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The Martinos Center occupies ~40,000 square feet of space on the MGH Research Campus in the Charlestown Navy Yard (CNY). In addition to Magnetic Resonance technologies, the Center is developing several new areas of excellence, including diffuse optical tomography (DOT) and magnetoencephalographic /electroencephalographic (MEG/EEG) tomography, and positron emission tomography (PET). Building 149 is home to the imaging facilities, administration, ancillary labs and offices. Additional office space is located in Buildings 36 and 120. Satellite labs are located at the MGH main campus and at MIT.

For information about using our facilities see User Information. For directions to our Charlestown Campus see Directions.

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Charlestown Campus:

Large Bore MRI Systems

Small Bore MRI Systems

Other Imaging Labs

Ancillary Labs and Resources

Martinos Center at MIT

MGH Main Campus


Charlestown Campus

This facility contains the majority of the MGH's NMR research effort. The Center is comprised of clinical, research, educational, and administration areas, including a large new expansion of office as well as some clinical and experimental space.

Human MRI Systems:

Bay 1: Clinical area
The Clinical area contains the necessary patient care environment including waiting and changing rooms; support areas including business office, data viewing area, physician office, computer and magnet rooms. This area contains a 1.5 Tesla magnet (General Electric Corp, Waukesha WI) operating with system 5.4x. In addition to routine clinical studies, software is available for MR angiography, cardiac analysis and pulse programming. A second "physician" console is available for data analysis and 3D display.

Bay 2: 1.5 T laboratory
This is a 1.5 Tesla Siemens Avanto 32 channel “TIM” system. It uses a 60 cm whole-body MRI capable of EPI functional imaging at a sustained rate of 15 images per second, CINE, MR angiography, diffusion and perfusion studies and spectroscopy.  The system has a gradient strength of 45 mT/m and slew rate of 200 T/m/s, provides routine second order shimming and has 32 independent RF receive channels for phased array coils.  Bay 2 also contains an assortment of audio, visual, and sensory stimuli equipment for fMRI studies including front and rear projection, audio stimulation, a subject response device and eye tracking setup.  The stimulus equipment is setup to be run from either a PC, Macintosh or the users laptop computer.  Stimuli can trigger or be triggered by the scanner.  Bay 2 is also equipped with a Siemens Syngo workstation for 3D image processing, cardiac evaluation, and quantitative image analysis.

Bay 3: 3T laboratory
This is a Siemens Allegra 36 cm (gradient coil ID) head-only MRI, capable of EPI, second order shimming, CINE, MR angiography, diffusion and perfusion studies, and spectroscopy.  The asymmetric head gradient coil is capable of 60 mT/m and slew rates in excess of 600 T/m/s at a duty cycle of 70%, allowing single shot EPI with an echo spacing of 300 µs at a sustained rate of 14 images/second.  Bay 3 also contains an assortment of audio, visual, and sensory stimuli equipment for fMRI studies including rear projection, audio stimulation, a subject response device and eyetracking setup.

Bay 4: 3T laboratory
This is a 3T Siemens Trio 60 cm (RF coil ID) whole-body MRI with EPI, second order shimming, CINE, MR angiography, diffusion, perfusion, and spectroscopy capabilities for both neuro and body applications. This system uses the same gradients as the 1.5 T Sonata (40 mT/m strength, 200T/m/s slew rate).  The system is equipped with 8 RF channel receivers accommodating up to 8 element array coils.  An upgrade to perform multinuclear imaging and spectroscopy has recently been installed. Bay 4 also contains an assortment of audio, visual, and sensory stimuli equipment for fMRI studies including rear projection, audio stimulation, a subject response device and eyetracking setup.

Bay 5: 7.0T laboratory
This is a unique ultrahigh field 7.0 T head-only MRI with 80mT/m head gradient set and an Avano whole body gradient set. The 7.0 T 90 cm (magnet ID) whole-body magnet was built by Magnex Scientific (Oxford, UK), and the conventional MRI console, gradient drivers and patient table were provided by Siemens. Integration of these components and the design and construction of RF coils were performed by MGH and Siemens personnel. The 7T whole body magnet is augmented with a 80mT/m, 800 T/m/s slew rate head gradient set (Siemens) for echoplanar imaging and 2nd and 3rd order resistive shim coils under computer control. With its high performance gradient set, the system can provide better than 100-µm resolution. The system is shielded by a 460-ton steel shield.

Small Bore MR Systems:

14 T Spectroscopy/Microscopy Laboratory
A 14.1 T (600MHz) wide bore 8.9 cm actively screened vertical bore Magnex magnet and Bruker Avance spectrometer console has recently been installed. Capabilities include dual RF channels and deuterium lock; 5 mm and 10 mm direct and indirect observation high resolution (0.7 ppb) multinuclear multidimensional liquid state spectroscopy; high resolution (1.6 ppb) 1H and 13C MAS spectroscopy (including gradient spectroscopy); high power multinuclear cross polarization/magic angle spinning (CP/MAS) spectroscopy; an automated MAS sample changer; multinuclear microimaging and in vivo spectroscopy; actively screened gradients up to 100 g/cm; variable controlled temperature from -100°C to +150 °C with stability approaching 0.1°C.

9.4T laboratory
The 9.4T (400 Mhz proton frequency) 21cm dia. horizontal bore magnet  (Magnex Scientific) utilizes a Bruker Advance console and is primarily for imaging and spectroscopy in small animals (rats and mice). Capabilities include high quality, high resolution anatomical and functional imaging, using a wide variety of contrast mechanisms(T1, T2, diffusion, perfusion), together with multi-shot 2D and 3D sequences, and single shot EPI. Multi-nuclear capabilities include high resolution localized spectroscopy and spectroscopic imaging. This imager/spectrometer is intended primarily for rodent studies, and consists of a 9.4 T 21 cm diameter horizontal bore Magnex magnet, Magnex gradient coil set capable of 20 G/cm, and a Bruker BioSpin (Karlsruhe, Germany and Billerica, MA) BioSpec/Avance dual RF channel multinuclear console.

4.7 T laboratory
This imager/spectrometer comprises an Oxford 4.7 T 33 cm horizontal bore magnet, a 20 G/cm gradient/shim system and a state of the art Bruker Instruments BioSpec/Avance dual RF channel multinuclear console. A 40 G/cm gradient coil insert is available. A wide variety of multinuclear imaging and spectroscopy experiments may be performed.

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Other Imaging Laboratories:

MEG/EEG Laboratory
The principal sources of MEG (magnetoencephalogram) and EEG (electroencephalogram) are synchronous synaptic currents in the cerebral cortex. Under special circumstances, activity in the cerebellum as well as in certain subcortical structures can be detected as well. MEG and EEG provide an instantaneous view of neural activity and thus are complementary to fMRI. The combination of MEG/EEG with fMRI provides images of brain activity with high temporal as well as spatial resolution. Our facility is equipped with the Neuromag Vectorview system, comprising 306 MEG channels (2 planar gradiometers and a magnetometer at each of 102 sites) and 128 EEG channels, located within an Imedco magnetically shielded room, with a shielding factor of approximately 250,000 at 1Hz. Computer-controlled visual, auditory, and somatosensory stimulation systems as well as behavioral response monitoring are available in the laboratory. Our comprehensive suite of analysis software allows smooth integration of MEG, EEG, MRI, and fMRI data.

The Photon Migration Lab Facilities consists of 4 separate lab facilities for 1) fiber optic and electronics fabrication and testing, 2) instrumentation system development and testing, 3) small animal studies, and 4) human subject testing. Instrumentation in the Photon Migration Lab includes:

  • A continuous-wave diffuse optical tomography (CW4) imaging system with 18 lasers and 16 detectors (manufactured by TechEn).
  • Two additional CW-DOT imaging systems (CW5), each with 32 lasers and 32 detectors (also manufactured by TechEn).* A time-resolved spectroscopy system with pulsed laser diodes at 4 wavelengths and 4 photon-counting photo-multiplier tubes (manufactured by PicoQuant).
  • An ISS system with 16 laser diodes and 4 photomultiplier detectors (Imagentú functional brain imaging).
  • A time-domain diffuse optical tomography (TD-DOT) imaging system, with an imaged intensified CCD detector and optically multiplexed sources (constructed in-house with the support of Advanced Research Technologies http://www.art.ca ).
  • A Mai:Tai Titanium:Saphire Laser (manufactured by SpectraPhysics)
  • 2 Ocean Optics Spectrographs (model S2000)
  • 4 Near-infrared spectroscopy systems (NIRS 1 and 2) (custom made by TechEn).
  • 8-bit CCD camera (Cohu 4910) and various white light lamps, a mercury xenon lamp (200W, Oriel) with housing and SMA connector, a mercury lamp (200W, Oriel) for speckle microscopy.
  • TE-cooled 12-bit CCD (Coolsnap fx, Roper Scientific).
  • 50mW diode-pumped solid state laser (532 nm).
  • 16-bit CCD camera

Other equipment:

  • Electronics: 1 Gs/s digital oscilloscope (HP Infiniium), numerous data acquisition cards, network analyzer, 24-node Linux Beowulf system.
  • Optical fiber equipment: single-mode, multi-mode and fiber bundles, optical fiber polishing equipment, and optomechanical fiber coupling.
  • Optomechanical equipment: breadboards for mounting optical components, three-dimensional translation stages, optical mounting hardware, various diode lasers and white light sources and other optics, electro-optics and electronics equipment.
  • Optics: various lenses, microscope objectives, mirrors, filters, beamsplitters, orthogonal galvanometer mounted mirrors (Cambridge, 6810).

MicroPET Laboratory
This lab consists of a Concorde MicroPET animal scanner and is currently located on the MGH clinical campus (see below). Plans for a Martinos PET imaging center that will include this instrument as well has human PET scanners and cyclotron and radiochemistry facilities are underway.

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Support Labs and Resources:

Biochemistry Laboratory
This laboratory contains two fume hoods, a refrigerator/freezer, a 80oC low temperature freezer, a fire safe solvent cabinet, centrifuges, a vacuum line, a lyophilizer, a table top surgical microscope, ultrafiltration apparatus, deionized water supply and laboratory bench space.

Surgery and Prep Laboratory
The Center has three areas dedicated to animal surgery and preparation for scanning.

The Martinos Center presently has three areas dedicated to animal surgery and prep:

Room 137 is equipped with 3 workbenches, 2 independent inhalation anesthesia systems capable of using Halothane or Isoflurane, floor-standing Zeiss operating microscope, table-top operating microscope, Radionics bipolar coagulator, Ivy Systems physiologic monitor capable of monitoring blood pressure, temperature, and heart dynamics. This unit also has a built in pulse oximeter, Instrumentation Lab blood gas analyzer, and 2 temperature controlled water blankets

Room 1062 is equipped with 1 workbench, 1 inhalation anesthesia system capable of using Halothane or Isoflurane, floor standing Zeiss operating microscope, temperature controlled water blanket

Room 1067 is dedicated to large animal surgery and prep and is equipped with 1 workbench, an  operating table, an inhalation anesthesia system capable of using Halothane or Isoflurane and a temperature controlled water blanket.

Behavioral Testing Laboratory
The behavioral testing suite, located on the second floor of Building 149, provides a quiet and controlled environment for neuropsychological testing, developing and piloting behavioral paradigms, and running pre- and post-scan experiments with children and adults. It consists of two testing rooms with one-way mirrors (rooms 2236, 2234), separated by a control room (room 2235), which may also serve as an observation station or additional testing space. Each of these rooms is equipped with a PC, a MAC and a button-press response box (with millisecond accuracy), identical to those used in the MR research bays thereby allowing for portability of the paradigms developed in the behavioral setting. Auditory stimuli may be presented via speakers in sound-field or over headphones. A digital audio tape recorder, a microphone, a touch-screen monitor, a video projector and a projection screen will also be available for stimulus presentation and/or recording subject responses. Transfer of experimental paradigms and data backup may be accomplished with removable media.

Clinical Exam Rooms
Two clinical exam rooms (rooms 2231, 2232) are available for clinical assessment and monitoring subjects prior to and following imaging studies. Rooms are equipped with physiological monitoring devices (e.g.non-invasive blood pressure) and supplies for blood draws.

Mock Magnet
The purpose of the mock magnet is to acclimate normal and clinical populations (children and adults) to the MRI environment in preparation for participation in MRI studies. The mock scanner is modeled after the Siemens 3T Allegra system in structure and dimensions. Its parts include an original Siemens patient table, funnel and head coil. Transducers and recordings of the scanner noise from the Siemens 1.5T (Sonata) and 3T are used to simulate the vibrations and pulse sequence noises associated with scanning. Stimuli will be presented using headphones or a rear projection system, with the mirror mounted on the head coil (as found in Bays 2, 3 and 4), along with a button box for responding. Potential subjects who are anxious about participating in MRI studies are gradually desensitized to the confined space of an MRI magnet tunnel through a series of training steps. A feedback system to help train subjects to stay still when in the scanner is being developed. The mock scanner is located near the Behavioral Testing Suite and in close proximity to the 1.5T and 3T magnets.

Biomaterials Laboratory
This laboratory, physically integrated within the High Field Spectroscopy room, contains a Carver (Wabash, IN) 25 ton microprocessor controlled hydraulic press, a Spex Industries (Edison, NJ) cryogenic grinder, and a computer controlled Lindberg/Blue M (Watertown, WI) 1200°C 3 inch tube furnace, which are used for preparation and analysis of biomaterial specimens and implants. A special MRI-compatible furnace, capable of 950°C operation within the 4.7 T magnet, equipped with a quadrature birdcage RF coil, was engineered and fabricated in the Biomaterials Laboratory for in situ studies of high temperature materials processing.

Electronic and Machine Shop
Instrumentation for design, construction and repair activities is distributed among three locations: (1) Bay 2/Bay 3/High Field Laboratory; (2) Bay 4/Bay 5/9.4 T Lab; and (3) Photon Migration Lab. The shops are equipped with tools for working with electronic circuitry, fiber optics and mechanical devices; equipment for fabrication of printed circuit boards; instrumentation for electronic testing and measurement of digital, analog, and RF circuitry (power supplies, voltmeters, R/L/C meter, RF power meter, oscilloscopes, gaussmeters, RF sweepers, an analog impedance meter, a digital impedance analyzer, and 3 network analyzers); and machine tools (drill presses, belt sander, grinder, band saw, 13 inch lathe, small milling machine). A stock of materials, hardware and electronic components is maintained. Machine tools are available to carry out complete computer-assisted design and fabrication of probes, animal carriers, gradient coils, etc. In addition to these capabilities, we have access to the MGH machine shop. Design and simulation tasks are supported within the Center with Windows 2000 based multiprocessor workstations running Remcom (State College, PA) BioPro 5.2 FDTD software for simulation of electromagnetic fields, Electronics Workbench Multisim 2001 (Toronto, Canada) for simulation of electrical networks, and IMSI TurboCad (Novato, CA) for mechanical design.

Computer Facilities
The Center's IT infrastructure consists of over 200 Linux workstations and 150 Windows and Macintosh desktops on users desks owned by individual research groups. There are also a few Sun, SGI and HP workstations used at the center. There is a server farm of over 25 Linux servers handling central storage, email, web and other services. Overall storage capacity of the center is over 100 terabytes. There is also a 280 node computing cluster for batch analysis. These facilities are supported by a small, full time IT staff.

Education Center
This area contains a conference room, audio visual laboratory, staff offices and general seating space for pre and postdoctoral fellows and research staff. The conference room (600 square feet) and audiovisual laboratory are equipped with TV monitors, VCR's, teaching files and tapes.

Conference & Meeting Rooms
Meeting rooms of various sizes are available on the Charlestown Navy Yard campus. These include rooms to accomodate small (room CNY-149-2206, CNY114-C), medium sized (Education Center meeting room, room CNY-149-2695, Chesler library, Research Affairs conference room B, and CNY-114-A,B,D2, D3 and CNY36-4th floor conf room) and large groups (CNY-149-2204, Research Affairs conference room A, the 6th floor conference room, 7th floor auditorium, and CNY-114-D1). Click here for schedules and reservations.

Administration Areas
The Center's main administration area is located on the second floor of Building 149 in area 2301. Located in this area are the offices of the Director and Co Director, and grants administration and purchasing personnel. Facilities include fax machine, xerox, standard and color laser printers, and faculty and staff mailboxes. Additional administrative staff are located in area 2330 and elsewhere on the 2nd floor.

MGH-MIT GCRC Imaging Core Facilities
General Clinical Research Centers (GCRCs), supported by the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) of NIH, provide infrastructure and expert personnel for the conduct of clinical research. Recently the MGH and MIT GCRCs merged, and this year the MGH-MIT GCRC was expanded to include a satellite facility to support clinical research using biomedical imaging.  This Biomedical Imaging Core is located on the 2nd floor of building 149 in approximately 1,500 sq.ft and is situated directly above the dedicated research MR scanners and close to the MEG/EEG imaging site. The GCRC imaging core space contains a patient reception/waiting area, 2 outpatient exam rooms, computing resources, laboratory/storage space and office space for the staff. For more information, see the GCRC website.

GCRC Facilities include:

Patient reception/waiting area

 Our Operations Associates are here staffing the unit during business hours to serve the needs of the research subjects and investigators. Research subjects can use this waiting area whether they are scheduled for a visit to one of the exam rooms or one of the imaging facilities. Investigators can come to meet their subjects here and can make use of the educational resources for magnet safety training and image analysis methods.

 Outpatient Exam Rooms

 The two private outpatient exam rooms and the larger shared four person outpatient exam space are configured to support clinical imaging studies that include complex cognitive, pharmacological and physiological challenges. The rooms can be used for experimental paradigm development for imaging studies and for monitoring subjects before and/or after an imaging study. All the outpatient exam spaces are equipped to enable physical examinations, cognitive testing, insertion of intravenous lines, and physiological monitoring to be carried out. The private rooms are sound-attenuated and one of the rooms is electrically shielded and is appropriate for conducting sensitive EEG and optical imaging studies.

 The physiological monitoring capabilities include both clinical assessment and data acquisition support, as required by the study. For data acquisition needs, the modular physiological monitoring system (see www.ADInstruments.com) duplicates the system that is currently set up in the 1.5 T and 4.0T MRI suites. The modular physiological monitoring system includes equipment to measure invasive and non-invasive blood pressure, heart rate, ECG, oxygen saturation, temperature, skin conductance, expired oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations and respiration rate (see below for further details). The electrically shielded outpatient exam room and Bay 4 MR suite are also equipped with medical grade air, O2 and CO2.

 Although the BIC is designated for the support of low risk studies, all the outpatient exam areas and the imaging areas that are supported by the BIC are equipped to address any patient emergency situations (e.g. appropriately staffed and equipped with emergency power, oxygen, suction, code cart and defibrillator). BIC personnel, together with MGH Pharmacy, has established and maintains code carts adjacent to the GCRC dedicated space as well as at appropriate sites near each of the imaging systems that are supporting invasive studies.

 Clinical Laboratory/ Pharmacy Locker

 The BIC includes a small clinical laboratory for specimen preparation and temporary storage of specimens with centrifuges and 4o and –20 o C refrigerator/freezer space. The BIC medication closet allows investigators to maintain a supply of investigational drugs that can be dispensed on site. In keeping with their role for the main GCRC, MGH Research Pharmacy provides logistical support for pharmacy services such as special formulations, drug procurement, storage, record keeping, study fees, inventory control, drug distribution, packaging and labeling, randomization and blinding. This ensures that future clinical trials that have biomedical imaging as outcome measures will be in compliance with federal regulations. The laboratory is outfitted with both clean and dirty areas for storage with separate wash facilities.

Physiological Monitoring and Data Acquisition

 The CNY 2 Biomedical Imaging Core facility is equipped with the same clinical monitoring systems used in the main MGH facility. This includes the Propaq and a 12 lead ECG.

The Biomedical Imaging Core facility is also equipped with a complete PowerLab system (www.ADInstruments.com) for recording physiological data. The system includes the capability to record electrocardiogram (ECG), pulse plethysmgraph, skin temperature, electrodermal skin conductance (also known as galvanic skin response or GSR), respiratory rate, end tidal CO2 (ETCO2), and ventilation volume. Additional recording channels are available so that each investigator can collect behavioral or other data simultaneously within the same acquisition system. Each acquisition channel can be independently configured for sampling rate, software filtering of the signals and on the fly data analysis. The data are collected on a PC, but the data files can be saved in either PC or Mac format for later analysis by the investigator.

Similar PowerLab recording systems are set up in Bay 4 and Bays 2/3 (a shared system that can be configured for either room). In addition, all three Bays are equipped with InVivo clinical monitoring equipment. Only in Bay 4 are the two systems configured so that the InVivo signals can be recorded together with the PowerLab system.

 The BIC staff is responsible for the installation, maintenance, and calibration of the human subjects physiological monitoring systems located in the Martinos Center scanners (Bays 2, 3 and 4), as well as in the BIC. We maintain up-to-date certification of all the systems by MGH Biomedical Engineering. Our nursing staff will either assist the investigator or independently instrument the research subject, collect the requested data and provide a copy of the data file to the investigator on a CD at the end of each subject visit. The GCRC BIC has a site license for the Martinos Center so that the acquisition and analysis software, PowerLab Chart and Scope along with training manuals, can be freely distributed to all collaborating investigators.

All studies requiring use of this equipment in either the BIC or the scanner suites must have prior GCRC approval (an active SPID number). During the submission process, the investigator will indicate what measures are desired. The GCRC will be responsible for provision of all regular disposable supplies necessary for the conduct of the study.

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Martinos Center at MIT

Advanced Computational Image Processing and Analysis Center
The Advanced Computational Image Processing and Analysis Center (ACIPAC) is a satellite of the Martinos Center on the MIT campus set up in collaboration with the MIT Artificial Intelligence (AI) Laboratory. It is dedicated to solving practical image processing and analysis issues relevant to biomedical imaging and allows MIT students a direct avenue to engage in biomedical imaging research.

MGH Main Campus

The main campus of the MGH is located in Boston, about 1.5 miles from the MGH-Martinos Center in Charlestown, with frequent shuttle transportation provided between the two campuses for both researchers and ambulatory patients. It is the site of numerous resources, including imagers, laboratories and the MGH medical library.

1.5 T MR trailer systems on Founders I
These is a Siemens (Erlangen, Germany) Sonata 1.5 T 60 cm whole-body MRIs equipped with hardware and software that perform echo planar, CINE, MR angiography, diffusion and perfusion studies and spectroscopy for state of the art neuro and cardiac clinical evaluation. Gradient strengths are 40 mT/m, slew rates are 200 T/m/s, and the systems offer routine second order shimming

MGH- PET Imaging Facilities:
The PET facilities occupy approximately 10,000 square feet on the main campus of the Massachusetts General Hospital with laboratories located in several buildings to allow access for both clinical research and basic research.

The Research PET Imaging Laboratory
The PET Imaging facility consists of research and clinical PET imaging areas, ancillary data collection facilities and data processing hardware and software. In the research PET area (Edwards Research Building) there are two PET devices; 1) A commercial primate PET device, primate microPET, P4, Concord Microsystems, Inc. This PET scanner utilizes unique Lutetium Oxyorthosilicate (LSO) detector technology, and includes a computer controlled bed, a laser alignment system, a dual processor computer, a rotating source holder for attenuation correction measurements, data acquisition electronics and software for data acquisition, correction, image reconstruction, image display and basic image analysis. The animal port of the system is 22 cm. It has 4 rings of detector blocks enabling volumetric data acquisition in 8 cm long object. Resolution at the center of the field of view is 1.85 mm and the system sensitivity is 650cps/_Ci. 2) A super high-resolution rodent PET device is located next to the primate PET. The resolution of this device is 1.16 mm at the center, and it is the best resolution of the PET devices in the world at this moment. It is a single ring device, slice thickness is 1.3 mm and 3D-imaging data can be acquired using a computer controlled imaging table. In addition, another super high-resolution rodent PET scanner is under final test measurements. The camera suite is equipped with a dose calibrator, Na(Tl) well counter and counting electronics.

Clinical PET facility
The clinical PET imaging laboratory is located in the White Building. In the clinical area there are three commercial PET scanners. One GE PC 4096 PE tomograph (6 mm resolution, 15 planes) is located in a 1400 sq ft suite in White 2 and consists of an imaging room, a blood counting/dispensing area and a control room/reading room. One Siemens PET system is in the similar room in White 2 and one is outside in a van. Each of the camera suites is equipped with a dose calibrator, Na(Tl) well counter and counting electronics.

PET Cyclotron/Radiochemistry Facility
The MGH cyclotron consists of a Scanditronix MC 17F Cyclotron providing 17.5 MeV protons and 8.5 MeV deuterons at 50 _A beam current. Eight automated targets and chemical precursor processing systems routinely provide the following isotopes: 11C, 13N, 15O, and 18F. The cyclotron-Radiochemistry Lab is located in approximately 2200 sq ft in the Edwards Research Building in the main MGH campus. It consists of a cyclotron vault, a high radioactivity handling lab with three hot cells, a chemistry/quality control laboratory, electronics area and a maintenance shop. Major equipment includes two robotic systems located in the HOT Cells for automated radiochemical syntheses, two analytical HPLC's, a production HPLC, a GC/mass spectrometer, four dose calibrators, radiation monitoring equipment and various other analytical equipments. In addition to main laboratories, there are three additional chemistry laboratories dedicated to PET (total 800 sq ft) located in the Edwards Building.

Physics Research Laboratory: The MGH-PET instrumentation effort is housed in approximately 600 sq ft in the Edwards Research Building Basement. It consists of an electronics shop, imaging and office area.

Computer Facilities in the Research PET Imaging Facility

  • Primate PET device: PC Xeon dual processor; memory of 250 gigabytes and for additional data storage a Raid system with 1.2 Terabyte memory. The rodent PET is operated by a Windows 98 based PC with 1.5 Gbytes hard disk. For the further data processing there is 7 additional PCs, which are ethernet connected and have local Zip and CD drives.
  • PC Pentium 3; OS: Windows 2000 server; Memory: 80 gigabytes
  • PC Pentium 4; OS: Windows 2000 professional; Memory: 60 gigabytes
  • PC Pentium 3; OS: Windows 98 second edition; Memory: 60 gigabytes
  • PC Pentium 3; OS: Linux Red Hat 6.5; Memory: 40 gigabytes
  • PC Pentium 3; OS: Linux Red Hat 6.5; Memory: 40 gigabytes
  • PC Pentium 3; OS: Windows 98 second edition; Memory: 50 gigabytes
  • PC Pentium 1; OS: Windows 98 second edition; Memory: 13 gigabytes
  • Snap server; Memory: 300 gigabytes

MGH PET Research Laboratory Office area
The PET group has office space for scientists, fellows and staff (approximately 500 sq ft) located in the Bartlett Hall Building. The offices are equipped with personal computers, fax and copying machines. Ethernet service connects all computers to the hospital-wide network.

Animal facilities in the main campus
Animal housing is performed by the Center for Comparative Resources Department at Massachusetts General Hospital located in main campus in Edwards and Wellman Research Buildings. They (CCR) order, receive and house all animals. This is performed in compliance with USDA law and AALAS regulations. We have access to a small animal and large survival surgical suite. We also have access to a portable CT scanner, fluoroscopy and a large animal survival surgical suite. Surgical suites are equipped with anesthesia equipment for animal surgery, operating space, surgical operating scope, desktop autoclave, and an on-line blood gas analyzer.

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updated 02/2005

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