Our vision is to establish a national facility for UHF human MRI scanning, based around a cutting edge 11.7T scanner. This will allow the UK’s MRI research community to realise the substantial benefits of UHF MRI and to exploit the advanced capabilities of the new scanner in ground-breaking studies that address crucial questions in biomedical research. Following a successful bid to UKRI our academic partnership was awarded £29.1m to develop the new facility, which is expected to become operational in 2028. The 11.7T magnet and the scanner components are now being constructed by our industrial partners (Tesla Engineering, Philips Healthcare and IMEDCO), while novel radio frequency coils are being developed by the University of Glasgow. Construction work on the extension to house the new magnet is scheduled to begin in May 2025.  

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Magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy provide powerful insights into the structure and function of the human body, enabling the study of anatomy, physiology and metabolism in health and disease. Increased sensitivity and contrast at ultra-high field (UHF) will translate into much richer information content in structural and functional imaging in the brain and body, producing a step change in the range of research questions that can be addressed with MRI.   

The signal-to-noise-ratio of brain images will more than double from 7T levels, and sensitivity to key MRI markers of tissue properties will greatly increase. This is particularly the case for myelin and iron – important markers of neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation. The expected, more-than-tripling of blood-oxygenation-level-dependent sensitivity at 11.7T (relative to 7T) will allow brain activity to be probed in unprecedented detail, enabling reliable assessment of brain function at a mesoscopic level, bridging the gap between standard neuroimaging and invasive techniques. UHF-magnetic resonance spectroscopy also offers great benefits for studies of metabolism in health and disease. Gains in SNR for MR studies involving X-nuclei (including 2H, 23Na and 31P) are even greater than for 1H. This will produce a huge enhancement in metabolic mapping capability, accelerating data acquisition by up to 6x, so facilitating patient studies in cancer and a wide range of other important diseases. 

This project will be vital in maintaining the UK at the forefront of this economically and societally important field of research.