# Imaging Human Brain Function with Minimal Mobility Restrictions

> **NIH NIH U01** · UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA · 2020 · $2,118,204

## Abstract

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), by offering the sole means of imaging human brain
structure and activity with high spatial resolution, has evolved into an indispensable tool for
studying brain function in health and disease. It is uniquely suited to examining the neural basis
of higher order behaviors and cognition, as well as neurodegenerative and developmental
disorders, for which animal models are of limited applicability. Yet, because of current
experimental limitations, there is wide range of subjects and human behaviors that are
completely inaccessible by MRI techniques. MRI currently depends on large, expensive, and
fixed scanners in which subjects must remain motionless for long periods of time within a
confined horizontal space. Thus any behavior involving motion, and especially those involving
the upright real-time interaction with objects in natural environments, cannot be studied. Such
studies are of enormous scientific interest, for example, in understanding the neuronal basis of
motor planning, but also of considerable practical and clinical importance in order to eventually
understand and address the motor deficits associated with injury, stroke, or disease which
preclude everyday behaviors as important as feeding and reaching. Of particular relevance in
this regard is the large population of people with limited ambulatory or vestibular function or
difficulty in maintaining posture or smooth movements for which the requirements of remaining
motionless in a horizontal space preclude MRI. There is thus an urgent need for a brain imaging
technology that is more portable and less restricting than current MRI scanners. One way to
address these issues is to decrease the size of the MRI magnet to make a head-only system
which does not confine the body, but this approach leads to drastically reduced static field (B0)
homogeneity which, with current technologies, precludes high resolution imaging. Now, with the
support from BRAIN Initiative grant R24 MH105998, we have addressed the problem by
developing new hardware, as well as new acquisition and reconstruction methods, capable of
producing high quality brain images despite extreme B0 inhomogeneity. The goal of this U01
project is to build upon these efforts by designing, building, and validating the first-ever human
MRI scanner requiring only the head to be inside the magnet bore and having a large window
for viewing outside the magnet bore. The small size, weight, and power requirements of this 1.5
Tesla MRI system will enable it to be transported and sited almost anywhere in the world and
will be able to bring the magnet to the subject rather than the other way around. To achieve this,
a team of leading experts from multiple disciplines and institutions has been assembled. The
hardware and software components of this revolutionary MRI system will be constructed and
debugged in the first 2 years of the project, the system will be assembled and tested in years 3-
4, and finally in year ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9999581
- **Project number:** 5U01EB025153-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
- **Principal Investigator:** MICHAEL GARWOOD
- **Activity code:** U01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $2,118,204
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-30 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9999581

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9999581, Imaging Human Brain Function with Minimal Mobility Restrictions (5U01EB025153-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9999581. Licensed CC0.

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