The Preclinical Imaging Laboratory is equipped with two micromagnetic resonance imaging scanners.

Bruker/Magnex 7020 Biospec System

We offer a micromagnetic resonance imaging (micro-MRI) system dedicated to mouse imaging in our specific-pathogen-free (SPF) animal facility. We aim to address a broad range of biomedical researchers’ needs and can image nearly anything that’s possible in small live animal research, from localized organs to whole bodies. In addition, we house animals in nonspecific-pathogen-free vivaria to make our facility, instruments, and services valuable to a wider community of researchers.

This micro-MRI system is equipped with a Magnex Scientific 7.0-T, 20-cm horizontal-bore superconducting magnet interfaced to an Avance-2 Console (Intel Pentium 4, HP Linux workstation with Paravision 5.1 software for imaging and spectroscopy). The imaging acquisition is based on an actively shielded water-cooled gradient coil (90-mm inner diameter, 750-mT/m gradient strength, 100-ms rise time) driven by Copley gradient power amplifiers and a Resonance Research shim power amplifier.

This system is equipped with a large variety of radio frequency probes, including a Bruker mouse volume coil transmit and quadrature surface coil receive system and three Doty Scientific litz coils, two dedicated to mouse-head imaging and one to whole-body imaging. Several custom surface, saddle, solenoid, histology, and quadrature litz coils with dedicated holders designed by the lab of Youssef Zaim Wadghiri, PhD, director of the Preclinical Imaging Laboratory, are available to closely fit anatomical regions.

Systems for surgery, physiological monitoring, and animal handling are also available. Test and measurement equipment is available within the micro-MRI facility for basic electronic testing, including a Morris Instruments frequency sweeping box, a four-channel digital oscilloscope, a monocycle pulse generator, a quadrature frequency source (5 to 400 MHz), a digital multimeter, a fully equipped Weller soldering station, and a selection of nonmagnetic tools.

Bruker 7030 Biospec System

An additional animal 7.0-T Bruker BioSpec 7030 micro-MRI system with a 30-cm horizontal-bore superconducting magnet has recently been installed to meet growing needs. The magnet is based on nitrogen-free ultrashielded and refrigerated technology and zero helium boil-off. The micro-MRI scanner is equipped with an Avance-3HD console (Intel, HP Z440 Linux workstation with Paravision 6.1 software for imaging and spectroscopy) with an eight-parallel receive channel, 1H four-channel phased array receive-only MRI CryoProbe, a comprehensive set of radio frequency coils, and three gradient coil inserts (BGA-6, BGA-12, and BGA-20) to provide the best performance.