An IU School of Medicine professor was awarded a grant for the purchase of a new research-dedicated 3T MRI scanner that will benefit the school's overall neuroimaging research work.
Yu-Chien Wu, MD, PhD, a professor of radiology & imaging sciences, the scientific director of the research imaging core, leader of the neuroimaging core of the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Research Center (IADRC), and the associate director of the Center for Neuroimaging, has been awarded a $1.67 million S10 Instrumentation Grant, High Performance Gradient System for Advanced MRI Neuroimaging.
The S10 Instrumentation Grant Program, available through the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP) supports the purchase of state-of-the-art, commercially available instruments to enhance the research efforts of NIH-funded investigators.
Instruments awarded to grant recipients are typically too expensive to be obtained by an individual investigator through a project grant. As such, the equipment awarded through the S10 grant is to be used on a shared basis by IU School of Medicine researchers.
Wu’s project requested funding for a Siemens MAGNETOM Cima.X Fit 3T MRI scanner to replace the current scanner, the Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma 3T MRI scanner, which was installed in 2014.
"We have really strong neuroimaging programs here at the IU School of Medicine," Wu said. "The new scanner will boost our ability to conduct clinical research imaging and address emerging topics in neuroscience."
The new Cima.X Fit scanner will allow IU School of Medicine researchers to generate higher-quality neuroimaging results, generate results in a shorter amount of time and run multiple MRI sequences, Wu said. Additionally, the Cima.X Fit scanner incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) technology that can enhance image quality to ease workflow for researchers. These functions weren’t available for researchers with the older scanner.
"We're working with SD video and now we will have 4K video resolution," Wu said.
Wu and others are currently outlining a timeline for the scanner's installation, with expectations that it will be available for use in Summer 2026. The research imaging core of the Medical Imaging Research Institute (MIRI) will host the new scanner, which will be available for researchers to use through scheduled appointments.
About the Indiana University School of Medicine
The IU School of Medicine is the largest medical school in the U.S. and is annually ranked among the top medical schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The school offers high-quality medical education, access to leading medical research and rich campus life in nine Indiana cities, including rural and urban locations consistently recognized for livability. According to the Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research, the IU School of Medicine ranks No. 13 in 2024 National Institutes of Health funding among all public medical schools in the country.
Writer: Luke Norton, lcnorton@iu.edu
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