Resources
Polarizers
Custom-built and 2 GE Healthcare optical pumping 3He polarizers
These devices are each capable of producing 1.1 liters of nearly 40% polarized 3He gas in less than 16 hours. 3He has been successfully used for regional structural and functional imaging of upper and lower airways in animals, as well as humans. 3He is however an inert gas and does not take part in any chemical or metabolic process, and therefore its application is limited to the above mentioned studies.
Custom-built optical pumping 129Xe polarizer
This device is capable of producing 20 ml/min nearly 10% polarized 129Xe gas almost continuously. 129Xe has been used for regional functional imaging of lower airways in animals. This capability can be easily extended to humans by increasing the production rate of this polarizer. 129Xe is however an inert gas and does not participate in any chemical or metabolic process in the body. Limited spectroscopic information is available from hyperpolarized 129Xe, which can elucidate certain aspects of lung function, but it is not generally applicable to metabolic processes or other organs.
GE Healthcare Xenon polarizer
This device is capable of producing 20 ml/min nearly 10% polarized 129Xe gas almost continuously. 129Xe has been used for regional functional imaging of lower airways in animals. This capability can be easily extended to humans by increasing the production rate of this polarizer. 129Xe is however an inert gas and does not participate in any chemical or metabolic process in the body. Limited spectroscopic information is available from hyperpolarized 129Xe, which can elucidate certain aspects of lung function, but it is not generally applicable to metabolic processes or other organs.
GE Healthcare Parahydrogen generator
The devices are capable of polarizing suitable 13C compounds through parahydrogen-induced polarization transfer technique with substrates such as hydroxyethyl acrylate. We have successfully achieved polarization levels as high as ~90% in the 'para' state.
Oxford Instruments HyperSense DNP polarizer
This device is capable of polarizing a wide range of carbon-13 compounds. Currently, this system is used for phantom and cell culture studies. It is conveniently located next to a 9.4 T vertical and a 4.7 horizontal imaging magnets. This system is used my many investigators who are interested in cell culture and those who are interested in improving percent nuclear polarization. The system is used between eight to ten hours everyday.
Custom-built and GE Healthcare parahydrogen-induced 13C polarizers
In addition to the two listed parahydrogen 13C polarizers, our hyperpolarized 13C facility includes a cryogenic parahydrogen generator and an ortho/parahydrogen measurement device. The devices are capable of polarizing suitable 13C compounds through parahydrogen-induced polarization transfer technique and we have successfully achieved polarization levels as high as 40% (e.g. hydroxyethyl acrylate). This method is however specific to a certain group of compounds with a stable, unsaturated precursor, and therefore excludes many of the metabolically interesting molecules, including pyruvate. Moreover the chemical catalyst has a poor toxicology profile making it unsuitable for survival in vivo studies.
Spinhance Helium polarizer
This polarizer uses frequency-narrowed lasers to align helium gas for imaging in a broadband MRI.
Two GE Healthcare polarimeters
Spectrometers
Varian INOVA 4.7T horizontal 50-cm-bore broadband MR spectrometer
This horizontal bore spectrometer/imager is equipped with 40-cm (2 G/cm) and 12-cm (20 G/cm) gradients. This 4.7-T Varian console is equipped with a broadband amplifier and is suitable for localized in vivo spectroscopy and imaging experiments of various hyperpolarized nuclei in small animals, including mice, rats and guinea pigs.
Varian INOVA 9.4T vertical 8.9-cm-bore broadband MR spectrometer
This vertical bore spectrometer/imager is equipped with Accustar 35-mm (110 G/cm), R2I 45-mm (110/G/cm) and R2I 55-mm (35 G/cm) gradients. The Varian console is equipped with a broadband amplifier and is suitable for localized in vivo spectroscopy and imaging experiments of various hyperpolarized nuclei in mice, perfused cells and organs, as well as high resolution and solid state imaging/spectroscopy.
Bruker 7T vertical 12-cm-bore broadband spectrometer
These high-field instruments are equipped with broadband amplifiers and are accessorized with a wide range of probes making them very suitable spectrometers for high-resolution hyperpolarized NMR experiments. No actively shielded gradients are present on either instrument. The 7-T magnet is used for surface coil and in vivo high-resolution experiments in rodents as large as rats, and the 11.7-T magnet is primarily utilized for high-resolution and perfused cell experiments.
Bruker 11.7T vertical 5.4-cm-bore broadband spectrometer
These high-field instruments are equipped with broadband amplifiers and are accessorized with a wide range of probes making them very suitable spectrometers for high-resolution hyperpolarized NMR experiments. No actively shielded gradients are present on either instrument. The 7-T magnet is used for surface coil and in vivo high-resolution experiments in rodents as large as rats, and the 11.7-T magnet is primarily utilized for high-resolution and perfused cell experiments.
Scanners
Siemens Sonata 1.5T and Trio 3T whole body broadband MRI scanners
Both of these whole-body imaging scanners are equipped with integrated body RF coils and broadband amplifiers in addition to quadrature head and chest coils for various nuclei including 3Xe, 13C, 15N, 23Na and 17O. Ultrafast gradient coils are installed in these scanners capable of imaging at 40mT/m with slew rates in excess of 200 T/m/s. These scanners have been successfully utilized for hyperpolarized imaging of large animals (e.g. pigs and rabbits) as well as human subjects.
Micro-CT scanner
The eXplore CT 120 is a high-performance, high-throughput small animal In Vivo MicroCT scanner designed for high-quality scanning for a wide variety of applications. It is designed to help visualize, quantify, and characterize anatomical parameters in small animals such as mice and rats. Its table design, versatile bed mount and built-in software support allows image registration with other imaging modalities.
Buxco Research Plethysmograph
These are animal chambers used for detecting a breathing flow waveform. Buxco's chambers are a "flow" design, containing one or more pneumotachographs in the chamber wall.
SurgiVet Anesthesia Machine
This includes a pop-off valve designed to interface with an active waste gas evacuation system and maintain a passively full rebreathing bag; a non-rebreathing outlet port; and 200 ml to four liter O2 flowmeter. It has an easy, quick change absorber canister. Unit has flexibility to accommodate changing clinical practices with optional kits to convert from a pole mount unit to a tabletop or wall mount unit.