Purpose: The SNR at the center of a spherical phantom of known electrical properties was measured in quasi‐identical experimental conditions as a function of magnetic field strength between 3 T and 11.7 T.Methods: The SNR was measured at the center of a spherical water saline phantom with a gradient‐recalled echo sequence. Measurements were performed at NeuroSpin at 3, 7, and 11.7 T. The phantom was then shipped to Maastricht University and then to the University of Minnesota for additional data points at 7, 9.4, and 10.5 T. Experiments were carried out with the exact same type of birdcage volume coil (except at 3 T, where a similar coil was used) to attempt at isolating the evolution of SNR with field strength alone. Phantom electrical properties were characterized over the corresponding frequency range.Results: Electrical properties were found to barely vary over the frequency range. Removing the influence of the flip‐angle excitation inhomogeneity was crucial, as expected. After such correction, measurements revealed a gain of SNR growing as B₀^{1.94 ± 0.16} compared with B₀^2.13 according to ultimate intrinsic SNR theory.Conclusions: By using quasi‐identical experimental setups (RF volume coil, phantom, electrical properties, and protocol), this work reports experimental data between 3 T and 11.7 T, enabling the comparison with SNR theories in which conductivity and permittivity can be assumed to be constant with respect to field strength. According to ultimate SNR theory, these results can be reasonably extrapolated to the performance of receive arrays with greater than about 32 elements for central SNR in the same spherical phantom.

Structural microtubule associated proteins (MAPs) stabilize microtubules, a property that was thought to be essential for development, maintenance and function of neuronal circuits. However, deletion of the structural MAPs in mice does not lead to major neurodevelopment defects. Here we demonstrate a role for MAP6 in brain wiring that is independent of microtubule binding. We find that MAP6 deletion disrupts brain connectivity and is associated with a lack of post-commissural fornix fibres. MAP6 contributes to fornix development by regulating axonal elongation induced by Semaphorin 3E. We show that MAP6 acts downstream of receptor activation through a mechanism that requires a proline-rich domain distinct from its microtubule-stabilizing domains. We also show that MAP6 directly binds to SH3 domain proteins known to be involved in neurite extension and semaphorin function. We conclude that MAP6 is critical to interface guidance molecules with intracellular signalling effectors during the development of cerebral axon tracts.

The understanding of the human brain is one of the main scientific challenges of the twenty-first century. In the early 2000s, the French Atomic Energy Commission launched a program to conceive and build a human magnetic resonance imaging scanner operating at 11.7 T. We have now acquired human brain images in vivo at such a magnetic field. We deployed parallel transmission tools to mitigate the radiofrequency field inhomogeneity problem and tame the specific absorption rate. The safety of human imaging at such high field strength was demonstrated using physiological, vestibular, behavioral and genotoxicity measurements on the imaged volunteers. Our technology yields T₂ and T₂^*-weighted images reaching mesoscale resolutions within short acquisition times and with a high signal and contrast-to-noise ratio.