Bruker 4.7T Spectrometer

Our Bruker 4.7T, 35 cm. bore magnet is equipped with high-speed 100 mT/m gradients and a Varian spectrometer console. This system is capable of high speed and high-resolution imaging and broadband spectroscopy. It is utilized for human limb experiments (muscle energetics, perfusion studies and physiology), for animal studies and in vitro imaging and spectroscopy.

3.0T Philips MR Scanner

This facility houses a state of the art 3T Philips Achieva Quasar Dual 3.0T (Software Release 2.5.1) whole body scanner for non-invasive, high resolution human and animal research. It provides state-of-the-art imaging technology and applications for studies in basic, translational and clinical research. This magnet has a clear bore of 60 cm. The Quasar Dual gradients have a maximum amplitude of 8 gauss/cm and a slew rate of 20,000 gauss/cm/sec.

14T Bruker Avance III Spectrometer

The Department of Radiology at the University of Washington has just entered into a collaborative agreement with the School of Medicine and the Department of Anesthesiology to install a new Avance III 14T (600) Ultrashield high resolution 89mm vertical bore magnet at the South Lake Union Campus of the University of Washington. This system includes state of the art Bruker shimming systems, digital amplifiers and filters, and 31P probes to generate high signal to noise spectra from in vivo mouse and biological tissues. We will adapt these probes as we have for the 7T system to allow in vivo experiments on mice in the prone position. This system will be equipped with physiological monitoring and gating capabilities for use in in vivo spectroscopy. The 14T magnet laboratory is 410 sq. ft., including an animal preparation area. Dr. Kushmerick (Co-Investigator on this proposal) is a Co-Director of this new facility.

7T Spectrometer with Varian Console

Our 7T, 7.5 cm vertical bore magnet is equipped with an identical Varian console as the 4.7T system so that software and pulse sequences developed on one system are readily transportable to the other. This system is used primarily for broadband spectroscopy studies. It has also been fitted with special gradient and RF hardware designed and built in the MR Laboratory. Using this hardware, we can obtain MR microscopy images with < 40 micron resolution.

Optical Facilities

Our optical spectroscopy laboratory contains multiple optical spectrometers for animal and human experiments.


Mouse optical spectrometers:

The animal optical spectroscopy systems are Acton spectrometers integrated with Roper 250 Watt QTH light source with UV and IR filter and heat dissipating mechanism that doesn’t involve a water filter and thermoelectrically cooled CCD camera capable of cooling to -20 °C. These systems provide > 5 Hz rate of signal acquisition and 0.3 nm spectral resolution and will allow collection of a maximum wavelength range of 330 – 900 nm. We have several fiber optic bundles of different sizes and configurations to accommodate different biological samples.

Human Optical Spectrometers:

Our Horiba Jobin Yvon optical spectroscopy systems have the following features: 1) a stable 250 Watt QTH light source with UV and IR filter and heat dissipating mechanism that doesn’t involve a water filter, 2) CCD capable of cooling to at least –70 °C (low noise), with high quantum efficiency in the visible to NIR wavelengths, and with a sufficiently large chip (min. 26 mm X 6 mm: 1024 X 1024 pixel array) so as to maximize signal detected from our current sized fiber optics, 3) spectrograph and gratings capable of 0.1 – 0.5 nm resolution and spectral coverage from 500 – 850 nm with minimal loss of light in the optical path, 4) a well-integrated system that minimizes set up time and is capable of data acquisition rates ≥ 3 spectra/s, and 5) user-friendly software with the following specifications: a) displays absorbance data, b) displays spectra number in real time as data are acquired, c) saves data in text or ASCII format, d) acquires data without inputting the number of spectra to be acquired in advance and is able to stop/abort collection at any time with data being saved, and e) has each spectrum time-stamped as it is acquired with a minimum of 0.1 s time resolution.