IF THE NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE (NMR) IMAGING OF BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS WERE IMPROVED, IT COULD PROVIDE A CAPABILITY FOR NMR MICROSCOPY.

IF THE NUCLEAR MAGNETIC RESONANCE (NMR) IMAGING OF BIOLOGICAL SYSTEMS WERE IMPROVED, IT COULD PROVIDE A CAPABILITY FOR NMR MICROSCOPY. WITH NMR MICROSCOPY, IT WOULD BE POSSIBLE TO EXAMINE INDIVIDUAL CELLS AND TO EXPLORE THE STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN NORMAL AND ABNORMAL CELLS FOR BOTH RESEARCH AND CLINICAL DIAGNOSTICS. A NEW CONCEPT FOR ACHIEVING HIGH RESOLUTION NMR IMAGES IN SMALL SYSTEMS HAS BEEN DEVELOPED BY INTERMAGNETICS GENERAL CORPORATION (IGC) PERSONNEL. UTILIZING EXISTING MAGNET, SPECTROMETER, COMPUTER AND IMAGING FACILITIES PROVIDED BY IGC, WE PROPOSE 2.TO INSTALL A SUITABLE INTERFACE FOR OUR EXISTING MAGNET AND IMAGING SYSTEM, 3.TO PREPARE AND SUPPORT BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES FOR THIS NMR MICROSCOPE PROBE SYSTEM, AND 4.TO IMAGE PHANTOM AND BIOLOGICAL SAMPLES TO CORRELATE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF THIS DEMONSTRATION OF PRINCIPLE WILL PROVIDE DETAILED KNOWLEDGE OF THE ULTIMATE RESOLUTION OF THE DEVICE AND TOGETHER WITH DESIGN DATA, IT WILL PROVIDE THE NEEDED INFORMATION FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN OPTIMUM SYSTEM PROTOTYPE IN PHASE II, IN ADVANCE OF A COMMERCIAL NMR MICROSCOPE.