Special Seminar: Gary Green

Thursday September 9, 2010
11:00am - 12:00pm
MIT Bldg 46-3189 (McGovern Institute seminar room)

"Recent advances in increasing the sensitivity of NMR and MRI by four orders of magnitude"

Gary Green
York University
Host: Charles Jennings (McGovern Institute)

Abstract:

The lack of sensitivity in current MRI applications and what the implications are for molecular imaging will be discussed. A new method for dramatically increasing the MR signal from target molecules will be presented.

The use of parahydrogen for spin transfer to nuclei in other molecules without changing that target molecule's structure will be described. In particular, the seminar will go into the details of how these recent advances in manipulating the spin-state of nuclei can be used to create extremely large magnetisations, in low field, that can be easily detected using both existing MRI coils, SQUIDS and other devices. This new methodology allows the potential non-invasive observation of biochemistry as well as the acquisition of high resolution information. The four orders of magnitude increase in sensitivity also allows the design of new hardware for MRI which can optimally operate in low fields. The implications for the future of imaging will be discussed.