May 17, 2002

Two state-of-the-art imaging units — both one of a kind — were dedicated April 29 by the Athinoula A. Martinos Center, a collaboration among the MGH, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School, located at the MGH NMR Center at CNY. A powerful 7-Tesla MRI system and a 306-channel magnetoencephalographic (MEG) system will give Martinos Center researchers an unprecedented ability to study the brain's normal activity and how that activity is disturbed by addictive behaviors and neurologic or psychiatric illnesses.

Installation of the two new systems was "the most significant project within CNY Building 149 since its original construction," said Bruce Rosen, MD, PhD, director of the Martinos Center. He noted that, in the 18 months since the center was founded, "tremendous progress has been made in developing new partnerships and new resources and building a new vision of how to do research."

At right, Valerie Carr, chief technologist for MEG, demonstrates the new unit at the martinos Center dedication event.

The MRI and MEG systems visualize separate aspects of the brain's activity. MRI produces detailed images of structure and can show which structures are active under certain conditions. MEG measures the magnetic fields generated by the brain's electrical activity and can record changes on the millisecond level. Basically, MRI shows where something happens, and MEG shows when it happens.

The 7-Tesla system is one of only three such powerful MRI units in the world and the first that can be used for patient care. Its installation required more than 450 tons of steel plating to keep the magnetic field from affecting objects outside the unit. The MEG unit — which is sensitive to even the tiniest magnetic field — required additional protection and is in one of the most magnetically "quiet" shielded rooms in the world.

The combination of the new and existing MRI equipment, MEG and other imaging technologies will give the MGH and other Martinos Center researchers a unique ability to analyze the complex interaction of systems within the brain.