The aim of this application is to locate a state-of-the-art 9.4T/65cm bore MRI system at the University of Minnesota's Center for Magnetic Resonance Research (CMRR) for non-human primate and human MR imaging and spectroscopy studies of brain function and neurochemistry. This system will be the first of its kind, providing for the first time, a 9.4T field magnitude with a sufficiently large bore size to conduct human and non-human primate studies. No other system at this field strength with such a bore size exists. This system will become a shared resource for CMRR collaborators at the Wisconsin Regional Primate Research Center (WRPR) in Madison, Wisconsin, and will serve the needs of numerous investigators from several institutions located in the Midwest and the East coast. With its in-house staff of fifty five investigators and support staff, the expertise in high field magnetic resonance research, and support as a Biotechnology Research Resource (BTRR) by NIH for """"""""High Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy"""""""", the CMRR is an ideal facility to support the shared instrument and its users. The proposed 9.4T system will have a Varian Associates, Inc. lnova console and a Magnex Scientific, Inc. superconducting magnet with 7 G/cm shielded gradients and high-order shims. The magnet will have a 65 cm inside diameter that will step to a gradient/shim coil inside diameter of 40cm. The gradient set will serve as a """"""""head"""""""" gradient for human studies, while providing large access for non-human primate work including awake monkeys. With four receiver channels and two transmitter channels, this system will be capable of multi-nuclear spectroscopy from 12 MHz to 400 MHz with full second-channel decoupling capability. The echo-planar imaging (EPI) compatible gradients will make it possible to perform dynamic fMRl studies. Signal-to-noise and spectroscopic resolution at 9.4T has been demonstrated to be twice that of standard 4.7T animal research systems for 1H nuclei and 4 times for the lower gyromagnetic ratio 170 nucleus. Overall, this non-human primate and human primate dedicated NMR system will provide state-of-the-art performance and capability for imaging of laboratory animals and humans for the first time at such high magnetic fields.
| Idiyatullin, Djaudat; Corum, Curt; Moeller, Steen et al. (2011) Dental magnetic resonance imaging: making the invisible visible. J Endod 37:745-52 |
