University of Iowa – 3T ESP MRI Scanner

The University of Iowa is requesting funds to acquire the GE Extreme Slewrate Performance (ESP) 3T head-only scanner.

The ESP scanner provides high end gradient performance (Amplitude=115 mT/m and Slewrate=700T/m/s), which will offer significant improvements for diffusion imaging.

The high slew rate performance provides a factor of two reduction in echo-spacing across all resolutions typically used for neuroimaging.

Such capabilities will result in the ability to study tissue microstructure, which has been limited in the past by gradient performance.

This gradient performance coupled with the MUSSELS based algorithms being developed in the Magnetic Resonance Research Facility (MRRF) will provide the ability to assess tissue microstructure at high resolution when using the high b-values needed to employ biophysical models to characterize tissue microstructure.

The ESP scanner will also provide lower SAR that will enhance our T1? imaging efforts. In addition, the scanner provides a more friendly environment for research subjects.

This scanner is needed to support the rapidly expanding neuroimaging community that was been brought about by the formation of the Iowa Neuroscience Institute (INI). The INI has hired ten faculty in the past three years that are using neuroimaging as part of their research program.

We have outgrown the time available on our existing research 3T scanner and additional resources are needed to support these neuroimaging efforts.

The MRRF serves as a Core University Facility and houses the only research dedicated scanning facilities in the State of Iowa. The proposed scanner would support 26 investigators with 33 NIH funded grants with an additional 15 pending NIH grants. 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) as well as the Midwest.

These investigators are a highly productive group, which study a variety of diseases including bipolar disorder, brain development, aging, neurodegenerative disorders, 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, and 4) 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 proposed ESP 3T scanner will be 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 will cover the costs to install the ESP scanner and will provide financial support in case user fees are unable to cover expenses for the facility.