The Maastricht 9.4T

9.4T human scanner

The Siemens Magnetom 9.4T is a whole-body human MRI scanner housed by Scannexus.  It is one of currently only 9.4T systems word-wide, and provides an attractive platform for any high-resolution applications in anatomical, functional, diffusion and ex-vivo MRI. The scanner is a whole body passively shielded system. It is equipped with a AC84-II head gradient (80/330) which makes is particularly attractive for high-resolution EPI with reduced limitation due to peripheral-nerve stimulation. Available on the 9.4T are several custom RF coils, including a 16Tx/31Rx whole-brain array from MR CoilTech Ltd, auditory 8Tx/24Rx and visual 8Tx/32Rx coils from LifeServices Inc, as well as multiple custom ex-vivo coils. The system runs on VB17A step2.3.

The Maastricht 7T

7T human scanner

The Siemens Magnetom 7T “Classic” is an actives-shield whole body system likewise hosted by Scannexus.  It is equipped with a SC72 body gradient (70/200), the Nova 1Tx/32Rx and 8Tx/32Rx (for step2.3 8ch pTX), and the 24Rx QED knee coil. Furtehr custom coils are an 8Tx/32Rx Torso array form MRI.Tools, a Na+ knee coil and a customer whole-brain 8Tx/32Rx array from MR CoilTech Ltd that allows for the integrations of a field camera system (see below). The system runs on VB17A and step2.3.

The Maastricht 3T

3T PrismaFit

The Siemens 3T PrismaFit is high-end whole-body research system also hosted by Scannexus. It comes with a large number product coils that make fit for neuroscience as well as clinical use: 64ch head/neck, 20ch head/neck, 32ch head coil, spine matrix and various flex coils. The system runs on VE11C.

Peripherals

Full details on the peripherals and stimulus equipment that is available on the scanners can be found here.

Field Camera

The MR-Methods recently purchased a Skope field camera thanks to NWO Middelgroot funding. The system finds application at 7T.

Scope field probes for the application in custom RF-coils

7T coil array for field probe integration

7T coil into which field probes can comfortably be integrated

The coil is a custom-built to allow for the Scope field probes to permanently mounted  close to the head. It furthermore features a large cutout that provides a direct line of sight between the KinetiCor camera and a marker mounted on the forehead, thereby removing the need for a bite-bar.

Motion Tracking System

The MR-Methods group also has access to two KinetiCor optical motion tracking system, available on the 7T and 3T scanners.

High-end Compute Server

The group has a dedicated SuperMicro server with 18 dual-core 2.7GHz IntelXeon Skylake processors, 512Gb RAM, and 4 GeForce GTX GPU (2x 1080-ti, 2x 2080-ti) to serve our computationally demanding applications in (f)MRI data analysis, deep learning based image reconstruction and real-time server-based image reconstruction using Gadgetron.