Federal Project Grant Award Summary

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill received a $610,678 Project Grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering under the Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health program (CFDA 93.286) to develop and optimize two innovative short echo-time (TE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies: Steady-State On-the-Ramp Detection of Induction-Decay Signal with Oversampling (SORDINO) and Modified Rosette Ultrashort TE (PETALUTE). The award period extends from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2030, with performance at the Chapel Hill, NC location. These proprietary sequences are designed to advance functional MRI (fMRI) capabilities at 7 Tesla field strength by enabling near-complete k-space coverage with reduced acoustic noise, improved sensitivity, and flexible contrast weighting.

The primary deliverables include development, optimization, and validation of both SORDINO and PETALUTE sequences for human brain fMRI applications, with direct performance benchmarking against the standard multi-band echo-planar imaging approach. These technologies address critical clinical gaps by reducing susceptibility artifacts in challenging brain regions and improving accessibility for sensitive populations such as infants, patients with implants, and motion-prone individuals. While brain imaging is the primary focus, both sequences are designed for extension to dynamic and functional imaging of other organ systems, including cardiac, pulmonary, hepatic, renal, and musculoskeletal imaging, with additional applicability to gadolinium-enhanced clinical MRI protocols.