Department of Bioengineering U N I V E R S I T Y O F I L L I N O I S AT U R B A N A - C H A M P A I G N SEMINAR “Challenges and Opportunities of Human 7 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging” Dr. Andrew G. Webb Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands Thursday, April 30, 2015, at noon 2240 Digital Computer Laboratory 1304 W. Springfield Ave., Urbana, IL With the rapid spread of 7 Tesla whole-body MRI systems throughout the world, there has been significant recent progress in both clinical and clinical research applications. Although predominantly in the neurological area, there also have been many developments in the areas of musculoskeletal, cardiac and ocular imaging. Increased magnetic susceptibility contrast, enhanced magnetic resonance angiography, and much higher signal-to-noise in spectroscopy and heteronuclear imaging/spectroscopy have been the driving forces for much of this progress. The major challenges have been, and continue to be, increased image inhomogeneity, power deposition, and motion-induced artifacts. Many hardware advances have already been necessary to deal with these problems, and many future advances are required to keep the field moving forward. Dr. Webb will present examples, including: (i) the use of navigator echoes and phase imaging for high-resolution MRI in Alzheimer’s patients, (ii) the use of high-dielectric materials to improve neuroimaging and spectroscopy at high field, and (iii) the design of new types of RF coil specifically for high-field MRI, including dielectric resonators and plasma mediated magnetic resonance. Dr. Webb received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge. He was a faculty member in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for 12 years before working in the Department of Physics at Wurzburg in Germany. Currently he is the director of the C.J.Gorter Center for High Field MRI in Leiden, The Netherlands, with a group of 35 faculty and researchers. In 2001, he was awarded a Wolfgang Paul Preis, the highest award in German research. His major area of research is the development of new engineering techniques for clinical applications of high-field MRI. C o l l e g e o f E n g i n e e r i n g | De p a rt me nt of Bioe ngine e ring | (2 1 7 ) 3 3 3 -1 867 WEB : b i o e n g i n e e r i n g .i l l i n ois.e du | E M A I L: b ioe ng ine e ring @illinois.e d u Engineering For Life