One of the strongest MR research scanners worldwide is now inaugurated at the Danish Research Center for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR) located at Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Denmark. It operates at no less than 7 tesla magnetic field strength which corresponds to roughly 140.000 times the earth magnetic field. The field is generated by a 44 ton superconducting electromagnet with its inner parts cooled to -270 degrees celcius by liquid helium. The purchase of this incredible MR system from Philips Healthcare was made possible after very generous donations from the John and Birthe Meyer Foundation and the Danish Council for Research and Innovation. The scanner that is approved for research only, gives much more detailed insight into human physiology and diseases than clinical MR scanners, e.g. for imaging of brain structure and activation, and for studies of metabolism. These techniques are of high importance for a number of diseases, e.g., neurodegenerative. The scanner is availalble to MR researchers nationwide in scope of the Danish National 7T MR project that includes, e.g., hospitals in the capital region, the universities in Aarhus and Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School, the Technical University of Denmark, and collaborators in Sweden.

After a welcome from the hospital director Torben Ø Pedersen, talks at the inauguration were given by Sophie Hæstorp Andersen (chairman of the regional council), Hartwig Siebner (head of DRCMR), Torben Mogensen (vice director of the hosting hospital) and Jørgen Frøkiær (head of the national Danish 7T steering group). Besides special thanks to the benefactors, and the many involved persons, special thanks were given to the former head of the DRCMR, Prof. Olaf B. Paulson, who initiated the 7T project, and who is still very active in it as a representative from Rigshospitalet.

Click for more information in Danish, and pictures from the installation and inauguration.