Magnetic Resonance Relaxometry at Low and Ultra low Fields

Abstract

Event Abstract Back to Event Magnetic Resonance Relaxometry at Low and Ultra low Fields Petr Volegov1*, Mark Flynn1, Robert Kraus1, Per Magnelind1, Andrei Matlashov1, Pulak Nath1, Tuba Owens1, Henrik Sandin1, Igor Savukov1, Larry Schultz1, Algis Urbaitis1, Vadim Zotev1 and Michelle Espy1 1 Los Alamos National Laboratory, United States Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are ubiquitous tools in science and medicine. NMR provides powerful probes of local and macromolecular chemical structure and dynamics. Recently it has become possible and practical to perform MR at very low fields (from 1 µT to 1 mT), the so-called ultra-low field (ULF) regime. Pulsed pre-polarizing fields greatly enhance the signal strength and allow flexibility in signal acquisition sequences. Improvements in SQUID sensor technology allow ultra-sensitive detection in a pulsed field environment.In this regime the proton Larmor frequencies (1 Hz - 100 kHz) of ULF MR overlap (on a time scale of 10 µs to 100 ms) with "slow" molecular dynamic processes such as diffusion, intra-molecular motion, chemical reactions, and biological processes such as protein folding, catalysis and ligand binding. The frequency dependence of relaxation at ultra-low fields may provide a probe for biomolecular dynamics on the millisecond timescale (protein folding and aggregation, conformational motions of enzymes, binding and structural fluctuations of coupled domains in allosteric mechanisms) relevant to host-pathogen interactions, biofuels, and biomediation. Also this resonance-enhanced coupling at ULF can greatly enhance contrast in medical applications of ULF-MRI resulting in better diagnostic techniques. We have developed a number of instruments and tech-niques to study relaxation vs. frequency at the ULF regime. Details of the techniques and results are presented.Ultra-low field methods are already being applied at LANL in brain imaging, and detection of liquid explosives at airports. However, the potential power of ultra-low field MR remains to be fully exploited. Conference: Biomag 2010 - 17th International Conference on Biomagnetism , Dubrovnik, Croatia, 28 Mar - 1 Apr, 2010. Presentation Type: Oral Presentation Topic: Instrumentation and Multi-modal Integrations: MEG, Low-field MRI,EEG, fMRI,TMS,NIRS Citation: Volegov P, Flynn M, Kraus R, Magnelind P, Matlashov A, Nath P, Owens T, Sandin H, Savukov I, Schultz L, Urbaitis A, Zotev V and Espy M (2010). Magnetic Resonance Relaxometry at Low and Ultra low Fields. Front. Neurosci. Conference Abstract: Biomag 2010 - 17th International Conference on Biomagnetism . doi: 10.3389/conf.fnins.2010.06.00005 Copyright: The abstracts in this collection have not been subject to any Frontiers peer review or checks, and are not endorsed by Frontiers. They are made available through the Frontiers publishing platform as a service to conference organizers and presenters. The copyright in the individual abstracts is owned by the author of each abstract or his/her employer unless otherwise stated. Each abstract, as well as the collection of abstracts, are published under a Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 (attribution) licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) and may thus be reproduced, translated, adapted and be the subject of derivative works provided the authors and Frontiers are attributed. For Frontiers’ terms and conditions please see https://www.frontiersin.org/legal/terms-and-conditions. Received: 18 Mar 2010; Published Online: 18 Mar 2010. * Correspondence: Petr Volegov, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, United States, volegov@lanl.gov Login Required This action requires you to be registered with Frontiers and logged in. To register or login click here. Abstract Info Abstract The Authors in Frontiers Petr Volegov Mark Flynn Robert Kraus Per Magnelind Andrei Matlashov Pulak Nath Tuba Owens Henrik Sandin Igor Savukov Larry Schultz Algis Urbaitis Vadim Zotev Michelle Espy Google Petr Volegov Mark Flynn Robert Kraus Per Magnelind Andrei Matlashov Pulak Nath Tuba Owens Henrik Sandin Igor Savukov Larry Schultz Algis Urbaitis Vadim Zotev Michelle Espy Google Scholar Petr Volegov Mark Flynn Robert Kraus Per Magnelind Andrei Matlashov Pulak Nath Tuba Owens Henrik Sandin Igor Savukov Larry Schultz Algis Urbaitis Vadim Zotev Michelle Espy PubMed Petr Volegov Mark Flynn Robert Kraus Per Magnelind Andrei Matlashov Pulak Nath Tuba Owens Henrik Sandin Igor Savukov Larry Schultz Algis Urbaitis Vadim Zotev Michelle Espy Related Article in Frontiers Google Scholar PubMed Abstract Close Back to top Javascript is disabled. Please enable Javascript in your browser settings in order to see all the content on this page.