Acquisition of a 7T MR scanner for Translational Imaging Research at Roswell Park

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Project Summary The purpose of this S10 grant application is to secure funding to replace a technically outdated 4.7T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner for the Translational Imaging Shared Resource (TISR) at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. For nearly two decades, the TISR at Roswell Park has been providing customized scientific and technical preclinical imaging services on a fee for service basis to NIH funded investigators at Roswell Park, the State University of New York at Buffalo and neighboring academic institutions in Western New York. It is a heavily utilized by over 50 Roswell Park and UB faculty members who are conducting basic and translational investigations in oncology and radiology. The existing 4.7T magnet was purchased through a combination of institutional and state funds and was the first MR scanner installed in WNY dedicated for preclinical research. Since 2001, TISR has catered to the imaging needs of 168 users, out of whom 105 utilized the existing 4.7T MR scanner. However, this aging instrument has encountered two soft quenches in the last 10 years, and has outdated electronics that lack upgrading capabilities. These limitations pose a significant risk to faculty and research programs at the only NCI designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in the state of New York outside of Manhattan. Another technical failure of the present ~20-year-old MR scanner would be catastrophic and seriously jeopardize the conduct of active NIH/NCI funded research at Roswell Park and prevent our faculty from pursuing new projects utilizing MRI for anatomic, functional and molecular imaging of cancer. Acquisition of an upgraded instrument is therefore a critical need that will not only enable TISR to meet the existing demand for this imaging technology but also facilitate further growth of TISR.