GUFI submits proposal for 14 Tesla MRI system …

GUFI submits proposal for 14 Tesla MRI system …

On the road toward implementing a 14 Tesla human whole-body system in Germany, we responded to a call in 2024 from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) to submit projects to develop new national scientific infrastructures: https://www.bmbf.de/DE/Forschung/Wissenschaftssystem/Forschungsinfrastrukturen/InternationaleEinrichtungen/_documents/240617_priorisierungsverfahren_fis.html. In a proposal coordinated by the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen and the German National Metrology Institute (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt) in Berlin, GUFI formulated a comprehensive plan to establish a 14 Tesla system in Erlangen in close vicinity to the University Hospital as well as Siemens Healthineers. The planned facility would be operated as an open research infrastructure open to groups across Germany and beyond. Members of the GUFI consortium have summarized the history of this initiative, the motivation for pursuing MR imaging and spectroscopy at such a high magnetic field strength, and the technical and funding challenges involved in the following review article: Ladd et al. Germany's journey toward 14 Tesla human magnetic resonance. MAGMA 2023 36:191-210. The evaluation of the submitted projects is ongoing, and it is expected that a short list of projects particularly suitable for maintaining and expanding the leading position of the German science system in international competition will be published by the end of the summer 2025.