MRI: Acquisition of a Magnetic Resonance Microscope for a University Wide User Facility

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A 300 MHz wide bore nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) micro-imaging system with a diffusion probe and a rheo-device will be acquired. This instrumentation is designed for Magnetic Resonance Microscopy (MRM), i.e. high spatial resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which allows investigation of flow, diffusion, and spatial variations in matter on spatial scales of the order of 10 micrometers spatially resolved, or 10 nm from statistical bulk measurements of molecular motion within a volume element and over timescales ranging from 10 microseconds to 1second. The acquired MRM system will provide a University wide MRM user facility where appropriate samples from any MSU research lab can be interrogated by MRM by a trained operator. The acquired MRM system will allow the execution of initiated projects on ice-soil-hydrocarbon interactions, on bio-polymer dynamics, and on the interaction of geochemistry, biological activity and hydrology in subglacial sediments. MRM microscopy methods allow noninvasive measurement of fluid dynamical, chemical and biological activity in natural systems, providing unique data for the development of conceptual and numerical models of systems in which hierarchies of scales play a role in the system physical, chemical and biological evolution.The MRM group is active in educational and outreach activities such as Expanding Your Horizons, a workshop aimed at female middle school students, and Montana Apprenticeship Program which is a summer internship program for disadvantaged Native American high school students. The MRM group prepares undergraduate and graduate students for careers in the fields of micro-fluidics and 'bio-engineering studies using MRI' through publication in journals, participation at international conferences and involvement in multi-disciplinary research teams. The research conducted by the group provides the ability to quantitatively measure dynamics and structure-function using MRM and has the potential to impact medical diagnostic imaging and bioremediation of environmentally contaminated sites providing benefit to society. The instrumentation will enhance University infrastructure for graduate and postdoctoral training activities by generating productive new projects and assist in achieving the MSU five-year plan of increasing graduate enrollment.