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Key recruitments, such as Michael Duff Davis, Ph.D., as chief of animal imaging, have helped develop CFAIR.
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SAN ANTONIO (Jan. 27, 2009) — The UT Health Science Center at San Antonio’s Research Imaging Center has been a major research asset to the institution, the state and the nation since it opened in 1991. Using an array of systems rarely found elsewhere, the center’s scientists have gleaned many important understandings of how the brain functions both in normal and disease states.

Recent major equipment acquisitions have tripled the Research Imaging Center’s capabilities, its director, Peter T. Fox, M.D., said. One of the new installations, an 11.7-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system, is one of the two highest-field-strength MRI systems in the world and is the only one in the United States.

Related story: Preeminent imaging researcher Dr. Peter Fox earns HSC’s highest award

Comprehensive Facility for Animal Imaging Research
During the past 12 months, the Research Imaging Center was expanded to include the Comprehensive Facility for Animal Imaging Research (CFAIR), a new initiative funded by $4.1 million from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund, and $4.1 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). DARPA is a central research and development sponsoring agency of the U.S. Department of Defense.

The University of Texas System, the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) and San Antonio philanthropist Ruth McLean Bowers also stepped forward to support the project. Each gave approximately $2 million for CFAIR.

To accommodate CFAIR, the 11.7-Tesla MRI, two 7-Tesla MRI systems, and a 3-Tesla MRI were installed at a cost of $7.4 million. Other new devices, including a primate positron-emission tomography (PET) system to complement the existing rodent PET, also are in place. The NCRR gave a grant of $2 million for the 11.7-Tesla unit MRI and a second grant of $500,000 for the primate PET.

The varying size, scope and capabilities of the new systems enable the study of multiple species of animals, affording a new array of research possibilities. “We now have the intersection of human imaging, which we have historically done, with imaging of animal models,” Dr. Fox said.

Lisa Graziano, work control coordinator in Facilities Management, observes the installation of the 7-Tesla MRI system in 2008. Facilities Management logged 11,000 hours toward the installation of the three most recently installed MRIs, a 3-Tesla, 7-Tesla and 11.7-Tesla MRI.

RIC’s variety of MRIs and imaging capabilities makes it an elite facility
The center is one of the few in the U.S. that affords studies in multiple techniques such as functional and anatomical MRI, PET, magnetic resonance spectroscopy and trans-cranial magnetic stimulation. While other methods such as anatomical MRI enable studies of structure, PET allows researchers to evaluate biological functions such as glucose metabolism or blood flow in real time.

“A center that does multiple modalities in multiple species is very rare,” Dr. Fox says.

A new state-of-the-art animal care facility inside the Research Imaging Center enhances the CFAIR, because, as Dr. Fox says, “having imaging equipment right there with the animals is a kinder, gentler way to do the research. Transport makes animals nervous.” The university’s Department of Laboratory Animal Resources provided space for four scanners in the facility.

Facility supports cancer, aging and neuroscience research
The CFAIR already is supporting the Health Science Center’s signature research programs, such as cancer, aging and neuroscience. “The study of the basic biology of aging, for example, is primarily done in animal models,” Dr. Fox says. “The imaging techniques we use in animals are the same as we use in people, so the work can flow readily – we can find something interesting in animals and move it quickly to humans. This is translational research.”

Center attracts key recruitments
Significant faculty recruitments have fueled this progress. “At the very beginning of this process, we used the CFAIR concept to recruit Michael Duff Davis, Ph.D., from Pfizer. His presence as chief of animal imaging has been very instrumental in the CFAIR’s development,” Dr. Fox said.

Recently the university recruited Timothy Duong, Ph.D., and his team of investigators from Emory University to help run CFAIR. Cross-appointed in the ophthalmology, radiology and physiology departments, Dr. Duong conducts imaging of both rodents and primates. “The equipment we pulled together for CFAIR was sufficient to draw him to join our team,” Dr. Fox said. “The University of Texas System STARS program, which is attracting investigators from other states, assisted us with $2 million for equipment and salaries.”

Looking to future collaborations
Because of the team now in place, the Research Imaging Center is working with the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research to develop an imaging core for its investigators, Dr. Fox said.

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The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the leading research institution in South Texas and one of the major health sciences universities in the world. With an operating budget of $668 million, the Health Science Center is the chief catalyst for the $16.3 billion biosciences and health care sector in San Antonio’s economy. The Health Science Center has had an estimated $36 billion impact on the region since inception and has expanded to six campuses in San Antonio, Laredo, Harlingen and Edinburg. More than 25,600 graduates (physicians, dentists, nurses, scientists and other health professionals) serve in their fields, including many in Texas. Health Science Center faculty are international leaders in cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, aging, stroke prevention, kidney disease, orthopaedics, research imaging, transplant surgery, psychiatry and clinical neurosciences, pain management, genetics, nursing, dentistry and many other fields. For more information, visit www.uthscsa.edu.