Functional information from magnetic resonance imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become established as an important imaging modality for the clinical management of disease. This is primarily due to the great tissue contrast inherent in magnetic resonance images of normal and diseased organs. Due to the wide availability of high field magnets and the ability to generate large and rapidly switched magnetic field gradients there is growing interest in applying high resolution MRI to obtain microscopic information. This symposium on MRI microscopy highlights new developments that are leading to increased resolution. The application of high resolution MRI to significant problems in developmental biology and cancer biology will illustrate the potential of these techniques.In combination with a growing interest in obtaining high resolution MRI there is also a growing interest in obtaining functional information from MRI. The great success of MRI in clinical applications is due to the inherent contrast obtained from different tissues leading to anatomical information.