Auburn University has installed Siemens' Magnetom Terra.X 7-tesla MRI scanner in its College of Engineering.
The scanner features dedicated radiofrequency sodium imaging coils and parallel transmit technology and will be used for brain and knee imaging, with a clinical focus on better understanding epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and other disorders.
Projects currently underway that will use the scanner include research exploring post-traumatic stress disorder biomarkers in senior adults via spectroscopy, comparing brain connectivity between healthy populations with mental illness with a focus on the interaction between cognition and emotions, muscle and brain energy production capacity on the cells, how AI can be used to predict brain disorders and human/animal behavior, and the effect of gene therapy for Tay-Sachs disease.
The scanner replaces the college's previous 7T system, installed in 2012 and removed, which was an investigational-only device.
The university said acquiring the new scanner was the result of a gift from Auburn engineering alumnus Thomas Walter and his wife, Jean.