Project R-16637

Replacement and upgrade of electronics, radiofrequency coils and magnet monitoring units for preclinical, high-field magnetic resonance imaging. (Research)

The current small animal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) infrastructure at KU Leuven is one of the most heavily used equipment for in vivo validation of experimental disease and therapy models, indicating its importance for biomedical but also engineering and basic research in biology, physics, engineering, medicine and chemistry. MRI not only provides structural and anatomical information with high resolution and high soft tissue contrast but also metabolic and functional information ranging from research in neurosciences, cardiovascular diseases, infectious diseases, metabolic diseases, oncology and many more. In addition, MRI is used at our facility for conducting research in engineering and basic science. The current infrastructure at our facility including a 9.4T/20cm Bruker Biospec (3Mio €, installation 2007) and a 7T/30cm Bruker Biospec (2Mio €, installation 2014/15) operates with an 80-85% of full occupancy. While an upgrade of the electronics of the 9.4T scanner was performed with an FWO grant (2017), the current electronics of the 7T MRI and the magnet control units of both scanners will no longer be supported by Bruker after 2026. Increased down-times of the aging hardware has also affected research projects. In order to overcome these problems, we plan to replace/ upgrade the most fragile and important parts, the electronics, rf coils and magnet controls. This will enable state-of-the-art imaging developments again and improve temporal and spatial resolution.

01 May 2026 - 30 April 2030