The Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging Celebrates Over 15 Years of Service

The Lucas Center emanated from Dr. Gary Glazer's vision of creating a premier imaging research program to enhance the clinical research efforts of the Department. When he became chair of Stanford Radiology in 1989, the diagnostic radiology offices and research space were limited to one basement corridor in the Grant Building. Dr. Glazer invited Drs. Gary Glover, PhD, and Norbert Pelc, PhD, to Stanford to form a basic science team. They initiated the beginnings of the Radiological Sciences Laboratory (RSL), which was first housed in the Grant Building and then moved to the Lucas Center upon its completion in 1992. Donna Cronister was hired in 1990 as the RSL administrative services manager and became the administrative director for the Lucas Service Center in 1992.

Construction of the Lucas Center began in 1990 funded by the Richard M. Lucas Foundation. Don Lucas, venture capitalist and Stanford graduate, had started the foundation in honor of his older brother, Richard, who died of cancer in 1981. The Lucas Center was finished by 1992, adding approximately 12,500 square feet to our Department. Scientists at the Lucas Center in 1992 conducted 30 research studies using one 1.5T MRI scanner (human); one 4.7T MRI (animal); and one 9T MRI scanner (tissue). The total NIH funding in 1992 was about $1 million.

(Don, Mary, and John Lucas with Peter Bing (L) at the 1992 dedication ceremony for the opening of the Lucas Center. John, Mary, and Don (R) in front of the bust dedicated to Richard M. Lucas.)

By 1993, RSL had doubled the number of its faculty by adding Sandy Napel, PhD, in 1991 and Michael Moseley, PhD, in 1993. Dan Spielman, PhD, joined RSL as a research affiliate in 1990 and became an assistant professor in 1993. There were also two postdoctoral fellows and six scientific staff members including Tom Brosnan, PhD; Lori Pelc, PhD; and Anne Marie Sawyer, RRT.

In the years following its opening, the Lucas Center experienced unprecedented growth. In 1995, Dr. Glover received funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to launch a full-scale academic radiology training program at the Lucas Center: the Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technology at Stanford (CAMRT). Funded through 2010, the CAMRT joins the resources of RSL with those of the Electrical Engineering Department's Magnetic Resonance Systems Research Laboratory. From 1997 to 1998, the Lucas Center was expanded, adding 5,000 square feet to its facilities. As part of this expansion, the 3D Medical Imaging Laboratory, which had been in the Grant Building, moved to the Lucas Center, and we became one of the first research programs to install a 3T MR magnet.

(Pictures from the first expansion.)

The second expansion of the Lucas Center occurred between the years 2003 to 2005 and added an additional 20,000 square feet of space, making our Center one of the world's largest academic centers for medical imaging. With the second expansion, the Lucas Center also acquired a 7T whole-body magnet; a cyclotron to produce isotopes; more wet labs and offices for developing our Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS); and a unique education center equipped with the latest technology for fully interactive imaging seminars. Because of its high quality and innovative design, our Center received the 2007 Design Honor Award: Excellence in Architecture from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), San Francisco Chapter (http://www.aiasf.org/Programs/Awards_Program/Design_Awards.htm).

(2004 view of the Lucas Center from the roof during the second expansion.)

After fifteen years and two expansions, the Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging now houses 15 faculty members in RSL; 2 radiology faculty members in the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS); and over 70 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. During the past year, our scientists conducted over 300 studies on our three magnets (a 1.5T, 3T, and 7T). With the remarkable increase in scanning speed and resolution of the 7T, we are imaging brain structures that have not been visualized before. We have also initiated two new research programs: high-intensity focused ultrasound and hyperpolarized C13 MR.

Since the opening of the Lucas Center, we have expanded our scope beyond MRI to include cellular and molecular imaging, moving us into the era of nanotechnology. To reflect the extension of our scope, the Lucas Center was renamed the "Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging" in 2007. The Richard M. Lucas Center has also grown into a major resource for service in medical imaging. From January 1, 2006, to February 28, 2007, the Lucas Center supplied imaging services to over 70 projects and to 45 principal investigators (PIs).

Those who were present at the inception of the Lucas Center shared their impressions. Dr. Glover remembers standing in his Grant Building office just before the move into the new Lucas Center in 1992 and talking with Gary Glazer, MD, who asked him, "Did you ever think we'd get this big?" Gary Glover responded, "No, not to the point of needing a new building." In fact, shortly after the move into the Lucas Center and after each expansion, the Lucas personnel quickly outgrew their space. "The enthusiasm and excitement surrounding our research is fueled by having the best faculty and students in the world and incredible support from Gary Glazer," Gary Glover remarked. "Most radiology research programs do not have the support our lab has received from their Department chairs. Gary has made it easy for me and my colleagues by fostering such a large investment in research. Indeed, he has been the driving force behind the success of our Department's research enterprise. One result of his vision and enthusiasm for research is that we have retained all but one of our faculty over the past 18 years."

Gary Glover has tried to grow the RSL and Lucas Center and still retain a community: "It's harder maintaining cohesion with 90 people as opposed to 10 people, but I think we have succeeded in keeping comradery and closeness." Reflecting back on his years as part of RSL, Tom Brosnan, PhD, also remembers how small the lab was in 1991: "There weren't enough people for a softball team, but every Friday at 5 PM we had a party and everyone brought food. We even had an annual lab ski trip, but the lab is too big for that now." When RSL moved from the Grant Building to the Lucas Center in 1992, Dr. Brosnan thought, "We'll never fill up all of this space!" The biggest change for him has been the significant growth in personnel and in the nature of his projects: "There are more projects to do now, and they are more complex. In retrospect, the work I did initially for RSL seems simpler than what I'm doing now."

In the future, we anticipate "Lucas Three," the third expansion of our Center to support growth in anatomic imaging, molecular imaging, and nanotechnology. We will continue to promote interdisciplinary translational research through our recent "Academic Initiatives": the Stanford Center for Early Neoplasia Detection; the Aging Brain and Cognitive Disorders; and Image-Guided Therapy. Our investments in our translational research efforts have already resulted in the establishment of three NIH-funded centers that complement the efforts of the Lucas Center: the Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technology (CAMRT); the In Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center (ICMIC); and the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Focused on Therapy Response (CCNE-TR). As we continue to build better tools for imaging structure and function, we hope to make a large impact on medicine and biology.