"High Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Neurosciences"
Prof. Gisela E. Hagberg
University of Tübingen (Germany), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics (Germany)

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a highly versatile tool for studying the human brain, since it builds upon several parameters. These magnetic properties are linked with different aspects of tissue structure and function. The evolution of the MRI signal in time is key to obtain contrast-rich images and to quantify magnetic properties of the tissue. Several approaches, such as T1 weighted or functional MRI, have already gained widespread use in neuroscience. Others, such as quantitative susceptibility mapping which is sensitive to the presence of iron, calcifications, myelin and blood oxygenation, are still emerging. Although MRI can be performed at magnetic field strengths of 1.5 Tesla or below, image quality at high fields of 7 Tesla or more is substantially improved. Signals from brain structures located very closely in space, much less than a millimeter, can be separated from each other, and the tissue contrast is higher allowing increased specificity. High Field MRI thus opens up new possibilities, not just to characterize healthy tissue, but also to investigate and quantify disease-related changes in brain microstructure such as those occurring in Alzheimer’s.