AI-Driven Design of RF Pulses for Enhancing Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging

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With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging (CMI) Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Gianluigi Veglia and his group at the University of Minnesota are developing new radiofrequency (RF) irradiation techniques to enhance the performance of important probes of chemical structure, including nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Specifically, the Veglia group is utilizing powerful software that invokes artificial intelligence to assist the design process. The resulting methods have the potential to enable the acquisition of higher quality data for chemical and structural analysis of biopolymers and, as a result, are expected to improve image quality and acquisition times in MRI. The methods developed will be made freely available to the scientific community. Undergraduate and graduate students engaged in the research will receive rigorous training in basic and advanced concepts in magnetic resonance and an introduction to the use of artificial intelligence for optimization processes. The Veglia group has recently developed new software (GENETICS-AI) that generates highly compensated RF pulse shapes with unprecedented levels of fidelity for applications to NMR and MRI. The new RF shapes are inherently broadband, with tunable fidelity of spin operation. The new RF pulses have been benchmarked using a classical spin entanglement problem, obtaining a fidelity level of 99.999%. The application to liquid and solid-state NMR experiments resulted in higher signal-to-noise levels for multidimensional spectra. The team is now developing capabilities for RF pulses with both phase and amplitude modulations using an evolutionary algorithm and subsequent training of an artificial intelligence routine to optimize the power and phase of new RF shapes. The ultimate goal is to obtain high-fidelity pulses and pulse sequences that will be implemented on commercial NMR spectrometers or MRI scanners operating at high and ultra-high magnetic fields.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.