Best Practices for MRI technologists to image small specimens on a clinical scanner

Motivation: Researching small specimens on a large PET/MR scanner required creating protocols from scratch, as there were no preexisting guidelines. Goal(s): To offer guidelines to technologists on how to acquire MR images of small specimens on a clinical scanner Approach: We optimized custom MR sequences of interest by tailoring them to fit within the constraints of the time allotted for the scans, while prioritizing high resolution which is critical for small specimen imaging. Results: Through trial and error, we refined our MR technique to suit small specimen imaging and acquired a new skillset that could be shared with the broader research technologist's community. Impact: This is the first-of-it's kind study of small specimens on a clinical MR scanner that enabled visualization of anatomical and functional changes in the tissue, thus enabling the detection of pathophysiology at the structural level using biomedical imaging approaches.