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.