One of our interests is to develop new methods for tract-tracing and for detecting brain activity in non-vertebrate organisms.  Towards this goal, in 2001 Wellesley acquired an MRI attachment for the Bruker NMR instrument housed in the Chemistry Department, with grant funds provided by the National Science Foundation.  Since that time, students working in Nancy Kolodny's lab (Chemistry Department, Wellesley College) and in collaboration with the Beltz lab, have been developing MRI techniques for examining the brains of crayfish, in which traditional methods cannot be used because the hemocyanin in their blood is not paramagnetic.  Therefore, MEMRI (manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging) methods have been used to provide contrast in the nervous system, based upon the uptake of manganese through calcium channels in neurons.  The first paper from this collaboration was published in 2005, and describes our early steps in the development of these techniques.

Brinkley CK, Kolodny NH, Kohler SJ, Sandeman DC, Beltz BS (2005) Magnetic resonance imaging at 9.4 T as a tool for studying functional and neural anatomy in non-vertebrates. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 146: 124-132.