National MagLab is brainstorming magnet designs

Scientists are proposing a 20-tesla instrument for human brain imaging and chemical detection — almost seven times stronger than a typical hospital MRI and twice as powerful as the strongest MRIs used in human research. Its resolution would be 10 times what can be achieved today, said Thomas Mareci, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Florida. In a square millimeter of brain tissue, he said, that's the difference between seeing a lump representing tens of thousands of fibers and being able to identify each individual fiber.

1.2 GHz will shed more light on what goes on inside a cell, such as how they build proteins or ribonucleic acid (RNA). In the latter process, cells add about 20 new nucleotides to the molecule per second. Due to limited field strength, current instruments aren’t sensitive enough to keep up with that pace.

"If we want to get real in these kind of things, I have to actually increase my sensitivity toward the speed at which cellular machines work," said Schwalbe. "That's another dream of NMR."

Because of its very high field, the SCH can detect atoms that, until now, have been invisible to NMR, notably oxygen. The ability to observe oxygen in molecules is a game-changing capability that will allow scientists to watch the body in action at the molecular level.

"Oxygen has a number of interesting things about it," Brey said. "It's real biochemistry, not just structure — right in the active places on the molecule."

Oxygen, neurons, drug targets, weird electron behaviors: just a few of the mysteries atop scientists’ most wanted list. With the higher fields promised in next-generation magnets, researchers say, more dreamed-of discoveries will land squarely in their crosshairs.

https://nationalmaglab.org/fieldsmagazine/archives/fields-of-dreams