New MRI scanner arrives at the Multiscale Imaging Centre
Photos
Arrival of the new MRI scanner at the University of Münster’s Multiscale Imaging Centre.© Uni Münster - Michael Kuhlmann 
Weighing around a tonne, the magnet – the core element of the scanner – was escorted into the building with great care.© Uni Münster - Michael Kuhlmann 
Once in the lab, the “naked” magnet was positioned precisely. It will now be enclosed and fitted with many different components. © Uni Münster - Erk Wibberg
A state-of-the-art magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner for imaging mice and rats arrived at the University of Münster’s Multiscale Imaging Centre (MIC) last Tuesday (8 October) and will be put into operation in the coming weeks. “The new small animal MRI scanner enables us to develop innovative non-invasive imaging techniques and apply them to the research of biomedical questions together with our cooperation partners at the MIC, the University of Münster and beyond”, said Prof Dr Cornelius Faber, head of the “Experimental Magnetic Resonance” research group at the Translational Research Imaging Center (TRIC). “The latest transmission and reception technologies allow us to use the scanner to achieve resolutions of just a few ten micrometres – which is practically microscopic”, he explained. Faber’s team develops new imaging techniques for MRI and deploys them in order to research questions about neurological disorders, cancer, inflammation and infection.
A powerful 9.4 tesla superconducting magnet enables the scanner to generate images of the inside of the body. The hydrogen atoms in water and fat molecules react to the magnetic field. Their number and chemical environment differ according to the respective tissue, and this becomes visible in the images produced. The technology is used regularly on patients in hospitals and is available for small animals in a significantly smaller but much more powerful version. In most scanners, the magnet is cooled using large amounts of liquid helium, but this is no longer necessary with the latest generation. The details of the cooling system are kept secret by the manufacturer, yet they enable a much more compact form of construction, which considerably lowers the costs for infrastructure and operation.
The German Research Foundation, the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Münster financed the acquisition of the scanner and the necessary building work at the MIC to the tune of over three million euros.
Research groups from a variety of institutes and disciplines work at the MIC in a shared infrastructure. They bring together a core of wide-ranging expertise and technologies in biomedical imaging at the University of Münster, and use these technologies to research the behaviour of cells in organisms.