IN-VIVO MR MICROSCOPY INSTRUMENTATION AT 11.7 TESLA

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We are requesting an 11.7-Tesla magnetic resonance (MR) instrument equipped with an 89-mm vertical bore superconducting solenoid. This instrument will allow us to carry out high-resolution in-vivo MR microscopic experiments on mice and small rats. We have assembled eight NIH-funded investigators from both Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh (i.e., five major and three minor users) whose research projects will greatly benefit from the availability of this high-field MR microscopic instrument. The research areas of these eight users cover a broad spectrum in biomedical sciences, e.g., brain structure and function, organ transplantation, brain tumors, head trauma, cardiology, neurology, and basement membrane. These investigators use various mouse and rat models in their research projects. The proposed MR instrument will be housed in the Pittsburgh NMR Center which was established by Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh as a research and training facility for applications of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) using animal models, in particular rats and mice, to biomedical sciences. The NMR Center has the infrastructure and personnel to operate and maintain the proposed instrument. We are requesting $500,000 from the Shared Instrumentation Program as the partial cost for the proposed instrument. Carnegie Mellon University has agreed to pay the balance of the cost for an 11.7-Tesla MR instrument in excess of $500,000 and to pay the expenses needed for renovating a room located contiguous to the NMR Center to house the proposed instrument.