7T Small Animal MRI Upgrade

爱荷华州大学正在申请资金升级我们的小动物7 T MRI扫描仪。现有 扫描仪现在已经有10多年的历史了，提供的几个硬件组件不再 缺少替换部件。我们建议MR Solutions对扫描仪进行升级， 将取代大多数扫描仪电子设备，同时重新使用超导磁体、梯度放大器 （IECO）、RF放大器（CPC）和RF线圈（RapidMRI）。升级后的扫描仪将提供一些 动物成像的显著改进包括：1）啮齿动物成像的性能梯度更高; 2） 支持对较大动物进行成像; 3）支持额外的MR可见核（129 C和13 C）; 4）增加 多核通道的数量从1到8; 5）提供现代脉冲序列库;以及6） 有能力执行服务合同和采购替换零件。升级后的系统将继续 随着MR Solutions不断开发其脉冲序列库和扫描仪工具，我们的产品也在不断发展。最后 升级后的扫描仪将提供一个更稳定的平台，目前每台扫描仪的使用时间超过170小时。 一个月的大部分扫描时间用于支持NIH赠款。 该MRRF作为一个核心的大学设施，并容纳了唯一的小动物成像设施，在 爱荷华州。该扫描仪支持18名研究人员，20名NIH资助的赠款和一个更大的 梯度线圈能够在较大的动物模型中成像。MRRF支持的研究计划， 来自6所学院和15个系的调查人员。该设施还支持研究 其他州立机构（如爱荷华州州立大学）的努力。这些调查人员是一个非常有成效的 该研究小组研究各种疾病，包括大脑发育、中风、心脏/肺病和癌症。 MRRF是一个活跃的研究小组，正在开发新的成像序列， 支持我们的大量用户。这包括新的成像序列，以评估1）组织微观结构， 2)脑功能，3）癌症，4）肺功能，5）代谢。这些项目将大大受益于 拟议的扫描仪，并提供未来的成像能力，为用户的设施。 对这种设备有强有力的机构承诺。7 T小动物扫描仪位于 耗资1.2亿美元的帕帕约翰生物医学发现大楼（PBDB）和爱荷华州生物医学成像研究所 （IIBI）在这座建筑中分配了31，000平方英尺的空间用于人类和动物成像。以帮助支持 扫描仪，放射学和生物医学工程系最近聘请了3个额外的教师 他们是磁共振物理学家。最后，放射科正在提供105 000多美元， 购买升级，并将提供财政支持的情况下，用户费用无法支付的费用， 设施。

The University of Iowa is requesting funds to upgrade our small animal 7T MRI scanner. The existing scanner is now more than 10 years old and several of the hardware components provided are no longer supported with replacement parts scarce. We are proposing an upgrade of the scanner by MR Solutions, which will replace a majority of the scanner electronics while reusing the superconducting magnet, gradient amplifiers (IECO), RF amplifiers (CPC), and RF coils (RapidMRI). The upgraded scanner will provide a number of significant improvements for animal imaging including: 1) higher performance gradients for rodent imaging; 2) support for imaging larger animals; 3) support for additional MR visible nuclei (129Xe and 13C); 4) increase the number of multi-nuclear capable channels from 1 to 8; 5) provide a modern pulse sequence library; and 6) ability to carry a service contract and source replacement parts. The upgraded system would continue to evolve as MR Solutions continues to develop their pulse sequence library and scanner tools. Finally, the upgraded scanner will provide a more stable platform, which is currently being used more than 170 hours per month with a majority of scanner hours in support for NIH grants. The MRRF serves as a Core University Facility and houses the only small animal imaging facilities in the State of Iowa. The scanner supports 18 investigators with 20 NIH funded grants and the addition of a larger gradient coil would enable imaging in larger animal models. The MRRF supports the research program of investigators from 6 colleges and 15 departments across campus. The facility also supports the research efforts from other state institutions (e.g. Iowa State University). These investigators are a highly productive group, which study a variety of diseases including brain development, stroke, heart/lung disease, and cancer. The MRRF is an active research group who are undertaking the development of novel imaging sequences to support our large number of users. This includes novel imaging sequences to assess 1) tissue microstructure, 2) brain function, 3) cancer, 4) lung function, and 5) metabolism. These projects would significantly benefit from the proposed scanner and provide future imaging capabilities for users of the facility. There is strong institution commitment for this equipment. The 7T small animal scanner is located in the $120 million Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building (PBDB) and the Iowa Institute for Biomedical Imaging (IIBI) was allocated 31,000 square feet of space in this building for human and animal imaging. To help support the scanner, the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering have recently hired 3 additional faculty who are MR physicists. Finally, the Department of Radiology is providing more than $105,000 to cover the purchase of the upgrade and will provide financial support in case user fees are unable to cover expenses for the facility.