Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) [1] enables non-invasive measurement of viscoelastic parameters of biological tissues for diagnosis of various diseases [2] with high spatial resolution [3]. The correlation between MRE measured tissue properties with disease related changes in the underlying viscoelastic network is an active area of research [4-8]. To better understand the relationship between gross mechanical properties and tissue micro-structure, investigations of fresh specimens by MRE and histological methods are needed - ideally at the same bench. We here introduce a compact and fully automated tabletop MRE system which can be placed in the operating room where fresh tissue samples are obtained or near the histopathologist's desk in order to facilitate a one-to-one correlation between MRE and clinical tissue characterization.In a previous work, tabletop MRI (Pure Devices GmbH, Würzburg, Germany) with a 0.5T permanent magnet and a loudspeaker-based actuator was used to perform 2D-MRE [9]. We revised this system by an external gradient amplifier (DC 600, Pure Devices GmbH, Würzburg, Germany), an integrated MRI system-controlled piezoelectrical driver (Piezosystem Jena GmbH, Jena, Germany) and 3D spin-echo based wave image acquisition. Components of the compact MRE system are shown in Fig. 1. Since the piezoelectric actuator is controlled by the pulse sequence (Fig. 2), MRE-related parameters including drive frequency and mechanical deflection amplitude can be pre-adjusted along with the imaging parameters in order to facilitate fully automated mechanical tests. To demonstrate the system, ultrasound gel as used in [9] and a calf-liver sample of approximately 0.5 ml volume were investigated. Vibration frequencies were 500, 750 and 1000Hz with frequency-synchronized motion encoding gradients (MEGs) of 4, 6, and 8 cycles, respectively. MEG amplitude was 1.2 T/m. Further imaging parameters: 4-8 transverse slices with either 0.2×0.2×1.6 mm­³ or 0.2×0.2×0.8 mm­³ resolution and 64×64×4 or 64×64×8 matrix size, 8 wave dynamics, full field acquisition, 1 average, TR = 200 msec, TE = 10-20 msec, total acquisition time from 33 to 67 min depending on the number of slices. To ensure the comparability of values, the post processing pipeline was identical to the method described in [9] including phase unwrapping, bandpass filtering and algebraic Helmholtz inversion retrieving complex shear modulus (G*) maps.The system was validated by the ultrasound gel sample. |G*| values were 1.3, 2.2, and 4.5 kPa for vibration frequencies of 500, 750, and 1000 Hz, respectively, which are in good agreement with the average value of 2.9 kPa reported in [9]. Fig. 3 shows wave images for a central slice of the 3D volume of the calf-liver sample for all motion components for vibration frequencies of 500, 750, and 1000 Hz. Due to the setup of the system, the main motion component is out of plane (y-direction), which is the direction of the vibrations produced by the piezoelectric actuator. The in-plane components are approximately six times smaller. |G*| values for the y-component were 2.3, 4.9, and 6.4 kPa for vibration frequencies of 500, 750, and 1000 Hz, respectively, and were not comparable with the ones reported in [9] possibly due to different specimen storage conditions. Eight consecutive slices of the same sample are shown in Fig. 4 indicating uniform shear wave patterns along the y-direction.The proposed tabletop MRE system is capable of acquiring fully automated multi-frequency 3D shear wave images and related viscoelastic parameters. Although the MRE setup is capable of acquiring full 3D data, it may be possible to consider only the dominant in-plane motion component. In combination with adapted elasticity reconstruction algorithms, it would then be possible to shorten the acquisition time and to further enhance the quality of the viscoelastic parameter maps. Such technology provides a portable, low cost, and highly sensitive elastography modality which fosters research in tissue mechanics in a preclinical and clinical environment.