Weekend Educational Course:
MR Engineering
Organizers: Mark A. Griswold, Ph.D.,  Brian K. Rutt, Ph.D., and Greig C. Scott, Ph.D.
 
Skill Level: Intermediate - Advanced
Saturday, 1 May and Sunday, 2 May 2010
OVERVIEW
This two-day course will provide an in-depth, practical description of fundamental concepts of MR engineering. MRI engineers and physicists from industry, academia, and clinical environments will speak on the general topics of magnets, gradients and shims, prototyping, system design, RF coils and electronics. The overall goal of this program is to enable new researchers to employ more advanced engineering methods in their MRI research. Day one will provide lectures and discussions focused on magnets, gradients and systems. Talks on day 2 will cover MRI RF technology, followed by an interactive coil design demonstration.
 
EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES
Upon completion of this course participants should be able to:
  • Recognize the basic hardware components of an MRI scanner and how they interact;
  • Describe the basic methods for magnet, gradient, and shim design;
  • Describe the basic types of transmit and receive RF coils and how they are constructed;
  • Explain the RF electronic subsystems that interface with RF coils;
  • Evaluate the tradeoffs in designing customized NMR/MRI instrumentation; and
  • Configure MRI components for optimum image quality.
Saturday, 1 May  
  Overview & Magnets  
08:30 MR Scanners: A System Perspective Steven M. Conolly, Ph.D.
09:00 Magnets: Design, Modeling Johan A. Overweg, Ph.D.
09:30 Magnets: Construction, Operation Graham Hutton
10:00 Break  
  10:00 - 10:15 Meet the Teachers  
     
  Shims & Gradients  
10:30 Shimming: Principles & Shim Design Piotr M. Starewicz, Ph.D.
11:00 Gradients Coil Design & Limitations Richard W. Bowtell, Ph.D.
11:30 Gradients: Amplifier Electronics & Control Juan A. Sabate, Ph.D.
12:00 Break  
  12:00 - 12:15 Meet the Teachers  
     
  Prototyping  
13:30 Gradient Coil Prototyping Timothy J. Scholl, Ph.D.
14:00 Add an Embedded System Pascal P. Stang, B.S., M.S.
14:30 RF Prototyping Techniques Barbara L. Beck, B.S.E.E., B.S.Ed.
15:00 Break  
  15:00 - 15:15 Meet the Teachers  
     
  RF Basics and Receive Coils  
15:30 Electromagnetic Modelling Stuart R. Crozier, Ph.D., D.Eng.
16:00 System Design Tradeoffs Graeme C. McKinnon, Ph.D.
16:30 Roll Your Own Scanner David J. Lurie, Ph.D., M.Sc.
17:00 Adjournment  
  17:00 - 17:15 Meet the Teachers  
     
Sunday, 2 May    
     
  RF Electronics  
08:30 RF: Front Ends Christoff Leussler
09:00 RF: Introduction to Preamps Ralph G. Oppelt, Ph.D.
09:30 RF: Introduction to Power Amplifiers David I. Hoult, D.Phil.
10:00 Break  
  10:00 - 10:15 Meet the Teachers  
     
  RF Transmitter Coils  
10:30 RF: Volume Coils Scott B. King, Ph.D.
11:00 RF: Transmit Arrays Gregor Adriany, Ph.D.
11:30 RF: Multi-Tuned Coils Joseph Murphy-Boesch, Ph.D.
12:00 Break  
  12:00 - 12:15 Meet the Teachers  
     
  RF Receiver Coils  
13:30 RF: Experimental Coils, Animal, Micro tba
14:00 RF: Receive Arrays James A. Bankson, Ph.D.
14:30 RF: Characterization on the Bench Titus Lanz, Dipl. Phys.
15:00 Break  
  15:00 - 15:15 Meet the Teachers  
     
  Live 2 Coil Array Construction  
15:30   Cook Up Your Own RF Array Host: Lawrence L. Wald, Ph.D.
  Live Demonstration Making 2 Coils, Add Preamps, Show Decoupling with Split Screen Webcam & Network Analyzer Constructor: Graham C. Wiggins, D.Phil.
17:00 Adjournment  
  17:00-17:15 Meet the Teachers  
     

 

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