Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technology at Stanford

A PROGRAM SPONSORED BY
The NIH National Center for Research Resources

The Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technology at Stanford (CAMRT) was established as a National Research Resource in January 1995. The Center joins the Radiology Department's Richard M. Lucas Center for Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging with those of the Electrical Engineering Department's Magnetic Resonance Systems Research Laboratory toward the common goals of developing innovative Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy (MRI/MRS) techniques for fundamental anatomic, physiologic and pathophysiologic studies, and serving the academic and scientific community through collaborations, education and access to Center facilities and resources.

Our mission is to develop innovative MR technology and make it widely available to users and students locally and nationwide. Core development is motivated by (1) core director's vision for technology advancement, (2) potential for future hypothesis-driven research, (3) medical need and potential health impact, (4) opporutnity for collaboration and feedback from collaborators, (5) service application.

Our specific aims are to:

1. Develop core technology to support basic and clinical research in MR imaging and spectroscopy in the following areas:
1. Reconstruction methods: improved reconstruction methods and fast imaging sequences, web-based repository for data with a variety of k-space trajectories;
2. Imaging of brain activation: susceptibility robust techniques as well as deconvloution and motion reduction methods for event relevant imaging;
3. Diffusion and perfusion imaging methods: Techniques for visualizing visualizing and mapping the funcitonal apsects of tissue microvascular in diffusion, perfusion, and experimental brain activation at 1.5T and 3T, including tensor diffusion, exogenous and endogenous tracer perfusion and BOLD and arterial spin-tagging techniques;
4. MR spectroscopy and multinuclear imaging: novel techniques for multivoxel 2D MRS, volumetric 1H metabolic imaging, and ultra-short TE in vivo spectroscopy and imaging;
5. Cardiovascular structure and function: visualizing cardiac and vascular anatomy for quantitating blood flow and hemodynamics.
6. Interventional imaging methods: improved MR thermometry in the presence of susceptibility artifacts from ablation probe, develop methods for real-time feedback of thermometry data, and integrate an X-ray fluoroscopy system with oru "open" MR magnet.
2. Collaborate on projects facilitated by the core technology

Collaborations are defined as hypothesis-driven research projects conducted by outside investigators in conjunction with Center scientists that result in the development, in the refinement and extension, and in the application of new core technology. Collaborations currently under way include development of functional MR imaging methods, functional activation studies with fMRI, experimental and clinical stroke (cerebral ischemia) programs, diffusion tensor mapping coupled with proton spectroscopic imaging for white matter neurological diseases, such as aging and demtia, and phase contrast imaging techniques for stuies of renal function with dynamic methods.

3. Provide service to the scientific community by making the Center's core technology and technical resources available.

Service in this context includes orientation and training in the use of the equipment and access to Center resources including magnets, computers and other laboratory facilities, but excludes significant scientific participation by Center investigators.

4. Provide graduate and post-graduate training and educational opportunities for members of the scientific and public community and to students of medical imaging both enrolled at or visiting Stanford.

Stanford's graduate and post-graduate students are truly exceptional, and our Center benefits by being able to pick the best of this pool. We take the mission of training our students very seriously, and are proud of our record of accomplishment in this regard. Our students are heavily involved in Center activities even if their funding originates with other sources. In addition, CAMRT hosts several Postgraduate Courses and a Visiting Scholarship program. Training and educational opportunities sponsored by the Center include conferences, workshops, colloquia and scientific and public symposia. All programs and educational opportunities are advertised nationally and are designed to encourage a high degree of interactive, in-depth discussions, with a by-product of stimulating future collaborations.

• Education at the RSL

Among the educational functions that are held on a regular basis are:

• RSL Seminars and Journal Clubs
• MRSRL Medical Imaging Seminar
5. Disseminate information

We will continue to distribute pulse sequences, reconstruction programs, RF pulses, design tools and many other innovative advances to a wide variety of MRI researchers nationally and internationally. We will continue to publish articles in peer-reviewed journals on our technical advances and research results, and to have a substantial presence at national and international meetings. We will also make available databases of image and raw data for outside investigators to use in development of alogrithms.

• Free Software

Principal Investigator:

• Gary H. Glover, Ph.D., Professor of Radiology

Co-Investigators:

• N. Pelc, Sc.D.
• M. Moseley, Ph.D.
• D. Spielman, Ph.D.
• R. Kim Butts, Ph.D.
• D. Nishimura, Ph.D.

National Advisory Board:

• Jeff Duerk, Ph.D., Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals of Cleveland
• Dennis L. Parker, Ph.D., Professor of Radiology, University of Utah
• Albert Macovski, Ph.D., Professor of Electrical Engineering and Radiology, Stanford University
• James Pipe, Ph.D., Senior Staff Scientist, Barrow Neurological Institute
• Dolf Pfefferbaum, M.D., Director, Neuroscience Program, SRI International
• Kamil Ugurbil, Ph.D., Professor of Radiology, University of Minnesota

For further information: