Project R-13092

In2U – Inter-University Ultra-High-Field MRI Centre Flanders (Research)

The requested research infrastructure consists of an ultra-high field (UHF) 7 tesla (7T) human (whole body) MRI scanner with the necessary add-ons. The key areas of research are 1) medical innovation with the development and validation of noninvasive UHF MRI diagnostics and therapy monitoring tools in neurology, oncology, nephrology, and orthopedics, 2) high resolution cognitive neuroscience, and 3) the development and validation of model-based and data driven methods for UHF MRI signal processing and post-processing using stateof- the-art artificial intelligence to improve 1 and 2. More MRI signal and different relaxation times typical for UHF 7T MRI opens possibilities for 1) the imaging of smaller but important structures and abnormalities in the human body, 2) the exploration of new and typical UHF MRI image contrasts to detect pathology, 3) the more accurate exploration of low signal physiological and metabolic information form magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging and arterial spin labeling (ASL) and 4) the imaging of other nuclei than protons (e.g. 13C, 23Na, 31P, 35K) for application in electrolyte and metabolite imaging. These advantages have already proven to be extremely useful in several disease entities and neuroscience applications, but a lot more research and validation is needed to uncover the full potential. The unique collaboration of all 5 Flemish universities and 4 university hospitals opens the possibility to bundle the expertise in MRI science and to initiate a Flemish wide collaboration in the many imaging research fields that are part of this proposal. This in turn will lift the quality and quantity of high-end MRI research and data in Flanders which in turn will put us on the world map of best-in-class MRI research regions.

01 May 2022 - 30 April 2026