Upgrading a 7T Scanner to Study Cancer, Neurological and Musculoskeletal Diseases

描述（由申请人提供）：本提案的目的是获得必要的资源，为UCSF的7T全身MR扫描仪提供关键的系统升级。该扫描仪位于加州大学旧金山分校使命湾校区苏贝克实验室的高场磁共振研究设施。它在展示高分辨率成像和光谱学在表征人类疾病和评估治疗干预方面的应用方面发挥了重要作用。在过去四年中进行的研究表明，由于在该场强下可用的灵敏度增加和差异对比机制，对患者和临床前模型系统的7T研究有明显的益处。尽管已经取得了令人印象深刻的成果，但推动现有项目向前发展并扩大该技术的应用范围需要改进梯度和更灵活的射频子系统。提议的升级将受益于18个已经资助的项目和5个悬而未决的NIH项目，这些项目来自30名积极从事高场磁共振成像研究的教师。需要并将受益于升级的应用程序包括来自癌症、神经和肌肉骨骼疾病主要项目的现有研究人员的项目，以及来自7名正在利用该技术发展其独立研究事业的新研究人员的项目。在加州大学旧金山分校扩大高场成像的应用，还将通过在课程中引入新材料，并为多学科研究轮转提供机会，为研究生、医学和药学项目的学生提供更多的教育体验。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The objective of this proposal is to obtain resources necessary to provide a critical system upgrade for the 7T whole body MR scanner at UCSF. This scanner is located at the High Field MR Research Facility in the Surbeck Laboratory at the UCSF Mission Bay campus. It has played an important role in demonstrating the applications of high-resolution imaging and spectroscopy to characterizing human disease and assessing therapeutic interventions. The studies performed over the last four years have shown clear benefit for 7T studies of patients and pre-clinical model systems, due to the increased sensitivity and differential contrast mechanisms that are available at this field strength. Despite the impressive results that have been obtained, moving the existing projects forward and expanding the range of applications of the technology require improved gradients and more a flexible radiofrequency subsystem. The proposed upgrade will benefit 18 already funded and 5 pending NIH projects from 30 faculty members who are actively engaged in high field MR imaging research. Applications that necessitate and will benefit from the upgrade include projects from established investigators with major programs in cancer, neurological and musculoskeletal diseases, as well as from 7 new investigators who are utilizing this technology in developing their independent research careers. Expanding the applications of high field imaging at UCSF will also enhance the range of educational experiences for students in graduate, medical and pharmacy programs by introducing new material into their course work and providing opportunities for multi-disciplinary research rotations. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: The High Field MR Research Facility fat UCSF supports a large number of comprehensive and multi-faceted high field Magnetic Resonance research projects that are applying novel technology to the characterization of human diseases. In order to enhance the translation research studies that are being performed in patients and pre-clinical model systems, it is critical that the equipment is kept at the state of the art. This proposal is requesting funds to provide a system upgrade that will significantly improve the quality of the data obtained and allow researchers to characterize the anatomic, physiological and metabolic abnormalities associated with disease progression and response to therapy.