Development of Ultra-High Field, Microscale Magnetic Resonance Imaging and In Vivo Spectroscopy Instrument

该奖项将支持核磁共振设备的开发，用于直径小于1毫米至10毫米的固体和液体实验样品的微尺度三维光谱和成像。在18.8特斯拉，340高斯/厘米梯度场，该系统将是有史以来组装的最强大的磁共振成像和光谱仪器。该设计将实现世界上最高分辨率的成像和光谱学;预测的图像分辨率极限约为1微米。该仪器将为学生和研究人员提供一个强大的系统，用于快速非破坏性地获取从材料研究到单个活细胞和遗传模型生物体的样本的三维结构和化学成分数据，具有前所未有的能力和分辨率。使用设计用于均匀液相样品的NMR光谱分析的系统进行了探索极高场模态导致所提出的设备的设计的能力的可行性实验。拟议的仪器的建设将提供显着的改善，在信号噪声，分辨率和在体内显微光谱的能力。现有设备不是为这些任务而设计的，不足以超越可行性实验，这些实验已经证明了将常规磁共振成像和三维光谱技术应用于具有高磁场的非常小的样本的可行性。该仪器将为电气工程和分子成像领域的研究人员提供巨大而独特的资源，以探索新的成像和光谱模式。一旦这一仪器建成，科学界就可以进行广泛的实验应用和精确的测量，希望其他大学和机构也能效仿。该仪器的目的是帮助建立一个新的范式的研究应用微尺度磁共振研究和教育。该仪器将是一个专业级的设备，是一个易于转移的，强大的新技术。它将为多学科研究和研究培训提供一个非常强大和前所未有的机会。

This award will support the development of a nuclear magnetic resonance device for microscale three-dimensional spectroscopy and imaging of solid and liquid experimental samples from less than one millimeter up to ten millimeters in diameter. At 18.8 Tesla, with 340Gauss/cm gradient fields, this system will be the most powerful magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy instrument ever assembled. This design will achieve the world's highest resolution imaging and spectroscopy; the predicted image resolution limit is approximately one micron. This instrument will provide students and researchers with a robust system for rapidly acquiring structural and chemical composition data non-destructively in three dimensions for specimens ranging from materials research to single live cells and genetic model organisms, with unprecedented power and resolution. Feasibility experiments exploring the capabilities of extremely high field modalities leading up to the design of the proposed device were carried out using a system designed for NMR spectroscopic analysis of homogeneous liquid-phase samples. The construction of the proposed instrument will provide dramatic improvement in signal-to-noise, resolution, and in-vivo microspectroscopic capability. Existing equipment was not designed for these tasks and is inadequate for advancement beyond feasibility experiments, which have demonstrated the feasibility of applying conventional magnetic resonance imaging and three-dimensional spectroscopic techniques for very small samples with high magnetic field.This instrument will provide a tremendous and unique resource for researchers in electrical engineering and molecular imaging to explore new imaging and spectroscopic modalities. A wide range of experimental applications and precise measurement will become available to the scientific community once this instrument is built and hopefully replicated by other universities and institutions. The instrument is intended to aid in founding a new paradigm of research applications for microscale magnetic resonance research and education. The instrument will be a professional-grade device that is a readily transferable, robust piece of novel technology. It will provide a tremendously powerful and unprecedented opportunity for multi-disciplinary research and research training.