Our Center's staff offers frequent training sessions to new users (graduate and M.D./Ph.D. students, postdoctoral research associates, medical fellows, etc.) on the use of our Bruker AVANCE-DRX 4.7/40 and Bruker ADVANCE—DRX 7.0/21 multi-nuclear NMR imaging and spectroscopy systems, or 500WB microimaging system as well as the other NMR systems: two Bruker AVANCE-DRX-600 and one Bruker AVANCE-DRX-500 multi-nuclear NMR spectrometers with a 5.2-cm vertical bore, and Bruker AVANCE DRX-300 multi-nuclear NMR spectrometers with 8.9-cm vertical bore, a Tecmag Apollo imaging/spectroscopy system using a 2.35-Tesla, 31-cm horizontal bore superconducting magnet, and a Bruker Minispec 0.47 Tesla MR Relaxation instrument.

Seminars

Our NMR Center has frequent seminars on the frontiers in biology and medicine. The majority of these speakers are from outside of the Pittsburgh research community, although some are in the area. This arrangement allows the Pittsburgh research community the chance to meet leaders in the field of biomedical NMR and also to learn about the latest exciting research results of local investigators. During the past reporting period, several seminar speakers came to Pittsburgh and gave talks relating to their research.

In addition, we have semi-monthly conferences and discussions on the latest results among the researchers of the Center as well as the other NMR research groups in the Pittsburgh area. This not only ensures a valuable contact among the researchers, but also provides a good working environment.

Formal Courses

Course on NMR in Biomedical Sciences The Department of Biological Sciences at CMU and the Department of Physics and Astronomy at PITT have offered a course on NMR in Biomedical Sciences for the past twelve years. This course is jointly taught by Drs. Ho and Lowe, plus a few other invited local lecturers. The goal of the course is to introduce the students to the fundamental principles of NMR and the latest advances in the field in the biomedical sciences. This is a one-semester course covering the following topics: (i). fundamentals of NMR (ii). new techniques such as MRI and in-vivo spectroscopy as well as pulse techniques (iii). applications of NMR to investigate macromolecular structures, interactions, and dynamics. This course serves as an excellent forum to provide a formal introduction to NMR for the biological and medical communities in Pittsburgh. It also serves as part of our training program for PITT/CMU graduate students, M.D./Ph.D. students, postdoctoral research associates, clinical investigators, technicians, and advanced undergraduates. Course on Introduction to Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Neuroscience The course, taught by Dr. Eric T. Ahrens, is designed to introduce students to the fundamental principles of MRI and its application in neuroscience. MRI is emerging as the preeminent method to obtain structural and functional information about the living human brain. This methodology has helped to revolutionize neuroscience and the study of human cognition. The specific topics covered in this course will include introduction to spin gymnastics, survey of imaging methods, structural brain mapping, functional MRI (fMRI), and MRS. Guest lectures will be incorporated into the course from neuroscientists and psychologists who use MRI in their own research. Related Courses There are a number of courses on optical imaging/spectroscopy and signal processing that are offered at PITT and CMU. There is an arrangement for students from either PITT or CMU can take courses from another institution.

Training Programs for Students and Postdoctoral Research Associates

In view of our unique resources (in both instrumentation and talents of scientists from the Departments of Biological Sciences and of Electronical Computer Engineering at CMU as well as from the Departments of Physics and Astronomy, of Surgery, and of Medicine at PITT), we offer a strong program of graduate training in biomedical NMR here in Pittsburgh. Most of our basic research and development projects, as well as collaborative research projects, include excellent topics for doctoral thesis research for graduate students and M.D./Ph.D. students, and research projects for postdoctoral research associates in our NMR program and research projects for M.D.’s in fellowship programs at the University of Pittsburgh.

Workshop on Small Animal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

The faculty and staff of the NMR Center offer a one-day workshop on "Small Animal Magnetic Resonance Imaging". This workshop served as an introduction to small animal MRI for local biomedical researchers in the Pittsburgh area. This workshop was intended for faculty, clinical investigators, medical fellows, postdoctoral fellows, technicians, and graduate students who are interested in the application of modern MRI/MRS to biomedical sciences. The workshop brochure was distributed in the mail and by website. We plan to organize workshops in the future.