Biomedical imaging research facilities for NYU Langone’s Department of Radiology and the Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAI²R) provide a state-of-the-art scientific infrastructure to support all stages of development and translation of novel imaging technologies.

Our radiology research instrumentation includes multiple leading-edge human and preclinical imaging systems, low-field MRI and sensor laboratories, a state-of-the-art radiofrequency (RF) engineering laboratory, a radiochemistry facility, and high-performance computing clusters.

Our research scientists also have access to a fully equipped small-animal imaging laboratory, partly supported by CAI²R; to a makerspace, a bioimaging center, and laboratory facilities at the Tech4Health institute; and to a comprehensive range of scientific cores and shared resources.

Human Imaging Systems

Across its network, NYU Langone operates more than 50 human MR scanners. Below, we highlight the locations and MRI machines most used by our researchers.

At the Center for Biomedical Imaging (660 First Avenue):

• two Siemens Prisma 3-tesla (3 T) MR scanners
• Siemens 7 T whole-body MR scanner
• Siemens Biograph mMR combined PET/MR scanner

Each of the above systems has multinuclear capabilities.

At NYU Langone Orthopedic Center (333 East 38th Street):

• Siemens Skyra 3 T MR scanner
• Siemens Aera 1.5 T MR scanner

At the low-field MR laboratory, which is collocated with the Gramercy radiology clinic (310 East 22nd Street):

• Siemens 0.55 T Free.Max scanner
• Hyperfine Swoop mobile head-only 0.064 T MRI scanner
• Multiwave Technologies head-only 0.05 T MRI scanner

At the Center for Advanced Imaging and Precision Radiotherapy (550 First Avenue):

• Elekta Unity MR-Linac machine, which combines a 1.5 T MR scanner with a linear accelerator (Linac) for radiation therapy
• Philips 1.5 T MR simulation system for radiotherapy planning

Additional resources include an intraoperative MR scanner at Kimmel Pavilion, various MR, PET, and CT scanners at Perlmutter Cancer Center, and many other outpatient and inpatient scanners throughout the NYU Langone network.

Low-Field MRI and Sensor Facility

We operate a low-field MRI and sensor facility at 310 East 22nd Street, a location shared with NYU Langone’s Gramercy radiology clinic. At this facility, our scientists have at their disposal low- and ultra-low field MRI scanners, an RF laboratory, an engineering bay dedicated to the development and testing of sensors, and several offices. The scanners include a Siemens Free.Max 0.55 T prototype with a dual-boot configuration for low-level access; a mobile head-only 0.064 T Hyperfine Swoop scanner; and a Multiwave Technologies 0.05 T head-only scanner.

Radiofrequency Engineering Laboratories

The radiology department’s core RF staff use two laboratories to build a range of MRI detectors, including workhorse clinical coils, specialized multinuclear coils, high impedance, ultra flexible coils, and other novel sensors that extend or complement MRI capabilities.

Our state-of-the-art RF engineering laboratory at 660 First Avenue is equipped with precision circuit routers, dielectric probes, network analyzers, three-dimensional (3D) printers, and other specialized equipment for design, prototyping, construction, diagnostics and repair of RF coils, anatomical housings, and biomorphic phantoms.

Another RF laboratory is attached to the low-field MRI and sensor facility.

Phantom Laboratory

A dedicated phantom laboratory, located at 660 First Avenue, across the hall from the RF engineering laboratory, holds reagents and materials for the synthesis of substances that mimic tissue characteristics of interest.

Machine Shop

A machine shop, equipped with a lathe, a milling machine, a bench press drill, sawing machines, and other material-shaping hardware is in the basement of 660 First Avenue.

Combined with the RF laboratory, this resource allows us to build complete medical imaging device prototypes from scratch and to significantly modify existing devices for research purposes.

Cyclotron and Radiochemistry Laboratories

Our building at 660 First Avenue also houses a cyclotron and two fully equipped state-of-the-art radiochemistry facilities for the production of PET radiotracers.

The radiochemistry suite includes a Siemens RDS Eclipse 11 MeV cyclotron and a production laboratory staffed by PETNET, our industry partner. PETNET staff maintain the cyclotron and produce radiopharmaceuticals for NYU Langone’s clinical operations.

Department of Radiology staff maintain a radiochemistry research laboratory with synthesizers and hot cells, a dedicated quality-control laboratory with analytical high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and gas chromatography systems, and a blood metabolite analysis laboratory with gamma counters, centrifuges, and additional HPLC analyzers. The laboratory is also equipped with a Germanium/Gallium generator. The facility supports production of ¹¹C, ¹⁸F, ²³Na, ¹⁵O, and ⁶⁸Ga radioisotopes; synthesis and validation of radiotracers; and dispatch of doses to a human PET/MR system one floor below or to a micro-PET/CT system in the preclinical imaging laboratory nearby.

Artificial Intelligence and Supercomputing

To support leading-edge artificial intelligence (AI) studies, the Department of Radiology maintains a high-performance computing (HPC) cluster wholly dedicated to imaging research. The cluster, known as the Radiology Condo, comprises 10 four-way GPU nodes (each with four NVIDIA A100 GPUs, 160 hyperthreaded cores of Intel Xenon Platinum 8380 CPU, and 1 TB of RAM). The Radiology Condo operates alongside—and is expected to grow to replace—our previously established 50-node HPC cluster called Skynet, with 192 NVIDIA V100 GPUs; 8,000 CPU cores; and 119,808 tensor cores.

Our research staff also has access to shared NYU Langone High Performance Computing Core resources, including the UltraViolet distributed-memory HPC cluster and a high-performance parallel storage system.

Preclinical Imaging Laboratory

The Department of Radiology operates a core preclinical imaging laboratory with support from CAI²R and Perlmutter Cancer Center.

The laboratory, located at 550 First Avenue, hosts several preclinical MR systems:

• Brucker Maxwell 7 T micro-MRI
• Brucker Biospec 7 T micro-MRI
• Brucker Biospec 3 T micro-MRI

Other instrumentation includes a Siemens Inveon micro-PET/CT scanner; two Brucker Molecubes X-Cube micro-CT scanners; a β-Cube micro-PET scanner; a γ-Cube micro-SPECT scanner; a Scintica iNSiGHT DXA scanner; an Xerra computed fluorescence tomography (CFT) scanner; four high-frequency ultrasound scanners; and seven bioluminescence and fluorescence scanners.

Microscopy Laboratory

Our researchers have access to a core microscopy laboratory located at 550 First Avenue.

The laboratory is equipped with a range of light microscopes and a lineup of specialized tools for electron microscopy. These include microtomes, cryo-ultramicrotomes, coaters, dryers, freezers, and other instruments for preparation of samples and for high-resolution imaging of specimens. These resources enable state-of-the-art validation of mesoscale structure of tissues.

Tech4Health Institute

NYU Langone’s Tech4Health Institute, at 433 First Avenue, is a research and development hub for new biomedical instruments and technologies. At Tech4Health, our imaging scientists and engineers have access to a comprehensively equipped makerspace, laboratory facilities, and a bioimaging center that includes instruments for multiphoton imaging, optoacoustic imaging, and electrophysiology measurements.

Offices and Conference Rooms

Radiology research personnel are concentrated in two locations:

• at 660 First Avenue, in a building that also houses the Center for Biomedical Imaging radiology clinic, reading rooms, several radiology department leadership offices, the RF and phantom laboratories, the radiochemistry facility, and the machine shop
• at 227 East 30th Street, in the Translational Research Building, which holds offices, conference rooms, and collaboration spaces for several departments and is home to NYU Langone’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute