Advanced Magnetic Resonance Center

The Advanced Magnetic Resonance Center is shared by researchers at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) and the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) primarily as well as other researchers in Oklahoma. Our biomedical research interests include, but are not limited to, cancer biology, neurological disorders and cardiovascular pathologies.

Our research target themes are addressed with techniques such as basic morphological MRI (e.g. T1, T2 imaging), dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE) to establish location and extent of pathological lesions, MR angiography (MRA) to visualize vascularization, functional MRI (fMRI) to monitor tissue/organ response given a challenge function, and MR spectroscopy (MRS) to follow metabolic changes during a disease processes.

A particular strength of the facility is recent developments in the use of molecular targeting agents, which couple a MRI contrast agent (such as gadolinium complexes or ferromagnetic particles) with antibodies specific for cellular receptors or other antigens. This form of contrast enhanced imaging, allows in vivo visualization of molecular events. Many of the studies utilize transgenic murine models. The use of transgenic mice has dramatically advanced our ability to analyze and understand the molecular basis of various diseases. However, we are not limited to mice. Subjects up to approximately 20 cm in axial diameter may be imaged.

The Oklahoma INBRE, OMRF COBRE, and OCAST (Oklahoma Center for the Advancement of Science and Technology) funding provides the facility with infrastructure funds for investigators to obtain in vivo non-invasive functional, morphological and molecular information on various disease models focusing on neurological diseases and cancer detection and therapeutic agent assessments, and cardiovascular disease.

2021

Zalles M, Towner RA, Debinski W. Pre-Clinical Models and Potential Novel Therapies for Glioblastomas , 2021 April, PMID: 34038053

Towner RA, Gulej R, Zalles M, Saunders D, Smith N, Lerner M, Morton KA, Richardson A. Rapamycin restores brain vasculature, metabolism, and blood-brain barrier in an inflammaging model. Geroscience, 2021 April, PMID: 33846885, PMCID: PMC8110648

Towner RA, Greenwood-Van Meerveld B, Mohammadi E, Saunders D, Smith N, Sant GR, Shain HC, Jozefiak TH, Hurst RE. SuperGAG biopolymers for treatment of excessive bladder permeability. Pharmacol Res Perspect 9:e00709, 2021 February, PMID: 33540486, PMCID: PMC7861891

Towner RA, Smith N, Zalles M, Morris S, Toliver M, Saunders D, Lerner M, Kumar G, Axtell RC. ELTD1 as a biomarker for multiple sclerosis: Pre-clinical molecular-targeted studies in a mouse experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model. Mult Scler Relat Disord 49:102786, 2021 January, PMID: 33517175, PMCID: PMC8068591

2020

Thomas L, Smith N, Saunders D, Zalles M, Gulej R, Lerner M, Fung KM, Carcaboso AM, Towner RA. OKlahoma Nitrone-007: novel treatment for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. J Transl Med 18:424, 2020 November, PMID: 33168005, PMCID: PMC7654606

Yabluchanskiy A, Nyul-Toth A, Csiszar A, Gulej R, Saunders D, Towner R, Turner M, Zhao Y, Abdelkari D, Rypma B, Tarantini S. Age-related alterations in the cerebrovasculature affect neurovascular coupling and BOLD fMRI responses: Insights from animal models of aging. Psychophysiology:e13718, 2020 November, PMID: 33141436

Smith N, Saunders D, Lerner M, Zalles M, Mamedova N, Cheong D, Mohammadi E, Yuan T, Luo Y, Hurst RE, Greenwood-Van Meerveld B, Towner RA. In vivo and ex vivo assessment of bladder hyper-permeability and using molecular targeted magnetic resonance imaging to detect claudin-2 in a mouse model for interstitial cystitis. PLoS One 15:e0239282, 2020 October, PMID: 33095778, PMCID: PMC7584247

Hudson LT, Jett SV, Kramer KE, Laurence DW, Ross CJ, Towner RA, Baumwart R, Lim KM, Mir A, Burkhart HM, Wu Y, Lee CH. A Pilot Study on Linking Tissue Mechanics with Load-Dependent Collagen Microstructures in Porcine Tricuspid Valve Leaflets. Bioengineering (Basel) 7, 2020 June, PMID: 32570939, PMCID: PMC7356733

Zalles M, Smith N, Saunders D, Saran T, Thomas L, Gulej R, Lerner M, Fung KM, Chung J, Hwang K, Jin J, Battiste J, Towner RA. Assessment of an scFv Antibody Fragment Against ELTD1 in a G55 Glioblastoma Xenograft Model. Transl Oncol 13:100737, 2020 March, PMID: 32208341, PMCID: PMC7090355

Piekarz KM, Bhaskaran S, Sataranatarajan K, Street K, Premkumar P, Saunders D, Zalles M, Gulej R, Khademi S, Laurin J, Peelor R, Miller BF, Towner R, Van Remmen H. Molecular changes associated with spinal cord aging. Geroscience, 2020 March, PMID: 32144690, PMCID: PMC7205981

Towner RA, Smith N, Saunders D, Lerner M, Greenwood-Van Meerveld B, Hurst RE. Assessing bladder hyper-permeability biomarkers in vivo using molecularly-targeted MRI. Am J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 10:57-65, 2020 February, PMID: 32211219, PMCID: PMC7076299

Advanced Magnetic Resonance Center, MS 60
Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation
825 NE 13th Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73104

Phone: (405) 271-7123
Fax: (405) 271-7254
Email: Debra-Saunders@omrf.org