3 Tesla MRI Scanner

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: Funded in 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 513024915

We are applying for a magnetic resonance (MR) scanner as a replacement for a 3 Tesla research scanner at the Brain Imaging Center (BIC) of Goethe University Frankfurt (GU). Several GU departments jointly conduct neuroscientific research projects at the BIC. These projects include neuroscientific research, research into the pathophysiology of neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases and the development of novel MRI imaging methods in neurosciences. To account for the continuously increasing number of research projects and their increasing technical complexity, a new state-funded research building is currently under construction, the relocation being scheduled for early 2024. The high-technology infrastructure center BIC-GU, which is currently being founded, is the organizational structure of the GU users in the BIC.The GU previously operated two 3 Tesla MR scanners in the BIC. As one of these scanners was no longer state-of-the-art and had reached the end-of-service limit, it had be ramped down in late 2021. Consequently, there is currently only one MR scanner available for the scientific projects of the GU. A replacement for the decommissioned MR scanner is essential to continue current and planned research projects at university level and to maintain the international competitiveness of the BIC. Outside of the BIC, the neuroscientists of the GU have no local access to research-dedicated MR scanners for human imaging. The new state-of-the-art 3T MRI device is intended to meet the increasing technical demands for innovative human brain research and to fulfill the complex technological requirements in neuroscience. The new research MR scanner will be installed directly in the new research building early in 2024.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: 3 Tesla Magnetresonanztomograph
• Instrumentation Group: 3231 MR-Tomographie-Systeme
• Applicant Institution: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main
• Leader: Professorin Dr. Elke Hattingen