life sciences problems. Specifically it will be devoted to the understanding of complex biological processes relating structure, dynamics, and chemistry of the living brain. Development of the magnetic resonance imaging instrumentation will allow metabolic processes in living animals and humans to be studied noninvasively in real time, and its application to brain physiology, metabolism and function would mark a major breakthrough in this field. The ability to construct images using nuclei other than protons (such as phosphorus) will add a new dimension to new ways of studying biological problems. This Center will stimulate enhanced activity in education and in the development of human resources.
