Ultra High Field 9.4T Animal Magnetic Resonance Scanner

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This Shared Instrumentation Grant requests funds to support purchase of an ultra high field 9.4 Tesla magnetic resonance scanner for nonhuman primate and rodent studies of human health and disease, to be located within the McLean Hospital Brain Imaging Center. McLean Hospital is the largest Harvard-affiliated psychiatric teaching hospital and supports one of the most comprehensive neuroscience research programs in the country. With the installation of a 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance scanner in 1987, McLean became the first psychiatric facility in the world to independently own and operate a Brain Imaging Center. Subsequently, we installed a high field (4.0 Tesla) magnetic resonance scanner for research studies in 2000. The BIC research program currently includes 8 independent faculty members who are involved in collaborative imaging research studies with other investigators at McLean Hospital and several local institutions. In addition, BIC collaborations extend to other institutions in New England and across the United States. Major research interests of BIC and McLean Hospital scientists include translational research studies (human and animal models) of affective illness, aging, substance abuse, neurodegenerative disease, and technology development. The primary imaging methods employed include functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multinuclear (proton-1, lithium-7 carbon-13, fluorine-19, sodium-23, and phosphorus-31) magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS). As spatial, temporal, and spectral resolution of fMRI and MRS improve with increased magnetic field strength, translational research efforts of BIC faculty, other McLean Hospital investigators, collaborators, and other regional instrument users would be substantially enhanced by installation of an ultra high field 9.4 Tesla animal scanner.