The MRI Laboratory will be equipped with an actively-shielded ultra-refrigerated superconducting 11.7 Tesla magnet, operating at a proton resonance frequency of 500MHz, interfaced to a modern Bruker Avance system to enable:
Four RF transmitters, one broadband RF transmitter and 8 RF receivers enable fast and high throughput studies. A high performance 9 cm shielded gradient insert is capable of 750mT/m switchable within 100ms. Dedicated RF-coils of different sizes for optimized rat brain, mouse brain, rat heart/body and mouse heart/ body were purchased, and includes state-of-the-art phase array assemblies. Additional RF coils to perform 13C, 19F and 31P MRS will be commissioned. Optimized ancillary equipment for animal positioning, monitoring and triggering will be used to ensure animal welfare during scanning.
High resolution anatomical imaging in 2D or 3D using standard protocols like spin-echo, FLASH or Turbo spin echo sequence
· Ultrafast-Imaging techniques, e.g. EPI and spiral imaging
· Integrated parallel imaging techniques (incl. GRAPPA and mSENSE)
· Volume selective spectroscopy and spectroscopic imaging methods (1H, 13C, 19F and 31P)
· Flexible software platform for the development or implementation of any future application