Acquisition of a Siemens Console and Gradients for a 7T MRI/MRS System

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Project Summary This proposal is aimed at converting a head-only 7T Agilent/Varian MRS scanner to a 7T Siemens scanner by replacing the console and all the RF, and gradient hardware. This will yield a state-of-the-art MRS and MRI system to serve the research needs of up to 60 principal investigators that currently scan in the Yale Magnetic Resonance Research Center (MRRC). The upgrade solves several problems. First Agilent has announced it is no longer going to make 7T magnets so if Yale is to have a 7T MRI, upgrading this existing system is the only path forward. Second because of this announcement from Agilent, support for the current system will shortly no longer be available and this expensive/important resource may be lost without such an upgrade. Third we have a strong demand at Yale for both structural and functional imaging capabilities at very high spatial and temporal resolution and by upgrading this magnet we can provide such capabilities to a large research community both within and outside of Yale. Furthermore we have several training programs in both engineering and neuroscience that would benefit from access to this upgraded high field imager. We have the technical expertise, the research relationship with Siemens, several exceptionally strong research programs, and the user needs, to justify this investment. Yale has invested a considerable amount of resources in the MRRC and in this case would provide 50% of the cost of this upgrade demonstrating the importance the university puts on this resource. This would be the only head-MRI 68cm bore 7T Siemens system in the USA. Two others exist in the world - one in Luasanne, Switzerland and the other in Waterloo, Canada and thus this would be a unique resource.