Technical Resources

Siemens 7T MAGNETOM Terra Human MR Imager/Spectrometer

This system has a 60 cm clear bore and is configured for proton imaging and spectroscopy (brain, knee, surface coil) and carbon spectroscopy (brain). The system has XR gradients capable of gradient strengths of up to 80 mT/m on all axes at a slew rate of 200 T/m/s.

Available coils include a 1-channel Tx/32-channel Rx Nova Medical head coil, a 1-channel Tx/28-channel Rx QED knee coil, 8-channel Tx/32-channel Rx Nova Medical head coil, a 1-channel Tx/1-channel Rx loop coil, and a dual-tuned proton/carbon RAPID head coil.

A physiological monitoring system allows recording of ECG, pulse, and respiration signals and appropriate gating of image acquisition. A research agreement with Siemens provides pulse sequence programming access to these systems.

In addition, the following ancillary equipment is also available:

• Stimulus presentation system: LCD monitor and host computer with EPrime, Psychophysics Toolbox, Presentation, and other software for presenting timed stimuli and recording responses
• PST Celeritas Stimulus response system: Fiber optic, MRI-compatible stimulus response system for recording subject button presses in the MRI scanner
• Resoundant mechanical actuating device for MR Elastography experiments
• Avotec Silent Scan: MRI-compatible headphone system to enable the subjects in the scanner to hear movies during scanning

Computing Resources

High performance, GPU-based computing clusters are available at the Beckman Institute and at Carle. The systems are essentially identical, allowing sharing of image processing routines, and more among collaborators. Users are also able to access common image processing and analysis software.