Boston Globe writes about our work

July 24, 2006: The Boston Globe newspaper wrote an article about hyperpolarized gas imaging which described work of Dr. Sam Patz of Brigham and Women's Hospital, our principal collaborator on lung MRI using hyperpolarized xenon. You can find the article here.

UNH Xenon Polarizer's first publication lands in Physical Review Letters

Feb 10, 2006: Our first report describing the world leading xenon polarizing system was published in the Physical Review Letters 96: 053002 (2006). Check out our Reports for the content of the paper. We have in preparation a more detailed description of the system and the results, as well as a theoretical paper on the polarizer's concept.

UNH polarizer obtains its first image of a human lung

May 04, 2005: Boston, MA -- The UNH polarizer delivered polarized gas for our first ever human lung image. The polarized gas was thawed directly into a 1 liter Tedlar bag. The human subject inhaled about 400 cc of enriched hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe in one inhalation, completing the inhalation with room air to the lung capacity. We performed two experiments separated by about 90 min. The experiments were based on an approved IRB protocol. The experience is a milestone for our group opening the door for performing human imaging using hyperpolarized ¹²⁹Xe.

Polarizer operational at Brigham and Women's Hospital

April 22, 2005: Boston, MA -- The UNH 129Xe polarizer produces polarized gas at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. Moving the Xe polarizer equipment from UNH to BWH started about a month ago. The polarizer was reassembled in an annex next to a 0.2 T scanner in the basement of the hospital. This is the first time the 129Xe polarizer has been moved and successfully operated off-campus.

Faraday rotation apparatus commissioned and operational

(click for larger image) August 23, 2004: Durham, NH -- Using Faraday rotation technique, we have measured the product of density and polarization of rubidium. Knowledge of the product is very critical in improving the polarization in optical pump process. In order to make a precision measurement, we have built a compact system, based on Littrow grating with a beam correcting mirror. We have successfully narrowed the width of the wavelength of 780 nm diode laser far below 0.015 nm; Precision was limited by the detector resolution. The wavelength was also stable within 0.001 nm drift in nine hour duration. The figure shown is Faraday rotation as a function of scanning wavelength. By fitting the data with theoretical Faraday rotation, we obtained the product, 1.39E12 cm-3 for this data set.

Silviu Covrig chooses UNH Center for Xenon Imaging

March 19, 2004: Durham, NH -- Silviu Covrig of the California Institute of Technology, presently completing his PhD at the Jefferson Laboratory on a measurement of parity violation in the electron-proton interaction (G0), will join the UNH group in June to work primarily on medical imaging with hyperpolarized xenon. He accepted our offer over opportunities with MIT, Yale, Jefferson Laboratory, and others. The addition of Silviu will bring the membership of Prof. Hersman’s group to three postdoctoral research scientists, five graduate students, and two technicians (who are former students). Fourteen undergraduate students with physics, math, engineering, and computer science majors have participated part-time in research with his group so far this year. Roughly two-thirds of these students are UNH students working ~10 hours per week during the academic period, and one-third are area residents who work nearly full-time with the group during breaks and summers. The Center for Xenon Imaging provides a pathway for quantitative scientists to transition to careers with biomedical relevance.

UNH group achieves high efficiency with spectrally-narrowed laser

(click for larger image) March 19, 2004: Durham, NH -- Our existing NIH grant includes funds for the replacement of the 200W 795nm laser we borrowed from our nuclear physics program. Instead of purchasing a duplicate, we have opted to extend the work of Thad Walker and Bien Chann of the University of Wisconsin on spectrally narrowed multi-stripe diode lasers. Working with a stack of five bars capable of 60W each, we recently demonstrated 68% efficiency at 0.1 nm wavelength at half-maximum current.

Milestone achieved: First hyperpolarized xenon images using UNH gas delivered to BWH

February 16, 2004: Brookline, MA -- Using 3/4 liter hyperpolarized xenon gas polarized at UNH to approximately 50% and delivered 70 miles to Boston, the UNH-BWH-Mirtech-CFA consortium achieved their first images on the 1.5 T GE scanner at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. The xenon was thawed to the gas phase enclosed in a glass spiral. A custom-built coil tuned to the xenon resonance was controlled by a modified pulse sequence. This demonstration verifies the completion of development of the essential components for polarization, delivery, and imaging. Participants included Iulian Ruset, Steve Ketel, Iga Muradyan, Hank Zhu, Sam Patz, Mirko Hrovat, Tina Pavlin, and Bill Hersman. Thanks and congrats to all.