Upgrade 3-Tesla MRT

• Subject Area: Psychology
• Term: Funded in 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 463260168

The Center for Cognitive Neuroscience Berlin (CCNB) at the Department of Education and Psychology of Freie Universität Berlin has been equipped with a 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner since 2009. The MRI scanner forms a core facility of Freie Universität Berlin enabling outstanding transdisciplinary neurocognitive research between scientists from various disciplines such as psychology, psychiatry, neuro- and human sciences, neurolinguistics and neuroeconomics. To date, about 10,000 subjects have been examined in more than 250 studies by more than 41 research groups from 6 departments with considerable scientific output (~50,000 citations in the last five years). However, rapid developments in neuroimaging and requirements in the field of computational neuroscience, a main focus at CCNB, are pushing the MRI system installed 11 years ago to its performance limits. Neither hardware nor software of the device is state-of-the-art. This concerns the efficiency of the gradient system, the number of independent receiving and excitation channels, the radio frequency (RF) system, the computing power for image reconstruction as well as the software platform, which is no longer supported by the manufacturer. As a result, cutting-edge MRI sequences (such as essential multiband multi-echo sequences or diffusion-weighted imaging) can only be used - if at all - at the limits of the technical specifications with suboptimal parameter settings. Furthermore, the MR technology available today provides crucial improvements in data quality (including a boost in the signal-to-noise ratio and reduction of image distortion) with an increase in spatial and temporal resolution as well as innovations such as the targeted spatial excitation of subareas of the brain. This application is for the upgrade of the MRI at the CCNB to enable the most up-to-date sequences in state-of-the-art functional and structural imaging in continuous operation and to use the newly available MR techniques to ensure international competitiveness in methods. The upgrade is also necessary to enable time-efficient and efficient daily operation (in particular for special populations, e.g., children), and to meet the increasing requirements for scientific collaborations and multicenter studies. The technically and economically most expedient solution is to upgrade the instrument to a stronger gradient system (80 mT/m) with 64-channel RF technology, in which the main magnet remains as is. Still, all other device components are renewed, and the software platform is upgraded to the new generation. Compared to the acquisition of a new device, this upgrade is 50% more cost-efficient.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Upgrade 3-Tesla MRT
• Instrumentation Group: 3231 MR-Tomographie-Systeme
• Applicant Institution: Freie Universität Berlin
• Leader: Professor Dr. Felix Blankenburg