AbstractThis proposal request funds to purchase a research-dedicated state-of-the-art 3T MRI scannerfor neuroimaging to be used by a core group of NIH-supported investigators at the University ofArizona (UA). The new scanner will support many active research programs that aredeveloping and/or using state-of-the-art MRI in their study of the brain. The proposed Siemens3T Magnetom Prisma (Prisma) will significantly improve the capabilities for brain imaging at UAand provide enhanced data and image quality for advanced techniques in diffusion functionaland structural MRI. With the identification of neuroscience as a UA Health Sciences focus arearepresented by multiple centers and institutes the UA has made strong institutionalcommitments towards neuroimaging research with many new faculty being hired and newbuildings and facilities being constructed. The Prisma will be located in the TranslationalBioimaging Resource (TBIR) a new 20000 GSF facility in the newly constructed BiosciencesResearch Laboratory building. The TBIR houses multiple imaging modalities under one roofand has the necessary infrastructure for human and animal imaging. The users of the newinstrument span a range of disciplines from biomedical engineering to psychology andpsychiatry to medical imaging to speech language and hearing sciences. Neuroimaging cutsacross all of these disciplines and a powerful neuro-optimized 3T MRI scanner will furtheradvance the understanding of healthy and aging human brains as well as enable UAresearchers to deepen our understanding of and develop treatments for neurological disordersincluding Alzheimer's disease Parkinson's disease traumatic brain injury and stroke.