MRI Center for Biomedical Imaging | College of Medicine

Supporting Biomedical Research

The UVM MRI Center for Biomedical Imaging was established in 2007 to support Robert Larner College of Medicine research faculty. As a Larner College of Medicine core facility, we specialize in functional MRI (fMRI) and neuroimaging; however, our state-of-the-art 3T MRI scanner is fully equipped and we have the ability to image almost any anatomical structure. The University of Vermont MRI Center is based around a Philips 3T Achieva dStream MRI scanner, including a 32-channel phased-array head coil, and Copley 787 gradients with up to 80 mT/m strength and a slew rate of up to 200 T/m/s. Philips dStream technology provides signal digitization at the coil to maximize signal and minimize noise, as well as an almost unlimited number of receive channels. The UVM scanner was the first Philips scanner to be upgraded to a new spectrometer (DDAS) to support the use of multiband SENSE technology (simultaneous multislice imaging), enabling acceleration factors of up to 8 over conventional functional and diffusion MRI acquisitions with minimal loss of signal-to-noise. Through collaboration with Philips HealthTech, the MRI Center has access to the latest hardware and software developments, including works in progress.

MRI Simulator

The purpose of the MRI simulator is to expose research subjects to the MRI environment prior to their actual MRI scanning session, to improve the quality of the data that is generated on the research magnet. The simulator can be helpful to researchers who are concerned that their subjects, especially children, will experience anxiety or claustrophobia during the actual scan session. Schedule a time to use the simulator.

Research

The UVM MRI Center continues to participate in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, which is the largest longitudinal study of brain development and child health in the United States. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded study involves researchers from across 21 sites throughout the United States; including UVM. The Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) study follows more than 10,000 children ages 9-10 years old and tracks biological and behavioral development through adolescence into adulthood.

Discover more research projects.

Accessing the Center

The MRI Center supports researchers with projects from multiple medical and non-medical disciplines. MRI is able to provide both quantitative and qualitative data to researchers and we encourage you to take full advantage of our imaging services and support. Required documentation can be found here.

Recent Publications

Beynnon, B. D., Fiorentino, N., Gardner‐Morse, M., Tourville, T. W., Slauterbeck, J. R., Sturnick, D. R., . . . Imhauser, C. W. (2020). Combined injury to the ACL and lateral meniscus alters the geometry of articular cartilage and meniscus soon after initial trauma. Journal of Orthopaedic Research®, 38(4), 759-767.

Laurent, J. S., Watts, R., Adise, S., Allgaier, N., Chaarani, B., Garavan, H., . . . Mackey, S. (2020). Associations among body mass index, cortical thickness, and executive function in children. JAMA pediatrics, 174(2), 170-177.

Solomon, A. J., Pettigrew, R., Naismith, R. T., Chahin, S., Krieger, S., & Weinshenker, B. (2020). Challenges in multiple sclerosis diagnosis: Misunderstanding and misapplication of the McDonald criteria. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 1352458520910496.

Wymbs, N. F., Orr, C., Albaugh, M. D., Althoff, R. R., O’Loughlin, K., Holbrook, H., . . . Hudziak, J. (2020). Social supports moderate the effects of child adversity on neural correlates of threat processing. Child Abuse & Neglect, 102, 104413.

Braddish, T. A. (2019). Reliability of Inter-and Intra-Examiner Loading of the Knee Joint During Simulated MRI.
Davey, A. P., Vacek, P. M., Caldwell, R. A., Slauterbeck, J. R., Gardner-Morse, M. G., Tourville, T. W., & Beynnon, B. D. (2019).

Risk Factors Associated With a Noncontact Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury to the Contralateral Knee After Unilateral Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injury in High School and College Female Athletes: A Prospective Study. The American journal of sports medicine, 47(14), 3347-3355.

Dumas, J. A. (2019). Increases and Decreases in Functional Brain Activation in Healthy Older Adults: The Relationships Between Executive Control Circuit Activity, Amyloid Burden, and Education in Healthy Older Adults. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 27(12), 1372-1374.

Lonza, G. C., Gardner‐Morse, M. G., Vacek, P. M., & Beynnon, B. D. (2019). Radiographic‐based measurement of tibiofemoral joint space width and magnetic resonance imaging derived articular cartilage thickness are not related in subjects at risk for post traumatic arthritis of the knee. Journal of Orthopaedic Research®, 37(5), 1052-1058.

Shpaner, M., Perelman, H., Mantegna, J., Naylor, M., & Wang, B. (2019). (358) The Effects of Pleasant, Chill-Inducing Music on Acute Pain in Healthy Volunteers: An fMRI Study. The Journal of Pain, 20(4), S64.

Solomon, A. J. (2019). Diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and misdiagnosis of multiple sclerosis. CONTINUUM: Lifelong Learning in Neurology, 25(3), 611-635.

Birch, C., Mensch, K., Desarno, M., Beynnon, B., & Tourville, T. (2018). Subchondral trabecular bone integrity changes following ACL injury and reconstruction: a cohort study with a nested, matched case-control analysis. Osteoarthritis and cartilage, 26(6), 762-769.

D'Alberto, N., Chaarani, B., Orr, C. A., Spechler, P. A., Albaugh, M. D., Allgaier, N., . . . Bromberg, U. (2018). Individual differences in stop‐related activity are inflated by the adaptive algorithm in the stop signal task. Human brain mapping.

Montalvo, A. M., Schneider, D. K., Yut, L., Webster, K. E., Beynnon, B., Kocher, M. S., & Myer, G. D. (2018). "What’s my risk of sustaining an ACL injury while playing sports?" A systematic review with meta-analysis. Br J Sports Med, bjsports-2016-096274.

Wesseldijk, L., Dieleman, G., van Steensel, F., Bartels, M., Hudziak, J., Lindauer, R., . . . Middeldorp, C. (2018). Risk factors for parental psychopathology: a study in families with children or adolescents with psychopathology. European child & adolescent psychiatry, 1-10.

Albaugh, M. D., Ducharme, S., Karama, S., Watts, R., Lewis, J. D., Orr, C., . . . Evans, A. C. (2017). Anxious/depressed symptoms are related to microstructural maturation of white matter in typically developing youths. Development and psychopathology, 29(3), 751-758.

Bethell, C. D., Carle, A., Hudziak, J., Gombojav, N., Powers, K., Wade, R., & Braveman, P. (2017). Methods to assess adverse childhood experiences of children and families: toward approaches to promote child well-being in policy and practice. Academic pediatrics, 17(7), S51-S69.

Carter, J. C., Sturnick, D. R., Vacek, P. M., DeSarno, M. J., Argentieri, E. C., Slauterbeck, J. R., . . . Beynnon, B. D. (2017). Relationship between geometry of the extensor mechanism of the knee and risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury. Journal of Orthopaedic Research, 35(5), 965-973.

Clark, D. B., Fisher, C. B., Bookheimer, S., Brown, S. A., Evans, J. H., Hopfer, C., . . . Pfefferbaum, A. (2017). Biomedical ethics and clinical oversight in multisite observational neuroimaging studies with children and adolescents: The ABCD experience. Developmental cognitive neuroscience.

Curran, E. J., Wolfson, D. L., Watts, R., & Freeman, K. (2017). Cold Blooded: Evaluating Brain Temperature by MRI During Surface Cooling of Human Subjects. Neurocritical Care, 1-6.

Dumas, J. A. (2017). Strategies for preventing cognitive decline in healthy older adults. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 62(11), 754-760.

Dumas, J. A., Filippi, C. G., Newhouse, P. A., & Naylor, M. R. (2017). Dopaminergic contributions to working memory-related brain activation in postmenopausal women. Menopause, 24(2), 163-170.

Kurtz, S. P., Buttram, M. E., & Pagano, M. (2017). Benzodiazepine dependence among young adults in the club scene: Data from a second cohort. Drug & Alcohol Dependence, 171, e112-e113.

Lawler, M. J. (2017). Neuroimaging of Habit-based vs. Goal-directed behavior in Instrumental Learning.

Levins, J. G., Argentieri, E. C., Sturnick, D. R., Gardner-Morse, M., Vacek, P. M., Tourville, T. W., . . . Beynnon, B. D. (2017). Geometric Characteristics of the Knee Are Associated With a Noncontact ACL Injury to the Contralateral Knee After Unilateral ACL Injury in Young Female Athletes. The American journal of sports medicine, 45(14), 3223-3232.

Montague, J. A., Pinder, G. F., Gonyea, J. V., Hipko, S., & Watts, R. (2017). Visualization and simulation of density driven convection in porous media using magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology.

Nguyen, T.-V., Wu, M., Lew, J., Albaugh, M. D., Botteron, K. N., Hudziak, J. J., . . . Booij, L. (2017). Dehydroepiandrosterone impacts working memory by shaping cortico-hippocampal structural covariance during development. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 86, 110-121.

Searles, S., Makarewicz, J. A., & Dumas, J. A. (2017). The role of estradiol in schizophrenia diagnosis and symptoms in postmenopausal women. Schizophrenia research.

Slauterbeck, J. R., Reilly, A., Vacek, P. M., Choquette, R., Tourville, T. W., Mandelbaum, B., . . . Beynnon, B. D. (2017). Characterization of prepractice injury prevention exercises of high school athletic teams. Sports health, 9(6), 511-517.

Solomon, A. J., Watts, R., Dewey, B. E., & Reich, D. S. (2017). MRI evaluation of thalamic volume differentiates MS from common mimics. Neurology-Neuroimmunology Neuroinflammation, 4(5), e387.

Solomon, A. J., Watts, R., Ontaneda, D., Absinta, M., Sati, P., & Reich, D. S. (2017). Diagnostic performance of central vein sign for multiple sclerosis with a simplified three-lesion algorithm. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 1352458517726383.

Thomas, A. W., Watts, R., Filippi, C. G., Nickerson, J. P., Andrews, T., Lieberman, G., . . . Freeman, K. (2017). Dynamic changes in diffusion measures improve sensitivity in identifying patients with mild traumatic brain injury. PloS one, 12(6), e0178360.

Vega, J. N., Dumas, J., & Newhouse, P. A. (2017). Cognitive effects of chemotherapy and cancer-related treatments in older adults. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 25(12), 1415-1426.

Carter, J. C., Sturnick, D. R., Vacek, P. M., DeSarno, M. J., Argentieri, E. C., Slauterbeck, J. R., . . . Beynnon, B. D. (2016). Relationship between geometry of the extensor mechanism of the knee and risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury. Journal of Orthopaedic Research.

Dumas, J. A., Bunn, J. Y., Nickerson, J., Crain, K. I., Ebenstein, D. B., Tarleton, E. K., . . . Kien, C. L. (2016). Dietary saturated fat and monounsaturated fat have reversible effects on brain function and the secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines in young women. Metabolism, 65(10), 1582-1588.

Levins, J. G., Sturnick, D. R., Argentieri, E. C., Gardner-Morse, M., Vacek, P. M., Desarno, M. J., . . . Beynnon, B. D. (2016). Geometric risk factors associated with noncontact anterior cruciate ligament graft rupture. The American journal of sports medicine, 44(10), 2537-2545.

Liu, P., Dimitrov, I., Andrews, T., Crane, D. E., Dariotis, J. K., Desmond, J., . . . Maclntosh, B. J. (2016). Multisite evaluations of a T 2‐relaxation‐under‐spin‐tagging (TRUST) MRI technique to measure brain oxygenation. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 75(2), 680-687.

Nguyen, T.-V., Gower, P., Albaugh, M. D., Botteron, K. N., Hudziak, J. J., Fonov, V. S., . . . McCracken, J. T. (2016). The developmental relationship between DHEA and visual attention is mediated by structural plasticity of cortico-amygdalar networks. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 70, 122-133.

Orr, C. A., Albaugh, M. D., Watts, R., Garavan, H., Andrews, T., Nickerson, J. P., . . . Logan, K. (2016). Neuroimaging biomarkers of a history of concussion observed in asymptomatic young athletes. Journal of neurotrauma, 33(9), 803-810.

Solomon, A. J., Schindler, M. K., Howard, D. B., Watts, R., Sati, P., Nickerson, J. P., & Reich, D. S. (2016). "Central vessel sign" on 3T FLAIR* MRI for the differentiation of multiple sclerosis from migraine. Annals of clinical and translational neurology, 3(2), 82-87.

Vega, J. N., Zurkovsky, L., Albert, K., Melo, A., Boyd, B., Dumas, J., . . . Park, J. H. (2016). Altered brain connectivity in early postmenopausal women with subjective cognitive impairment. Frontiers in neuroscience, 10, 433.

Wixted, E. K., Sue, I. J., Dube, M., & Sarahjane, L. (2016). Cognitive Flexibility and Academic Performance in College Students with ADHD: An fMRI Study.

Albaugh, M. D., Orr, C., Nickerson, J. P., Zweber, C., Slauterbeck, J. R., Hipko, S., . . . Watts, R. (2015). Postconcussion Symptoms Are Associated with Cerebral Cortical Thickness in Healthy Collegiate and Preparatory School Ice Hockey Players. The Journal of pediatrics, 166(2), 394-400. e391.

Beynnon, B. D., Sturnick, D. R., Argentieri, E. C., Slauterbeck, J. R., Tourville, T. W., Shultz, S. J., & Vacek, P. M. (2015). A sex-stratified multivariate risk factor model for anterior cruciate ligament injury. Journal of athletic training, 50(10), 1094-1096.

Borden, N. M., Forseen, S. E., & Stefan, C. (2015). Imaging Anatomy of the Human Brain: A Comprehensive Atlas Including Adjacent Structures: Springer Publishing Company.

Dumas, J. A., & Newhouse, P. A. (2015). Impaired Working Memory in Geriatric Depression: An fMRI Study. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 23(4), 433-436.

Gonyea, J. V., Watts, R., Applebee, A., Andrews, T., Hipko, S., Nickerson, J. P., . . . Filippi, C. G. (2015). In vivo quantitative whole‐brain T1 rho MRI of multiple sclerosis. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Liu, P., Dimitrov, I., Andrews, T., Crane, D. E., Dariotis, J. K., Desmond, J., . . . Maclntosh, B. J. (2015). Multisite evaluations of a T2‐relaxation‐under‐spin‐tagging (TRUST) MRI technique to measure brain oxygenation. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Orr, C. A., Albaugh, M. D., Watts, R., Garavan, H., Andrews, T., Nickerson, J. P., . . . Logan, K. (2015). Neuroimaging Biomarkers of a History of Concussion Observed in Asymptomatic Young Athletes. Journal of neurotrauma

Sturnick, D. R., Vacek, P. M., DeSarno, M. J., Gardner-Morse, M. G., Tourville, T. W., Slauterbeck, J. R., . . . Beynnon, B. D. (2015). Combined anatomic factors predicting risk of anterior cruciate ligament injury for males and females. The American journal of sports medicine, 0363546514563277.

Wylie, G. R., Freeman, K., Thomas, A., Shpaner, M., OKeefe, M., Watts, R., & Naylor, M. R. (2015). Cognitive improvement after mild traumatic brain injury measured with functional neuroimaging during the acute period. PloS one, 10(5), e0126110.

Wylie, G. R., Freeman, K., Thomas, A., Shpaner, M., OKeefe, M., Watts, R., & Naylor, M. R. (2015). Cognitive Improvement after Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Measured with Functional Neuroimaging during the Acute Period.