[BIC-announce] Update on human 7T facility

[Richard Hoge, Dr.]

Dear all,

I would like to provide an update regarding the new 7T MRI facility currently under construction on North Wing B2.

The construction work is progressing well, and we are on track to accept delivery of the magnet on February 5, 2019.  As portions of the suite will be built around the magnet, and several weeks of system integration are necessary, the Siemens Terra whole-body 7T scanner is projected  to enter service at the end of April 2019.

You will find several photos attached, showing (1)  entrance corridors and adjacent washroom and subject preparation room;  (2)  operator's console room;  and (3)  the MRI exam room with silicon steel magnetic shielding.  Note that access to the 7T suite will be gained via a short flight of stairs and a patient lift, due to a requirement that the magnet be raised to permit shielding of the B3 level.

Getting to this point has been a massive collaborative effort, involving administrative units of McGill (VP-RI) and the Faculty of Medicine (Facilities, Purchasing) as well as within the MNI (Director's Office, CNDM/Janet Green, Building and Maintenance/Fred Pennell).  The project has also benefited tremendously from intensive efforts by our corporate partners (Siemens/SDI), and invaluable input from the 7T Scientific Steering Committee comprised of members from the MNI (Drs Dagher, Tardif, Rudko, Shmuel, Doyon, Hoge), Douglas Hospital (Dr. Jamie Near), École Polytechnique (Dr. Julien Cohen-Adad), and Université de Sherbrooke (Dr. Martin Lepage).

This undertaking would not have been possible without Dr. Amir Shmuel's leadership of the CFI funding application, as well as the participation of the nine other Principal Users (Drs Dagher, Petrides, Bernasconi, Collins, Arnold, Chertkow, Evans, Hoge, and Doyon).  The support and collaboration from Drs Sylvain Baillet and Julien Doyon during their respective tenures as BIC Director have been invaluable.

Finally, the staff and faculty of the BIC MRI Unit have been closely involved in all stages of planning (Ilana, Mike, David, Louise, Ron and our two new Faculty Physicists Drs Christine Tardif and David Rudko).  Their dedication to providing an outstanding research MRI service has been evident throughout the process, and promises to play a critical role in the success of this exciting new instrument.

Projects like the 7T and the Prisma would not be viable without the collective excellence of our scientific user community.  Stay tuned for announcements of training seminars, to include Feindel lecture slots January 21 and March 4, to help orient research users in planning studies on the new scanner.  Investigators planning for 2019 grant submissions may incorporate the April in-service date into their proposals; we strongly encourage BIC researchers to consider new projects taking advantage of the enhanced capabilities offered by this system.  In particular, the 7T scanner will offer exceptional performance in microstructural MRI, fMRI, and MR spectroscopy.

With kind regards and best wishes for the holiday season,

Rick

---
Rick Hoge, Ph.D.
Director, MRI Program
McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute
Associate Professor and Killam Scholar, Dept. of Neurology & Neurosurgery
Associate Member, Dept. of Biomedical Engineering
McGill University
rick.hoge at mcgill.ca<mailto:rick.hoge at mcgill.ca>
514-398-1929

[cid:CDA91A4F-680E-4662-B8C9-D32587593F13 at home][cid:8944231E-396A-476B-98E7-B37EDF1D0D63 at home][cid:0466C6B8-C09B-4E30-A67B-FC0507BAACFB at home]



-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/pipermail/bic-announce/attachments/20181219/5514af17/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 7T_suite_001_entry.jpeg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 64876 bytes
Desc: 7T_suite_001_entry.jpeg
URL: <http://www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/pipermail/bic-announce/attachments/20181219/5514af17/attachment-0003.jpeg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 7T_suite_002_control_room.jpeg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 69434 bytes
Desc: 7T_suite_002_control_room.jpeg
URL: <http://www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/pipermail/bic-announce/attachments/20181219/5514af17/attachment-0004.jpeg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 7T_suite_003_exam_room_with_shielding.jpeg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 87469 bytes
Desc: 7T_suite_003_exam_room_with_shielding.jpeg
URL: <http://www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/pipermail/bic-announce/attachments/20181219/5514af17/attachment-0005.jpeg>