Helium is vital to UCSF’s scientific research and medical diagnostics. As the only element that remains a liquid below –450 degrees Fahrenheit, helium is essential for cooling the superconducting magnets in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging systems. However, helium is both expensive and difficult to handle; it rapidly dissipates into the atmosphere and must be constantly replenished.  

Delicate NMR systems rely on a steady supply of helium to prevent overheating. Historically, NMR operators routinely topped off their systems with freshly supplied helium. UCSF has faced repeated helium supply disruptions over the past decade due to global helium shortages. Even a controlled shutdown can cause severe equipment damage, with repairs costing hundreds of thousands of dollars or the loss of an entire system worth several million dollars. In response, UCSF completed installation of the second of two helium recycling systems in July 2025, reducing helium procurement to one-tenth of historic levels. UCSF’s NMR imaging operations are now highly resilient to supply shortages. This milestone represents the outcome of years-long collaborations across the School of Pharmacy, Supply Chain Management (SCM), Real Estate, and Logistics.   

Understanding the Helium Supply Chain  

When Dean Shehu joined SCM Strategic Procurement as Senior Category Manager, he quickly faced a crisis: a looming helium shortage that would cut deliveries by 40 percent. Despite years of experience as a research lab manager and product line manager at industry-leading life sciences companies, helium was new to him.   

After reaching out to UCSF’s largest purchasers of helium, the Biomagnetic Imaging Lab (BIL) at Parnassus and the NMR and pre-clinical Imaging Labs in Genentech Hall, he learned that without a constant supply of helium, UCSF risked both costly damage and interruption of patient care.  

Maintaining helium supply during the shortages required weeks of daily calls with suppliers, resulting in Dean securing scarce helium containers in western US warehouses. But that continued access was not assured. A new approach was urgently required.   

Building a Self-Sustaining Solution

Dean learned UC Berkeley has operated a helium recycling facility on their campus for decades. He was invited to tour the plant and found the university was open to using its excess capacity to recycle UCSF’s helium. After careful consideration, Dean and professors John Gross, Mark Kelly, and John Kurhanewicz decided that utilization of Berkeley’s plant would entail complex logistics. They determined that the most practical solution was to install a system in the space housing our Pre-clinical and NMR Cores, whose support extends beyond UCSF to research and industry groups at UCB, Stanford, and local biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

The team agreed to collaborate on a business case to garner necessary funding. Professors Gross and Kurhanewicz submitted requests for funding from the NIH and UCSF’s Core Operational Improvement Award program. Dean described our ongoing struggles in procuring helium during shortages and detailed the associated campus-wide financial and operational risks. Professors Gross, Kelly, and Kurhanewicz succeeded in winning funding for the recycling system after participating in a Shark Tank-like competition to earn the Core Operational Improvement Award. While the main benefit of the installed system was to protect instruments, it recovers approximately 140 liters of liquid helium per week. This first helium recycling system is in its fifth year of operation, and it has recovered nearly $800,000 of liquid helium. 

Plugging into the U.S. Strategic Helium Reserve  

While waiting for recycling systems to become operational, UCSF struggled through multiple helium shortages that threatened research, equipment, and patient care. Helium suppliers prioritized higher-paying customers and government “in-kind” contracts, which left UCSF vulnerable.  

During the research effort to reduce helium shortages, Dean discovered that the Bureau of Land Management’s “In-Kind” program incentivized suppliers to prioritize orders using federal funds by providing them with discounted helium from the U.S. Strategic Helium Reserve. After getting up to speed on the program, completing a federal application, committing to monthly compliance reporting, and securing one company’s commitment to supply UCSF under the program, UCSF was granted “In-Kind” status.  

UCSF’s helium supply was stabilized until 2022—nearly three years—when Congress dissolved the program and privatized the U.S. Strategic Helium Reserve among a select group of suppliers. Concerned about the impact on UCSF’s research, Dean reached out to UCSF’s Senior Director of Federal Government Relations, Eric Anthony. Eric agreed to lobby in Washington, D.C. to reinstate prioritizing Strategic Reserve helium for federally funded orders using its power to regulate interstate commerce.   

Anthony introduced Dean to advocacy in Washington and asked him to prepare a brief that detailed the risks to UCSF’s operations with arguments that would appeal to both sides of the aisle. Together with Professor Emeritus Keith Yamamoto, Eric visited the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and members of Congress to present their concerns and made a case to retain the Strategic Reserve. Thanks to their efforts and broader academic and industry advocacy, the federal helium sale was paused for over a year. Their advocacy on behalf of UCSF and other federally funded institutions continues today.   

Creating A Campus Safety Net    

Since UCSF’s first recycling system became operational, the NMR Core facility has proved invaluable during subsequent helium shortages. When Professor Kelly described how their system could generate a liquid helium reserve, Dean asked if an “emergency rescue plan” could be established to provide small amounts of helium to labs without recycling systems during supply shortages. Professors Kelly, Gross, and Kurhanewicz agreed. This rescue plan has been implemented multiple times to support UCSF labs such as the magnetoencephalography (MEG) scanner, in the BIL, as well as nearby biotech companies.   

Professor Kelly, Pharmaceutical Chemistry: 

“Our helium recycling system in Genentech Hall has protected research instruments and clinical scanners across the UCSF campuses during several helium shortages. It provides a significant reduction in operating costs and reduces the environmental impact of helium transportation (Wyoming, Texas and outside the US).” 

Expanding Our Capabilities    

The BIL equipment emerged as a particular concern. The MEG equipment is critical for generating pre-surgical brain scans, and the BIL MEG scanner accounts for 45 percent of UCSF’s total helium usage. If the scanner went down, medical staff would have to delay surgeries for weeks until the system came back online, divert patients to the only other MEG system (in southern California), or conduct surgical procedures without a detailed brain map.  

In July 2025, a second helium recapture system went online at the BIL. The BIL’s helium recapture has further reduced UCSF’s reliance on purchased helium to just 12 percent of its previous levels.   

A Sustainable Future  

With two recycling systems now operational, UCSF saves more than $360,000 annually, protects multimillion-dollar instruments, ensures continuity of research and patient care, and conserves a finite natural resource. Helium shortages will continue to happen, but UCSF is now operationally resilient—needing to source only a small fraction of our historic helium usage.  

This long journey to safeguarding our NMR imaging operations has entailed years of collaboration, foresight, and advocacy. It’s a cross-campus success story. Thanks to exceptional teamwork and activism, UCSF’s NMR imaging operations are equipped for a more resilient future.  

“This is one of the most important efforts of my career. I went from not knowing anything about UCSF’s helium needs to becoming an activist of sorts. It’s rewarding to know I helped eliminate a problem.” Dean Shehu, Supply Chain Management