Heidelberg

At the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) around 3400 employees work in seven research areas such as the development and causes of cancer and factors that influence the risk of cancer. The 7 Tesla MRI is mainly used by employees of the research focus in imaging and radiation oncology. Goal is through intensive cooperation between the different basic research departments and the clinical cooperation partners to develop new diagnostic methods and implement them immediately in clinical research.

Research areas

• Hydrogen and X-nuclei imaging and spectroscopy
•Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) MRI
•Parallel transmit (pTx) techniques
•RF systems and concepts
• Electromagnetic simulations for RF antennas and MR magnets
• Tumor diagnosis

Facilities

7 T:

Siemens Magnetom 7T, passively shielded, X-nuclei option, 8-ch pTx System (Siemens, TXA step 2.3), AS095DS gradient coil, ECG and respiration monitoring
- ¹H and X-nuclei coils (¹⁷O, ²³Na, ³⁵Cl, ³¹P, ³⁹K), including:
  - 8-ch pTx head coil (Nova Medical)
  - 8-ch RF body coil
  - Breast coils for ¹H and ³¹P
  - ³²Na body coil
- 32-ch pTx system with integrated 32-ch body transmit array, 32-ch local receive array, and VOP-based safety supervision (MRexcite, own development)

RF lab:

RF field probes (SPEAG) and 3d positioning system
Coaxial probe (SPEAG DAK 12 [4 MHz - 3 GHz])
Optical temperature probes
MR mock-up including RF shield, bore liner, patient table, and RF absorber
32-channel modulators and CW amplifiers (10 W / ch)

Clinical MR systems:

Siemens mMR (3 T MR-PET)
Siemens Vida (3 T with 70 cm bore)
Siemens Prisma (3 T)
Siemens Aera (1.5 T)

Small-animal system:

Bruker 9.4T PET-MR

Hyperpolarization systems:

General Electric SpinLab
Polarize SpinAligner

Contact

German Cancer Research Center (E020)
Im Neuenheimer Feld 280
69120 Heidelberg

Prof. Mark E. Ladd
Email: mark.ladd@dkfz-heidelberg.de
Phone: +49 6221 42 2553

http://www.dkfz.de/de/medphysrad/index.php