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Imaging Facilities

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Facility

The magnetic resonance imaging facility (MRIF), as part of the School of Cancer and Enabling Sciences, acts as an interface between clinical and academic research, and imaging science. MRIF provides access to and support for clinicians and scientists from across the University and NHS Trusts, who wish to use MRI techniques to enhance their research using the three state of the art University facilities: a 3T scanner based at Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust and a new 1.5T scanner at the Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre (WMIC) installed in 2008.

For further information using MRIF and the application procedure, contact the MRIF Administrator (Frances Davies: frances.davies@manchester.ac.uk/ 0161 275 0006).

MRIF offers a broad range of MR techniques, across the three scanners, including:

For more information on the techniques or facilities alongside the University's MRI scanners, please see the MRIF Facilities page.

Please remember that there are a number of conditions that mean that participants may not be suitable to undergo an MRI scan. Any impanted metal or pacemakers, false limbs or professions where there is a risk of metal fragments being present in the participant's eyes, may preclude them from being scanned. The MRI Patient Declaration form is available for consultation and the radiography team can be contacted on 0161 206 5845 if you have any questions at all. 

Development and Physics Support for MRI Scanning

The MRI Facility has ethics approval to undertake protocol testing and optimisation on the scanners. These scans are free of charge and usually limited to five hours per protocol and the scanners are accessed for this time by sending a one-page protocol summary detailing which scanner you would like to use, how many hours you require and a brief outline of the study to the MRIF Administrator (frances.davies@manchester.ac.uk). This will then be reviewed and once approved a scanning reference number will be allocated that you can book your scans under.

Please note: this time is not for data collection or to support publications.

The School of Cancer and Enabling Sciences employs a full time MRI Physicist who can be contacted for support with MRI protocols, issues, sequences development and testing. If you would like to request support, please contact the MRIF Administrator with a brief outline of your needs and the MRI project the query is attached to, and she will have the physicist Dr Sha Zhao (email) contact you.

Volunteering for MRI studies

Though the majority of our volunteers are recommended by their doctor to take part in the research study, we often need healthy volunteers to ensure a balanced study; some studies also recruit healthy volunteers exclusively. If you are interested is volunteering for a MRI study, please see the volunteers page.

MRI for Co-Registration of PET data

MRIF also supports studies that require MRI for co-registration of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) data, available at the University of Manchester's Wolfson Molecular Imaging Centre. The imaging facilities are available as a fully integrated structure with the School of Cancer and Enabling Sciences. For further information please contact Frances Davies; 0161 275 0006. 

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