University of Iowa – 3T ESP MRI Scanner

爱荷华大学正在申请资金购买GE Extreme Slewrate Performance(ESP)3T 纯头部扫描仪。ESP扫描仪提供高端渐变性能(幅度=115 mT/m和 Slewrate=700T/m/S)，这将为扩散成像提供重大改进。高转换率 性能可将所有分辨率的回波间隔降低两倍，通常用于 神经成像。这种能力将导致研究组织微结构的能力，这一能力一直受到 过去靠渐变表现。这种梯度性能与基于贻贝的算法相结合 正在开发的磁共振研究设施(MRRF)将提供评估组织的能力 使用生物物理模型所需的高b值时的高分辨率微结构 描述组织的微观结构。ESP扫描仪还将提供更低的SAR，以增强我们的T1ρ 成像的努力。此外，扫描仪为研究对象提供了更友好的环境。这 需要扫描仪来支持快速扩张的神经成像社区，这是由 爱荷华州神经科学研究所(INI)的成立。INI在过去三年中雇佣了10名教职员工 正在使用神经成像作为他们研究计划的一部分。我们现有的时间已经超出了可用时间 需要研究3T扫描仪和额外的资源来支持这些神经成像努力。 MRRF作为核心大学设施，拥有唯一的研究专用扫描设施 在爱荷华州。拟议的扫描仪将为26名调查人员提供33笔NIH资助的拨款，并 另外15笔悬而未决的NIH拨款。MRRF支持来自6所学院的研究人员的研究计划 以及校园里的15个部门。该设施还支持其他国家机构的研究努力 (例如，爱荷华州立大学)以及中西部。这些调查人员是一个生产力很高的群体， 研究各种疾病，包括双相情感障碍、大脑发育、衰老、神经退行性疾病、 和癌症。MRRF是一个活跃的研究小组，他们正在从事新型成像的开发 序列以支持我们的大量用户。这包括评估组织的新成像序列 微结构，2)脑功能，3)癌症，4)代谢。这些项目将大大受益于 拟议的扫描仪并为该设施的用户提供未来的成像能力。 对于这种设备，机构有很强的承诺。拟议的ESP 3T扫描仪将安装在 耗资1.2亿美元的帕帕约翰生物医学发现大楼(PBDB)和爱荷华州生物医学研究所 成像(IIBI)在这座建筑中被分配了31,000平方英尺的空间，用于人类和动物成像。至 为了帮助支持扫描仪，放射和生物医学工程部最近聘请了3名 物理学家先生的额外教员。最后，放射科将支付安装 ESP扫描仪，并将在用户费用无法支付设施费用的情况下提供财务支持。

The University of Iowa is requesting funds to acquire the GE Extreme Slewrate Performance (ESP) 3T head-only scanner. The ESP scanner provides high end gradient performance (Amplitude=115 mT/m and Slewrate=700T/m/s), which will offer significant improvements for diffusion imaging. The high slew rate performance provides a factor of two reduction in echo-spacing across all resolutions typically used for neuroimaging. Such capabilities will result in the ability to study tissue microstructure, which has been limited in the past by gradient performance. This gradient performance coupled with the MUSSELS based algorithms being developed in the Magnetic Resonance Research Facility (MRRF) will provide the ability to assess tissue microstructure at high resolution when using the high b-values needed to employ biophysical models to characterize tissue microstructure. The ESP scanner will also provide lower SAR that will enhance our T1ρ imaging efforts. In addition, the scanner provides a more friendly environment for research subjects. This scanner is needed to support the rapidly expanding neuroimaging community that was been brought about by the formation of the Iowa Neuroscience Institute (INI). The INI has hired ten faculty in the past three years that are using neuroimaging as part of their research program. We have outgrown the time available on our existing research 3T scanner and additional resources are needed to support these neuroimaging efforts. The MRRF serves as a Core University Facility and houses the only research dedicated scanning facilities in the State of Iowa. The proposed scanner would support 26 investigators with 33 NIH funded grants with an additional 15 pending NIH grants. The MRRF supports the research program of investigators from 6 colleges and 15 departments across campus. The facility also supports the research efforts from other state institutions (e.g. Iowa State University) as well as the Midwest. These investigators are a highly productive group, which study a variety of diseases including bipolar disorder, brain development, aging, neurodegenerative disorders, and cancer. The MRRF is an active research group who are undertaking the development of novel imaging sequences to support our large number of users. This includes novel imaging sequences to assess 1) tissue microstructure, 2) brain function, 3) cancer, and 4) metabolism. These projects would significantly benefit from the proposed scanner and provide future imaging capabilities for users of the facility. There is strong institution commitment for this equipment. The proposed ESP 3T scanner will be located in the $120 million Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building (PBDB) and the Iowa Institute for Biomedical Imaging (IIBI) was allocated 31,000 square feet of space in this building for human and animal imaging. To help support the scanner, the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering have recently hired 3 additional faculty who are MR physicists. Finally, the Department of Radiology will cover the costs to install the ESP scanner and will provide financial support in case user fees are unable to cover expenses for the facility.