Magnetic Resonance Imaging
MRI has revolutionised diagnostic medicine. The MRI scanner at CABI uses a much higher magnetic field compared to typical clinical scanners, allowing us to push the boundaries of anatomical imaging.
Location
Paul O'Gorman Building, Bloomsbury.
Available to
Academic and industry collaborators.
Prices
From £200 per hour.
Hire our facilities
We welcome expressions of interest for preclinical imaging. Find out how to make a booking.
Working with CABI
What is MRI used for?
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has revolutionised diagnostic medicine. It is the clinical gold standard, allowing detailed assessments of pathology and function across the whole body.
Magnetic resonance is a phenomenon that occurs in water protons. Water molecules contain two protons which align with the direction of the magnetic field inside the scanner.
Protons are then excited with a radio frequency (RF) pulse which causes their magnetisation to rotate in phase. This magnetic rotation can induce a current in an antenna, which is amplified to form the MRI signal.
By timing the applied RF pulses, this signal is made sensitive to the tissue environment in which the water protons reside. This leads to the essential contrast that allows identification of different tissue types.
As this approach does not require the use of ionising radiation such as x-rays, repeated in-vivo experiments are possible, which have little effect on the subject.
The CABI MRI Scanner
The experimental MRI scanner installed at our Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging uses a much higher magnetic field compared to a typical clinical scanner, allowing us to push the boundaries of anatomical imaging and acquire images with less than 40-micron resolution.
As a team, we are committed to developing MRI as a tool to yield information beyond tissue structure. Gated MRI can image the beating heart, as the scanner can be synchronised to an ECG trace.
Diffusion weighted imaging can yield structural information on the cellular level. Arterial spin labelling can quantify cerebral perfusion.
Molecular Imaging
We also have extensive experience in the field of molecular imaging using MRI.
By using antibodies attached to iron oxide particles, we can sensitise the respective receptor distribution to be detectable on an MRI image. For example, we can track the progression of tumour pathology. A similar approach can be used to investigate cellular dynamics.
Our aim is to use all these techniques to non-invasively investigate the complex relationship between structure, function, disease processes and therapy.
We are always interested in expanding our imaging to new applications and finding collaborations that provide opportunities to employ and develop our techniques.
