MRI: Acquisition of a 3.0 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scanner

University Of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa AL

Investigators

Abstract

This award permits the University of Alabama to acquire a 3.0 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system. Establishing an MRI research facility at UA will be a significant new direction in human neuroscience research at UA as well as allow for collaboration with other institutions on large multi-site projects. A neuroimaging facility at UA will provide a much-needed boost to the neuroscience initiatives (e.g., graduate research in neuroscience, undergraduate neuroscience minor, undergraduate and graduate programs in educational neuroscience) at UA. The 3.0T MRI system will have a lasting impact on the field beyond the specific projects that will be initially supported and advanced. Most importantly, sharing a critical research tool like the MRI scanner creates a platform to accelerate conceptual and methodological development across neuroimaging laboratories, capitalizing on the exceptional pool of talent available at UA and other universities in the region. Building a neuroimaging research environment will be a catalyst for training undergraduate and graduate students interested in neuroscience research, including women and underrepresented minority students. This will also provide opportunities for training students from historically black colleges nearby, such as Stillman College and other such universities in the state of Alabama. Establishing a neuroimaging environment at UA will, in addition to facilitating neuroscience research, provide opportunities for the surrounding rural communities to participate in research as well as students from rural areas in Alabama. The proposed MRI system will stimulate interdisciplinary collaborative research projects at the basic and translational levels at UA. The following research projects at UA will utilize the MRI system: 1) Multiscale neural processing and the neurobiology of language processing and reading comprehension in healthy individuals and in disorders; 2) Developing brain algorithms to improve natural language processing; 3) Neurobiological bases of mathematical cognition, with specific emphasis on embodiment of number and arithmetic; 4) Examining the cognitive and neural changes associated with healthy aging, memory and attention; 5) Investigating lifetime stress, brain aging, and the racial differences underlying brain aging; 6) Biomedical imaging analysis and development of shape-controlled magnetic nanoparticles for MRI; and 7) Developmental neurobiology of social brain in healthy individuals and in disorders. The MRI system will enhance the collaboration across different schools, colleges and departments at UA, including Psychology, Education, Communicative Disorders, Biological Sciences, and Engineering. This project is jointly funded by the Major Research Instrumentation Program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.