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Statement of Need and Purpose: The NIA proposes to purchase a 7 Tesla MRI scanner for clinical research on normal aging and diseases of aging. Specifically, this instrument will allow NIA to perform m... Statement of Need and Purpose: The NIA proposes to purchase a 7 Tesla MRI scanner for clinical research on normal aging and diseases of aging. Specifically, this instrument will allow NIA to perform magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy experiments and measurements for studies related to cognition and brain aging. Background Information and Objective: The National Institute on Aging (NIA), one of the 27 Institutes and Centers of NIH, leads the federal government in conducting and supporting research on aging and the health and well-being of older people. The Institute seeks to understand the nature of aging and the aging process, and diseases and conditions associated with growing older, in order to extend the healthy, active years of life. It’s mission is to support and conduct genetic, biological, clinical, behavioral, social, and economic research on aging, foster the development of research and clinician scientists in aging, provide research resources, and disseminate information about aging and advances in research to the public, health care professionals, and the scientific community among a variety of audiences. We require a 7T ultra-high-field MRI system to pursue our work in advanced MR imaging and spectroscopy of Alzheimer's disease. It will allow us to employ state-of-the-art methods to provide a comprehensive macromolecular, vascular, neuronal, and metabolic MR-based characterization of white matter and grey matter in both the cerebrum and brain stem that can serve to follow the course of Alzheimer's disease, including the effects of eventual therapy; these markers will correlate with clinical symptomatology. This instrument will serve the needs of several independent IRP investigators. The specific studies for which this instrument is needed include more advanced research on demyelination and axonal loss, which is particularly important in new concepts related to the pathophysiology of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Thus, we will use this high-field instrument to evaluate the association between brain myelin loss and axonal density in normal aging (NA) and dementia. Additional critical research that this instrument will allow us to pursue with great accuracy is a major hypothesis relating local brain white matter patterns to local brain blood perfusion. Thus, we will evaluate the association between white matter damage and cerebral blood flow (CBF) deficits in normal aging and dementia. We will also be able to incorporate studies of brain iron deposition; iron is a critical substrate for brain health, but accumulation of pathologic levels is also seen in dementia. Thus, we need to determine whether iron excess is a cause or an effect of neurodegeneration. The ideal MRI modality for this is susceptibility-based imaging, which this ultra-high field system is particularly well-suited for. Finally, this high-field system is ideally suited for functional magnetic resonance studies, exploring the crucial issue of brain connectivity. This is a key component of current theories of the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease. These studies are greatly improved at ultra-high-field, and in fact formed the impetus for development of such systems. Generic Name of Product: 7 Tesla Clinical MRI Scanner Purchase Description: Siemens Magnetom Terra 7 Tesla clinical MRI scanner Salient characteristics: 7T actively shielded magnet Whole body gradient/shim coil with clear bore diameter of at least 60 cm, 80mT/m minimum gradient strength at a minimum slew rate of 200T/m/s B0 magnetic field shim power supply, including second and third order shim channels A minimum of 8 radio frequency transmit channels with at least 2 kW peak power per channel A minimum of 64 receive channels Proton (1H) head coil with at least 32 receive channels and one transmit channel Proton (1H) head coil with at least 8 transmit channels and at least 32 receive channels Proton (1H) knee coil with at least 28 receive channels and one transmit channel Proton (1H) RF transmit array with at least 8 channels Support for multinuclear (MN) transmit-receive experiments, including phosphorus-31 (31P) studies Support for neuroimaging experiments, including susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI), arterial spin labeling (ASL), localized proton NMR spectroscopy (MRS) and functional imaging (fMRI) Quantity: 1 Delivery Date: Anticipated 21 months ARO Period of Performance: 12 month warranty following installation Option(s): Extended service coverage following one year warranty must be offered as an option