History

The AMRI section, together with its host laboratory, the Laboratory of Functional and Modelcular Imaging (LFMI), was formed in 2000 with the recruitment of Jeff Duyn into NINDS. Its research initially centered around development of novel MRI detector and receiver hardware and imaging techniques for anatomical and functional MRI of human brain at high field. This was first done on the early 3 T and 4 T scanners, and then on an early 7 T system. Currently, technology is being developed for a range of field strengths including 0.55 T, 1.5 T, 3 T, 7 T, and for one of the first human 11.7 T systems that is currently being (re-)installed at NIH. Since its early days, AMRI has collaborated with various clinical groups to evaluate novel technology, including the use of contrast agents to detect perfusion abnormalities in stroke (using so-called bolus arrival time maps), the use of magnetic susceptibility contrast to detect focal iron accumulation, vascular changes, and myelin loss in MS and ALS. Together with continuing technical development, a major current interest of AMRI is the application of novel techniques to study of joint variations in brain activity and autonomic activity associated with arousal changes during both wake and sleep.