MRI: Acquisition of a Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma 3-Tesla MRI

在美国国家科学基金会主要研究仪器项目对华盛顿大学(UW)的支持下，心理学系的杰弗里·M·博因顿博士和学习与脑科学研究所联席主任帕特里夏·K·库尔将购买一台西门子Magnetom Prisma 3-Tesla磁共振成像(MRI)扫描仪，用于人类神经成像研究。核磁共振是研究人脑的主要工具。该仪器将为来自心理学、言语和听力、放射学、精神病学和计算机科学等广泛部门的科学家共享和使用。这种最先进的设备具有四种研究人脑的功能：结构成像、功能成像、扩散加权成像和磁共振(MR)光谱分析。结构成像是指使用核磁共振扫描仪获取大脑结构的图像，这些图像可用于研究大脑结构在不同人群中的差异，或者年龄和经验如何影响人脑的生长。功能成像，或“功能磁共振成像，(FMRI)”被用来测量当人类受试者执行任务或体验感觉刺激时，大脑活动在何时何地发生。功能核磁共振成像依赖于核磁共振扫描仪测量大脑活动变化引起的氧合和去氧血液水平变化的能力。扩散加权成像可以通过测量水分子沿这些路径自然扩散的方式来检测大脑中的主要神经元路径。最后，磁共振波谱测量神经递质浓度的水平，例如大脑中抑制性神经递质GABA。例如，不同水平的GABA被发现在自闭症患者和神经典型患者之间存在差异。这种新的核磁共振扫描仪将成为研究广泛的人类神经科学问题的主要设备。这些研究包括语言功能和功能障碍的研究，认知，发展认知神经科学，感觉神经科学，神经障碍，以及包括自闭症在内的社会认知的研究。上述四种功能将被用于研究各种各样的对象，包括儿童、青少年、自闭症、注意力缺陷障碍(ADD)、阿尔茨海默氏症、失明、阅读障碍和帕金森氏症。例如，功能磁共振成像将被用来研究大脑的反应，而患有ADD的受试者试图忽略视觉刺激。在另一个例子中，弥散磁共振将被用来研究儿童在语言发展过程中前额叶执行功能网络的变化。新的扫描仪将成为蓬勃发展和不断发展的人类跨学科神经科学界的核心，并将进一步加强现有的神经成像数据采集和分析方法培训文化。通过课程和实践培训计划，我们将为所有学科的学生和博士后提供必要的培训，以掌握在人类神经科学领域成功开展独立职业所必需的先进成像技术。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the NSF Major Research Instrumentation Program to the University of Washington (UW), Drs. Geoffrey M. Boynton in the Psychology Department and Patricia K. Kuhl, co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences, will purchase a Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma 3-Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner for human neuroimaging research. MRI is the primary tool for investigating the human brain. This instrument will be shared and available for scientists from a wide range of departments including Psychology, Speech and Hearing, Radiology, Psychiatry and Computer Science. This state-of-the-art device has four functions for studying the human brain: structural imaging, functional imaging, diffusion weighted imaging and magnetic resonance (MR) spectroscopy. Structural imaging is using the MRI scanner to acquire images of brain structure which can be used to study, for example, how the brain structure differs across different populations, or how age and experience affect the growth of the human brain. Functional imaging, or "functional magnetic resonance imaging, (fMRI)" is used to measure where and when brain activity occurs as human subjects perform a task or experience sensory stimulation. fMRI relies on the MRI scanner's ability to measure changes in the level of oxygenated vs. deoxygenated blood that are caused by changes in brain activity. Diffusion weighted imaging can detect the major neuronal pathways in the brain by measuring the way in which water molecules naturally diffuse along these pathways. Finally, MR spectroscopy measures the levels of neurotransmitter concentration, such as the inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA throughout the brain. Different levels of GABA have been found to vary, for example, between subjects with autism and neurotypical subjects. This new MRI scanner will be the primary device for studying a wide range of human neuroscience problems. These include studies of linguistic function and dysfunction, cognition, developmental cognitive neuroscience, sensory neuroscience, neurological disorders, and studies of social cognition including autism. The four functions described above will be used to study a wide variety of subjects including children, adolescents, subjects with autism, attention deficit disorder (ADD), Alzheimer's, blindness, dyslexia, and Parkinson's disease. For example, fMRI will be used to study the brain's response while subjects with ADD attempt to ignore a visual stimulus. In another example, diffusion MRI will be used to study changes in prefrontal executive function networks in children during language development. The new scanner will form the centerpiece of a thriving and growing human interdisciplinary neuroscience community and will further strengthen an existing culture of training in neuroimaging data acquisition and analysis methods. Through a program of courses and hands-on training, we will provide the training that is needed for students and postdocs across all disciplines to master the advanced imaging techniques necessary to launch successful independent careers in the human neurosciences.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.