Modernization and Expansion of the Citigroup Biomedical Imaging Center at Weill Cornell Medical College

ABSTRACT
The proposed project involves major modernization and focused construction at the rapidly growing
Citigroup Biomedical Imaging Center (CBIC) of Weill Cornell Medical College in Manhattan, New York
City. The CBIC is a comprehensive imaging research resource dedicated to the development of new
biomedical imaging techniques in support of a wide range of investigators engaged in the diagnosis and
treatment of human disease. Since its inception in 2001, the CBIC has routinely served over 100 Principal
Investigators from more than 10 institutions in any given year (148 groups from 14 institutions in 2022, our
largest usage ever). The research supported by the CBIC has both a national and international impact due to
the many investigators who are leaders in their respective disciplines, lead large multi-institutional research
projects, invent new imaging techniques, and recruit human subjects worldwide. The range of projects
supported with CBIC imaging resources is extremely broad, and includes studies in neurosurgery, psychiatry,
neurodegenerative disease, oncology, orthopedics, genetic medicine, and structural biology. The annual total
costs of NIH grants that are supported typically exceeds $50 million. In 2022, a record 172 NIH funded projects
were supported by CBIC with total costs of over $118 million. The Center offers ten major imaging and
spectroscopy platforms for both human and pre-clinical studies, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
and spectroscopy, positron emission tomography (PET), computed tomography (CT), single photon emission
computed tomography, ultrasound, and optical imaging. In addition, complete cyclotron and radiochemistry
facilities are available. We have now surpassed the 20-year mark since the Center was established, and we
have an urgent need for major modernization and construction of infrastructure in order to continue to provide
a safe, state-of-the-art environment for imaging studies involving both human subjects and animal models of
disease for our rapidly increasing pool of investigators. In order to meet our present and future needs, we
propose the following five project components: 1) Construction of a new positron emission
tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) suite, facilitating whole-body PET for the first time, 2)
construction of a new modern high field nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy suite for our three
high field NMR spectrometers, 3) renovation of our radiopharmaceutical production suite, allowing us to
separate radiochemistry needed for production of our high demand carbon-11 labeled radiotracers from that of
tracers produced with other radioisotopes, 4) installation of tank manifolds and supply lines to enable general
anesthesia capability, allowing us to accept a wider range of research subjects than is currently possible, 5)
addition of electrical infrastructure to two key scanners (one MRI and one PET) to ensure that transient power
interruptions are minimized, thereby significantly increasing the safety of ongoing and anticipated image-
guided therapeutic interventions.

Grant Number: 1C06OD036045-01
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: DOUGLAS BALLON