CAREER: Very Low-Field Hyperpolarized Noble Gas Magnetic Resonance Imaging

0093448阿尔伯特将开发一种使用超极化3He和129Xe信号的甚低场(VLF)磁共振系统，以研究人类肺部，并探索一种低成本、便携式研究和诊断工具的潜力，用于肺部疾病的检测和分期。来自这种超极化物种的极大增强的信号足够强，足以对它们占据的气体空间进行高速成像，使它们成为吸引人的磁共振探测器。自从PI和他的合作者通过获取超极化129Xe充气的小鼠肺的MR图像发明了超极化稀有气体MRI以来，该领域在过去五年中得到了相当大的发展。特别重要的是在超极化稀有气体磁共振成像中可以在极低磁场(VLF)下实现的高信噪比(SNR)。由于原子核的极化水平是由超极化过程设定的，并且与静态磁场无关，因此VLF MRI变得可行。甚低频惰性气体核磁共振可能会带来廉价、便携的成像系统。提出了一种使用定制的100-200高斯阻性磁体的甚低频磁共振成像系统的研制方案。将开发梯度、垫片和RF线圈，并将其连接到商用低频MRI控制台。空间分辨率约为0.1毫米，计划在30厘米dsv的视场上进行，这是人类肺部的典型大小。将进行初步的人体肺部成像研究。我们的长期目标是开发一种低成本的便携式设备，可用于各种诊所、医生办公室和疗养院的肺部筛查，甚至可能用于微重力环境下的空间肺功能研究。我们提议的计划的教育部分包括四个主要内容：(I)开发一个面向大学预科学生的外展计划和教师培训计划；(Ii)在哈佛医学院医学工程中心开展关于生物医学和组织工程中成像方法的原理和使用的课程讲座；(Iii)培训研究生、本科生和博士后研究员作为研究人员；以及(Iv)开发一个教学模块，介绍如何将物理学的基本原理应用于激光和磁共振，并可将其意外地应用于生物学。中等教育活动包括参加波士顿大学人力资源管理处的研讨会和系列讲座，为教育和培训基础设施作出贡献，以及建立工业实习和伙伴关系。在霍华德·休斯医学研究所的支持下，开发了一个面向大学预科学生的生物医学工程外展项目和一个教师培训项目，旨在让未来成为科学家的年轻人更容易开展科学和科学活动。通过这些努力，教师和学生都被鼓励参与实践培训，并与他人分享他们所学到的东西。与波士顿大学合作，正在创建一门关于生物光子学专题的新研究生课程，作为他们NSF-CRCD计划的一部分，该计划将开展关于超极化氙气和氦气磁共振成像的光学泵浦的讲座。在我们项目的研究人员和学生中，包括代表人数不足的群体和攻读科学和工程高级学位的女性。

0093448AlbertA very low-field (VLF) MRI system employing the signal from hyperpolarized 3He and 129Xe will be developed in order to investigate the human lung, and to explore the potential for a low-cost, portable research and diagnostic tool for the detection and staging of pulmonary diseases. The vastly enhanced signal from such hyperpolarized species is strong enough to permit high speed imaging of the gas-space they occupy, makes them intriguing MR probes. The field has developed considerably in the past five years, since the PI and collaborators invented hyperpolarized noble gas MRI by acquiring MR images of a mouse lung that had been inflated with hyperpolarized 129Xe. Of special importance is the high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) achievable in hyperpolarized noble gas MRI, at very low-field (VLF). VLF MRI becomes feasible since the level of polarization of the nuclei is set by the hyperpolarization process, and is independent of the static magnetic field. VLF noble gas MRI may lead to inexpensive, portable imaging systems. The development of a VLF MRI system is proposed using a custom-made resistive magnet of 100-200 Gauss. Gradient, shim, and RF coils will be developed and interfaced to a commercial low frequency MRI console. A spatial resolution on the order of 0.1 mm is planned over a field of view of 30 cm DSV, the typical size of human lungs. Preliminary human lung imaging studies will be conducted. A long term objective is the development of a low-cost portable unit that can be used for lung screening in a variety of clinics, physician's offices and nursing homes, and perhaps even for space-based pulmonary function research in microgravity environments.The education component of our proposed program contains four primary elements: (i) the development of an outreach program to precollege students and a teacher training program; (ii) the development of course lectures at the Center for Engineering in Medicine at Harvard Medical School on the principles and use of imaging modalities in biomedicine and tissue engineering; (iii) the training of graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral fellows as researchers; and (iv) the development of a teaching module on how basic principles of physics are applied to lasers and magnetic resonance, and can yield serendipitous applications to biology. Secondary educational activities include participation in seminar and lecture series in the MR Division at BWH, contributions to education and training infrastructure, and the establishment of industrial internships and partnerships. The development of an outreach program in biomedical engineering to precollege students and a teacher training program, supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is designed to make science and science activities more accessible to the young people who will become future scientists. Through these efforts, teachers and students alike are encouraged to participate in hands-on training and to share what they learn with others. In a collaboration with Boston University, a new graduate course on special topics in bio-photonics is being created, as part of their NSF-CRCD program, which will develop lectures on optical pumping for hyperpolarized xenon and helium MRI. Included among researchers and students in our program's projects are under-represented groups and women pursuing advanced degrees in science and engineering.