High field small animal MRI

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Multimodal small animal imaging is one the central research topics at the Westfalian Wilhelms University. The overarching aim of the requested small animal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner is to enable development, implementation, and application of novel imaging methods for basic and applied biomedical research. This includes novel methods for cellular, functional, and microstructural imaging, which will provide unprecedented insight into physiological and pathological processes in the immune response, function of the brain, and development of cancer and other diseases. Due the non-invasive nature of MRI, developed methods can be translated to human imaging and may provide novel options for clinical diagnosis of pathology. One major research focus will be on development of methods for functional neuroimaging, using conventional BOLD MRI, diffusion weighted MRI, and chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) for functional MRI of the brain. These methods will be applied predominantly (but not exclusively) to investigate models of epilepsy and acute and chronic pain. The aim is to elucidate temporal alterations in brain networks, caused by epileptic seizures, to improve diagnosis and intervention for this pathology. Pain models will be used to elucidate neural processing of pain, to detect targets for improved treatment of acute and chronic of pain. To obtain a more detailed molecular insight, MRI methods will be combined with fibre-based fluorescence recordings. In parallel to functional imaging MRI methods for structural neuroimaging will be developed and applied predominantly to investigate stroke and demyelinating disease such as multiple sclerosis. The second major research focus will be on imaging inflammation and infection. For this purpose, novel MR methods to detect and track bacteria and immune cells will be developed. In this context, novel contrast agents will be designed and tested in a wide range of disease models. Multimodal and quantitative MR approaches will be developed for these assessments. One special focus is on single cell tracking MR methods such as time lapse MRI, which will be further refined and applied to investigate the time course of the immune response to various inflammatory stimuli. Besides autoimmune reactions and bacterial infections, these conditions also include cancer models, to investigate tumour associated inflammation. For the further investigation of tumour models, methods for contrast enhanced MRI, relaxation time mapping, and microstructural imaging using oscillating gradient diffusion weighted MRI will be developed. Further important but not major topics of research will be the development of novel CEST methods for metabolic imaging of the kidney, brain, cancer, and the heart. Cardiac MRI will be performed using novel flow measurement sequences and established methods to investigate cardiac remodelling after ischemia.