Advanced Imaging Research Center

Welcome to the AIRC Webpage

In the second half of the twentieth century, the development of imaging methods had a profound and transforming effect on the nature of diagnosis and thus the practice of medicine. In the last quarter of the century, it was particularly advances of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that led this revolution. Therefore Oregon Health & Science University has resolved to join the forefront of the progression of medical imaging into the twenty-first century. This has begun with the creation of the Advanced Imaging Research Center (AIRC) and its initial focus on MR imaging. The AIRC at OHSU has as its basic mission the advancement of medical imaging. With this charge, it aims to become a center for cutting edge research in imaging science. It is a research facility independent of existing departments at OHSU.

With the leadership of the interim Director, Professor Jeri Janowsky, Phase I of the AIRC plan culminated with occupancy of a new 2520 ft2 building on the south side of OHSU’s Marquam Hill campus (745 S.W. Gaines Street) in the Fall of 2003. This building housed offices for the embryonic AIRC faculty and staff until January 2006.

This is now an AIRC satellite facility located at the OHSU West Campus in Hillsboro and houses the original 3 T whole-body MR instrument (trailer). This features a fully configured research instrument [Trio (Siemens)] employing a whole-body, superconducting electromagnet with a field strength of 3 Tesla (T), a high-performance, whole-body field gradient coil set with maximum gradient strength of 40 mT/m, and a power RF amplifier (35 kW). Control and electronic rooms are adjacent to the magnet hall. The instrument is set up for functional MRI (fMRI) and multinuclear MR spectroscopy (MRS) studies as well all forms of MRI.

Phase II of the AIRC plan began in January 2006 when the Center moved to the new multi-story Biomedical Research Building (BRB) on the north side of Marquam Hill.

OHSU Biomedical Research Building January 2006

In BRB, the AIRC now occupies ~7500 ft2, comprising approximately half of the first floor, and a section of basement B2. The Trio laboratory is located on the first floor, as is the (expanded) faculty and staff offices. There are additional office spaces for postdoctoral associates and graduate students. There is a conference room, a chemistry laboratory, and much larger spaces for the electronic shop and image processing laboratory. There is also a mock MR instrument for fMRI training and control studies. Basement B2 houses a fully-configured 7 T whole-body (arrived 2006) and 12 T MR instruments, with their associated control rooms and electronics areas, as well as an additional electronics shop.

Professor Springer through the 12T bore, September 2006

View from AIRC Terrace March 2006

AIRC Organization:

AIRC Staff August 2007

The AIRC faculty currently includes Professors Charles S. Springer, Director, William Rooney, Christopher Kroenke, Martin Pike.

In September 2008 we are welcoming Wei Huang, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Mark Woods, University of Texas at Dallas.

The AIRC staff includes: Tom Barbara, Technical Manager, Xin Li, Mike Nettleingham and currently includes: Jeffrey Njus, post-doctoral fellow, Jingang Xu, Research Associate, James Pollaro, Research Associate. We also have the following Research Assistant II's: Audrey Selzer, Matt Snodgrass, Erin Taber, and Ian Tagge. The faculty/staff is augmented by Joanne C. Putnam, Departmental Administrator.

AIRC Research:

The general theme of research at AIRC is the quantitative interpretation of in vivo MR measurements leading to the high-resolution mapping of pathophysiological properties. Current investigational specializations include: the molecular mechanisms underlying contrast reagent (CR) action in MRI (with particular applications to studies of cancer, multiple sclerosis, and blood-brain-barrier compromise), real-time correction for subject motion, cardiac physiology (including blood flow and water diffusion), and MRI CR pharmacokinetic modeling.

AIRC User Research:

Research groups from a number of different OHSU departments and entities use the AIRC Trio instrument for all or portions of their programs. These efforts include: fMRI investigations of changes in stimulus-induced brain responses concomitant with aging or sensory impairment (e.g., blindness), fMRI investigations of brain function changes with methamphetamine dependence, changes in brain structure and/or function with changes in blood hormone levels, metabolite spectral and/or water diffusion changes following epileptic seizure, studies of the non-human primate brain changes with aging, and studies of the osmotic-induced rodent blood-brain-barrier disruption using CRs.

3181 SW Sam Jackson Park Road, Mailcode L452
Portland, OR 97239
Phone: (503) 418-1540
Fax: (503) 418-1543
E-mail: airc@ohsu.edu