NeuroVentures Equipment Grant

Joyce Liao, Opthalmology
Brian Rutt, Radiology
Laura Pisani, Radiology

Laura Pisani (Sci3), Brian Rutt (Radiology) and Y. Joyce Liao (Ophthalmology) will receive funding for a radiofrequency coil dedicated for mouse brain imaging to augment the 7 Tesla small animal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner in the Stanford Center for Innovation in In-Vivo Imaging (Sci3). The mouse brain specific coil will improve signal efficiency, enable higher resolution, and result in shorter scan times. Liao will use the coil to assess changes in axonal transport and visual pathway anatomy following optic nerve ischemia, the most common acute cause of optic neuropathy in patients older than 50 years old. Rutt plans to do both ex vivo brain imaging and live mouse brain imaging of a mouse model of Multiple Sclerosis. The new coil will benefit a wide variety studies by other researchers who utilize mouse models for studying bone repair, brain tumors, pain, muscular dystrophy, sleep disorders and stroke.