Future - GUFI Network

Summary - GUFI Meeting 2021

The future of GUFI:

All participants agreed that GUFI should continue even without current DFG project funding and confirmed their continued support and cooperation.

Various topics and milestones can be continued in work groups. GUFI members have agreed to coordinate the work of these groups:

Topic	Site
pTx coil safety and testing	Max-Planck-Institut Tübingen, Dario Bosch and Jonas Bause
RF coil safety	PTB Berlin, Bernd Ittermann
Implant safety	Erwin L. Hahn Essen, Oliver Kraff
MR safety training	OVGU Magdeburg, Astrid Wollrab
GUFI homepage	OVGU Magdeburg, Astrid Wollrab

The activities of the GUFI work groups will be published on and hosted by the GUFI homepage. Links to open access data, software and hardware designs can also be consolidated there. The goal is to share information on pulse sequences, analysis algorithms, coils, RF safety, and implant safety.

Multi-site 7T MRI data acquisition for joint research applications (most likely in brain imaging) may be proposed. Federated data sharing may be an option to lower privacy hurdles.

It will be evaluated how the 14T initiative can be embedded within GUFI. Funding opportunities for supporting 14T-related projects such as RF technology or static field safety will be considered.

All GUFI partners agreed on the continuation of annual meetings. One meeting per year shall be organized and hosted by different UHF groups in Germany and may include hands-on workshops. Without current GUFI funding, travel costs will have to be covered by each participating site or individuals. A second meeting per year could be scheduled at the international ISMRM meetings.

GUFI was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschft (DFG) - Project number 324669110