Multi-Channel Transmit - Multi-Channel Receive Coil Array for Human fMRI

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): For this Phase I STTR proposal, the investigators plan to develop the radiofrequency (RF) coil technology required for high-resolution fMRI at 7T. In the absence of a body transmit coil, all 7T head coils must also incorporate a transmitter in addition to the receiver. Here, we propose a transmit array with up to 16 individual channels combined with a receive array that uses the highest number of receive channels currently available for 7T, which is 32. The technology incorporates a number of innovations including a novel, small on-coil preamplifier, a modular housing design, and our patented cable traps for sheet-current suppression. The technology combines the advantages of multi- channel RF-transmit-field control, optimization, and efficiency with optimal receive-array technology. Our proposal has the flexibility to use our new housing/coil in either a first configuration that has a fully unrestricted visual field-of-view with significant task presentation advantages for all applications that do not require whole-brain image acquisition, or a second configuration that adds a novel frontal-lobe coil array to provide whole-brain coverage. Both configurations will be designed in a way that, when compared to currently available commercial whole-head coils, will achieve significantly superior task-presentation capability, the ability to utilize motion-correctin cameras, and improved peripheral SNR.