Peter Salovey President | Yale University
Peter Salovey President | Yale University
On October 27th, a large crowd gathered to witness the installation of a new 11.7T magnet at the Magnetic Resonance Research Center (MRRC). The magnet, weighing 9 tons and with a bore size of 16 centimeters, was carefully lifted by a crane over city wires and artwork into The Anlyan Center (TAC) building. This addition expands MRRC's capabilities in imaging anatomical, metabolic, and physiological processes in various species, including humans.
The magnet was maneuvered through the building's corridors into its designated room. Professor Douglas Rothman described the precision required for this task: “The process of positioning the magnet – hoisting, dangling, shifting – had to be accurate within a few millimeters.” Traditional methods involving wedges, blocks, levers, tackles, ropes, and skates were used due to spatial constraints.
On November 20th, the magnet was activated and ramped up to its full field strength of 11.7 Tesla. Terry Nixon confirmed that on November 22nd it reached its field successfully: “The raw magnet is well within specification, which is excellent news.”
This state-of-the-art superconducting magnet uses advanced materials like niobium-titanium and rare-earth barium/copper oxide to conduct electricity without resistance when cooled to extremely low temperatures. It features technology from Bruker that eliminates helium boil-off.
The enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) capabilities provided by this stronger magnet will improve image quality and chemical specificity in biomedical research.
Professor Fahmeed Hyder explained that funding for this project included “a $2 million grant from NIH through the S10 high-end instrumentation mechanism” along with “$2.1 million matching funds from YSM Dean’s Office.” This investment aims to enhance small animal imaging capabilities across diverse research fields at Yale.
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