Uğurbil, K. A Journey Toward Functional Brain Imaging and Ultrahigh Field Magnetic Resonance in Humans

Immediately after my PhD, I joined an effort in Bell Laboratories focused on using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in intact biological systems. This effort is approximately contemporaneous with the development of magnetic resonance imaging. The focus on extracting biochemical information from in vivo NMR spectroscopy ultimately motivated my interest in using imaging to extract physiological and functional information and in functional imaging in the brain (fMRI). Intertwined in this effort is the drive to higher magnetic fields that was undertaken both to improve fMRI and in vivo spectroscopy, leading to today's exploding interest in the use of 7 T for human imaging and the efforts currently in progress toward achieving 10.5 and 11.7 T for human studies.