GE Healthcare (Chalfont St. Giles, UK) and University of Iowa Health Care (Iowa City, USA) announced that they would collaborate on ultra-high-field MRI to study brain disorders. The purchase of the GE equipment for research use will be funded with a National Institutes of Health (NIH) high-end instrumentation grant awarded to Vincent Magnotta, PhD, in the department of radiology at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City (IA, USA).

The GE 7 T MR imaging scanner will provide ultra-high-field whole body scanning capabilities for MRI research. It will be housed in the University’s new Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Institute, currently under construction. It is being acquired by the University of Iowa to support the research efforts of 33 funded US National Institutes of Health (NIH; Bethesda, MD, USA) investigators from five colleges (medicine, engineering, public health, liberal arts and sciences, and business) with more than 40 NIH grants. This group of researchers from University of Iowa has a wide range of interests including functional brain mapping, high-resolution anatomical imaging of the brain, spectroscopy of the brain, evaluation of tumor response to treatment, and cardiovascular imaging.

“We are honored and delighted to work with the University of Iowa to provide ultra-high-field strength MR imaging capabilities to help study patients with a variety of brain disorders,” said Jacques Coumans PhD, general manager of GE Healthcare’s MRI business. “Our 7 T MRI research system has the abilities to provide increased image resolution and sensitivity to help accelerate translational research. This collaboration is an excellent representation of how academic-industrial partnerships can help define new directions with the goal of facilitating more immediate health improvements and better outcomes.”

Three medical device vendors participated in a competitive proposal process for the research scanner purchase.

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