Cancer Research: Big Machine for Small-Animal Images

A 9.4 tesla MRI for imaging small animals was lifted into place at the Irving Cancer Research Center (ICRC) on Nov. 1. Installation of the MRI, a core facility for use by researchers throughout Columbia University Medical Center, is expected to be complete in 2015.

While typical human MRI scanners are in the 1.5–3 tesla range, imaging of small animals counterintuitively requires more powerful instruments. (The tesla is a unit used to measure magnetic fields.) The 9.4 tesla MRI will be powerful enough to provide high-resolution detail when visualizing small-animal organs. The brain of a mouse, for example,is approximately 1/3,000 that of a human brain.

The MRI will allow researchers to perform high-resolution imaging of normal organs, identify and quantify tumor volume, assess the effects of drug treatment, perform functional imaging, assess blood flow, and measure metabolites within tumors.

http://youtu.be/3xsClHIcNHA