Core Facilities

• Focused ultrasound treatment in preclinnical setting

• Compatible with 7T small animal MRI scanner

Specifications

•  8-element annular array

•  Operating at 1.5MHz

•  US transducer coupled to head via acoustically transparent membrane

Victor Frenkel, PhD
Phone: 410-706-7783
vfrenkel@som.umaryland.edu

This template (to come) is for the small animal PET-CT scanner, which can be used in the "Facilities and Other Resources" page of NIH applications. Before using this template, please contact your collaborator to ensure the information is correct and up to date.

Small Animal MR-Guided FUS

The University of Maryland houses the Core for Translational Research in Imaging @ Maryland (C-TRIM) which is operated by faculty associated with the Center for Advanced Imaging Research (CAIR) within the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine.  Within the core, both animal and human imaging facilities are available.

Core for Translational Research in Imaging @ Maryland (C-TRIM): The facilities of C-TRIM are located in two buildings.  One is located in Howard Hall 6^th floor where the 7 Tesla Bruker small Animal MRI, Siemens Inveon microPET/CT, SPECT, Xenogen, MR guided Focused Ultrasound (MRgFUS), fluorescence and bioluminescence imaging and wet lab for tissue processing are available.  The other location is in the basement of the new Health Sciences Research Facility III (HSFIII) building where a 9.4 Tesla Bruker system is available.  This location also hosts the human imaging arm of C-TRIM where a research dedicated 3.0 Tesla PRISMA FIT scanner and a state-of-the-art Siemens 3.0 Tesla mMR biograph system (combined PET/MR) are located. C-TRIM provides cross-sectional imaging services to various investigators on campus.

Currently the core houses a NCRR funded 7 Tesla 30 cm MRI scanner from Bruker Biospin that operates on Avance VI software system. Two sets of gradient coils are available to facilitate optimal imaging of larger and smaller rodents operating at slew rates of 800 T/m/s with a peak gradient strength of 200 mT/m and the second one operating at a slew rate of 5000 T/m/s with a peak gradient of 400 mT/m respectively.  The scanner has multi-nuclear capabilities.  Parallel imaging is available with 4-receive and 4 transmit channels available with the system.  Several RF coils, including P-31, C-13 and Na-23 are available to fit the anatomy of various rodents. Two volumetric quadrature coils, 30mm and 40 mm diameter are available to accommodate various size animals.  In addition a 4 channel receive coil is available for optimal reception of signals regardless of the transmit coil used. A large animal body coil is also available to image with the larger diameter gradient. Physiology monitoring systems are available to monitor the animals along with the safe delivery of anesthesia.

A small animal high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for neuro and body applications was recently added to this core to facilitate neuro and body interventions.  The small animal HIFU consists of 8-element phased array transducer and can be used for thermal therapies, and for performing blood-brain barrier manipulations for drug delivery.

Two SurgiVet MR-conditional animal anesthesia systems and an SA Instruments model 1030 gating and monitoring system for use with a clinical MR scanner are available for delivery of isoflurane anesthesia and to monitor physiological parameters (ECG, respiration, temperature, heart rate, and blood oxygen saturation).