7T Magnetic Resonance Imaging System for Basic, Translational and Clinical Research

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PROJECT SUMMARY Weill Medical College of Cornell University (Weill Cornell Medicine, WCM) requests High-End Instrumentation Grant Program support to purchase a state-of-the-art human whole-body seven Tesla (7T) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system as a Special Use Instrument (SUI; PAR-19-177). This 7T MRI is part of a major WCM strategic investment in crucial imaging infrastructure needed to advance basic, translational and clinical research. As ultrahigh field 7T offers supreme signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for MRI studies and supreme signal for tissue magnetism studies, both that increase with MRI field strength, 7T MRI is a vital research tool for our users to study devastating diseases of subtle pathologies in the vital brain and many other organs in the body. We request this SUI 7T MRI of the highest clinically-available field strength for integrated biomedical research and clinical practice, where the clinical practice will help overcome the prohibitive cost of purchasing, installing, operating and maintaining a 7T MRI and, more importantly, will enhance translational and clinical researches that are the foci of most our users. WCM is a world leader on biomedical research, and its long- range goals include catching and curing diseases at their early stages. This SUI 7T MRI, with exquisite tissue sensitivity to detect subtle changes at early stage of disease progression and therapy response, will contribute significantly to our quest in understanding and treating various diseases, including neurodegeneration, psychiatric disorders, epilepsy, stroke, osteoarthritis, inflammatory diseases, cancers, and vascular diseases.