Researchers join together to extend MRI capabilities

The four year IDentIFY project brings together the complementary expertise of universities and research centres in the UK, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Poland. It is coordinated by the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

The French IDentIFY partners are CEA (led by Leti, a CEA Tech institute, and Inac), INSERM and G2ELab.

The project, which is part of the EU Horizon 2020 programme, was initiated by INSERM. It aims to further develop and help commercialise a characterisation technique, called Fast Field-Cycling (FFC) MRI to obtain quantitative, disease¬ related information that is invisible to standard MRI.

Unlike standard MRI, in which scanners operate at a strong, fixed magnetic field, FFC-MRI scanners pioneered by the University of Aberdeen yield images of living organisms at varying low values of the magnetic field by fast switching of this field from high to near zero values. This technique can deliver a wealth of unprecedented medical information at a lower cost than conventional MRI.

“This technology presents a huge opportunity to cost-effectively improve health care, especially for cancer, one of the world’s fastest growing diseases,” said Marie Semeria, CEO of Leti, a CEA Tech institute. “The three Grenoble-based partners in the IDentIFY project are a strong testament to the area’s concentration of expertise in health care and advanced magnetism technology, and its many applications.”

Previous work on Fast-Field Cycling MRI at Aberdeen has shown it can have a major impact on the diagnosis and treatment of serious diseases. In fact, pilot studies have demonstrated the technology’s ability to detect cancer, osteoarthritis and sarcopenia, the loss of muscle mass and strength as part of the ageing process.