MPI scanners for preclinical market

A new type of medical imaging technology for the preclinical market has moved a step closer, following the signing of a development agreement between Philips and Bruker BioSpin.

Philips and Bruker BioSpin have announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the development of Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) scanners - a new imaging technology - for the preclinical market.

Under the terms of the MoU, Bruker BioSpin intends to develop and manufacture the preclinical MPI scanner at its facilities in Ettlingen, Germany. Both companies will co-market the resulting solution.

Preclinical imaging has emerged as a powerful tool in disease studies, translational research and drug discovery. Philips and Bruker BioSpin believe that the addition of MPI as a complementary preclinical imaging technique has great potential to help researchers gain insights into disease processes at the organ, cellular and molecular level.

MPI, medical imaging technology developed at Philips, uses the magnetic properties of iron-oxide nanoparticles to produce 3D images of the concentration of nanoparticles injected into the bloodstream.

‘MPI is expected to allow scientists to explore an extensive range of new imaging capabilities and applications in preclinical research,’ said Wulf-Ingo Jung, managing director of Bruker BioSpin MRI. ‘The highly sensitive visualisation of functional characteristics in vivo at high temporal resolution bears great potential for small animal imaging, especially when combined with high-spatial-resolution morphological MRI.’

Click on the following link to learn more about MPI: http://tinyurl.com/ncl7lb