4-Tesla MRI Facility

The Brookhaven Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) program develops new directions and novel approaches to in vivo Nuclear Magnetic resonance (NMR). It is a core endeavor of the Brookhaven Center for Translational Neuroimaging, which along with the High-Field MRI Laboratory comprises the Brookhaven PET (Positron Emission Tomography) Laboratory and the recent addition of the Small Animal MRI Facility at BNL. Together, and along with the BNL Medical MRI Program, these Laboratories investigate the synergistic use of multiple modalities in studies of the human and animal brain, as well as other organs. The Brookhaven Center for Translational Neuroimaging is dedicated to basic and biomedical research.

MRI Imaging program research staff stand in front of the 4-T MRI instrument.

The heart of the High-Field MRI Laboratory is an MRI instrument featuring a 4 Tesla superconductor magnet. There are few other MR machines in the world having human-sized magnets with field strengths of 4 T or greater. The laboratory is located across the street from the PET laboratory.

The major goal of this program is the operation of the 4 Tesla whole-body MRI scanner in the High-Field MRI Laboratory at BNL, as well as the development and refinement of innovative NMR techniques to image and measure the physiology, function and chemistry of tissues in vivo. The research focuses on the development of techniques for (1) measuring neurotransmitters; (2) quantifying blood-brain barrier permeability; (3) rapid relaxographic imaging; (4) ultra-fast MRI to observed brain activation and perfusion; and (5) reduction of radiofrequency (RF) power deposition. this program also includes the development of techniques to merge information from functional and physiologic MR with PET data. the techniques developed in the BNL High-Field Laboratory are continuously being transferred into the human arena to improve our understanding of brain function and chemistry in healthy subjects and patients with disorders such as drug abuse, multiple sclerosis, HIV infection, Alzheimers's and other neuropsychiatric diseases.

Last Modified: January 31, 2008

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE’s Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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