Medical imaging
Because CT and MRI are sensitive to different tissue properties, the appearances of the images obtained with the two techniques differ markedly. In CT, X-rays must be blocked by some form of dense tissue to create an image, so the image quality when looking at soft tissues will be poor. In MRI, while any nucleus with a net nuclear spin can be used, the proton of the hydrogen atom remains the most widely used, especially in the clinical setting, because it is so ubiquitous and returns a large signal. This nucleus, present in water molecules, allows the excellent soft-tissue contrast achievable with MRI.
Center for Biomedical Imaging
The Center for Biomedical Imaging houses a 3 tesla Philips MRI scanner for functional, structural, and spectroscopic studies of humans and animals. The Center for Biomedical Imaging provides researchers with access to the MRI as well as expertise in all modalities of MRI, not only for the Boston University Community, but also for researchers at other institutions. Currently, researchers at the Center for Biomedical Imaging are working on projects funded by the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute on Drug Abuse, Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) and Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation.