3T MR imaging/spectrometer for heart and brain research

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): There is a critical need for a 3T whole body MR imaging/spectrometry platform dedicated to research at the University of Southern California (USC). This was reinforced by the Dean (Stephen Ryan, MD) at the Keck School of Medicine at USC, and the president of the University (Stephen Sample, PhD) who have stated their support for the construction of a state of the art magnetic resonance imaging center to be located on the Health Sciences Campus. The interdisciplinary nature of this platform, with the advantages and capabilities it brings to a wide range of studies, typifies the theme of unifying research in both cardiovascular and neurological sciences at USC in the coming decade. This proposal has support from investigators at the House Ear Institute, Huntington Memorial Hospital of Pasadena, Children's Hospital of Los Angeles, and both the University Park and Health Sciences Campus at USC. None of these institutions/locations has a dedicated research platform that has the capabilities that we are requesting, and all of these researchers are extremely enthusiastic about the experiments that this instrumentation will make possible. There is a substantial amount of technical expertise with MR imaging and spectroscopy at USC, with investigators from Radiology, Neurology, and Biomedical Engineering. In addition, experience with high field MR systems is present in Cardiovascular Medicine, and Electrical Engineering. This state-of-the-art system will provide ultra high speed imaging, superb spectral localization, and diffusion capabilities which are required by the cutting edge research in both cardiovascular and neurological sciences; these capabilities are critical for a number of NIH funded projects that are currently underway at this institution. Moreover, it will provide an ideal experimental platform for numerous grants that are currently under review.