The BIRC’s MR technologies also present opportunities for innovation in the bioimaging applications themselves. Qun Zhao, who came to UGA as assistant professor of physics and astronomy and joined the center as its MR physicist in August 2006, is leading this new interdisciplinary area of research at the university.

Zhao had previously worked as a research scientist in industry, improving fMRI system applications and MRI radio-frequency coil design, but the research possibilities offered at the BIRC—particularly the prospect of broad collaborations with researchers in biology—proved irresistible.

UGA’s strengths in cancer research and nanotechnology have already inspired Zhao to venture into those areas in order to expand the use of MRI in the diagnosis of disease. To start, he plans to join forces with scientists at UGA’s Complex Carbohydrate Research Center and Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center to develop biocompatible nanoparticles capable of recognizing cancer.

“As intravenous contrast agents,” said Zhao, “nanoparticles could be used to enhance an MRI system’s ability to find tumor cells, allowing not only the early diagnosis of cancer but improved treatment evaluation and drug delivery as well.”

All in all, UGA is now set up to make a real mark in bioimaging, said BIRC director Stephen Miller. “This facility makes a series of technologies available that together give us functional and structural imaging capabilities like nowhere else. There are other research-dedicated MR magnets in the United States, but there are only a handful that have what we have to offer under one roof.”

For more information about bioimaging research at UGA visit www.uga.edu/psychology/millerlab/index.html or contact Steve Miller at lsmiller@uga.edu.