By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – UAB plans a $48 million center for medical imaging that officials say could make the school a leader in the field.
The proposed center, announced Wednesday in Birmingham, would house a 7-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging machine, the most powerful MRI used for human research.
UAB neurology department chairman Ray Watts says there are only 20 of the machines in the world and 10 in the U.S.
While funding details are incomplete, Watts says some of the money could come from the federal stimulus package. He says UAB has applied for money from the National Institute of Standards and Technologies.
A site for the building has not been chosen.