Project Summary/Abstract The Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Advanced Imaging Research Center (AIRC) was established in 2003 to provide access to state-of- the-art instruments and expert technical support in magnetic resonance science to the OHSU research community. The Center now supports four high-end research-dedicated MRI instruments that includes two whole-body 3 Tesla(T) Siemens Prisma scanners, a large-bore (90cm) 7T Siemens Magnetom, and a 31 cm bore 11.7T Bruker small animal instrument. Three of the instruments are located on the main OHSU campus located on Marquam Hill, overlooking downtown Portland, and one of the 3T MRI instruments is located at a satellite AIRC facility on the campus of the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC). Each of these instruments has substantial capability to generate large amounts of data, allows investigators to work seamlessly between small/large animal models of disease and clinical studies and, in doing so, advance our understanding of the root causes of human disease. Ultimately, we expect the magnetic resonance data generated by the OHSU community to play a pivotal role in the development of new methods of prevention, early diagnosis and intervention for many disease states. However, the image quality, temporal resolution, scanning environment, and maintenance concerns necessary to remain productive in this area requires that our 16 year old 11.7T small animal MRI instrument be upgraded. The subject of this application is to request funds for an upgrade of our current Bruker AVANCE II to a Bruker a Bruker AVANCE NEO console. Our current instrument has been in operation since 2006 and supports more than 20 investigators, many junior faculty with projects funded through federal agencies, and plans for a large number of new studies as we move forward. The proposed upgrade will provide much needed improvements in gradient performance, data acquisition speed, temporal stability, improved workflow, and post-processing capabilities (data access, image reconstruction, calculation) and reduced downtime; capabilities that will substantially benefit on-going and newly proposed studies.