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Topic Name: Brain images being generated by UQ's new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) spectrometer.
Category: Design technologies
Research persons: Professor Perry Bartlett, FAA &^Professor Ian Brereton
Location: The University of Queensland,Brisbane QLD 4072 Australia,, Australia
Details
Neuroscientists at the Queensland Brain Institute (QBI) are astounded at the detail available to them in brain images being generated by UQ's new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) spectrometer.
QBI Director Professor Perry Bartlett said the new MRI represented a quantum advance in brain-imaging technology.
“This is an extremely exciting development. We've learned a lot about how we think the brain works, but we've never been able to look at it in real time,” Professor Bartlett said.
“This imaging capability will allow us for the first time to rapidly identify and really interrogate the mechanisms controlling brain function and apply these discoveries to the treatment of disease.
“And it puts Queensland right in front of the pack … leading the world in discovery in this area.”
Professor Bartlett said QBI scientists were currently using the technology to look at molecules they believed would help with the regrowth of damaged nerve cells following trauma such as spinal cord injury.
“If this proves successful in animal models we could conceivably go to trials within the next 18 months to two years,” he said.
“Imaging technology such as this is vital if we are to address the overwhelming incidence of neurological disorders on the community.”
Located at The University of Queensland's Centre for Magnetic Resonance (CMR) and purchased with the assistance of Qld Government Smart State Funding, the new 16.4T MRI wide-bore spectrometer is one of fewer than six such machines anywhere in the world.
CMR Acting Director Professor Ian Brereton said the technology enabled scientists to obtain exquisitely detailed images of intact biological specimens, at spatial resolution approaching the cellular level.
“This instrumentation is a key addition to the imaging capacity being built at this university to support major initiatives in molecular imaging, cognitive and anatomical neuroscience, biomarker development and nanotechnology,” Professor Brereton said.
“As part of the Queensland NMR Network, these world-class facilities will provide all researchers throughout Queensland and the region with access to state-of-the-art imaging technology and expertise.”
Among the many benefits expected to flow from long-term application of this technology include the:
• capacity for scientists to study brain function at the cellular level, allowing researchers to image at high resolution, and better understand how memory and learning are regulated;
• development of improved diagnostic procedures and treatments for sufferers of neurological disorders ranging from dementia to Motor Neuron Disease;
• opportunity to study tissue from stroke and other neurological disease models;
• development of new imaging protocols and markers to study cell function and movement; and
• capacity to conduct clinical trials in the animal model, a vital step in the development of safe therapeutic treatments for humans.
Leading neuroscientists from Australia, Korea and the United States will
attend an advanced-imaging symposium in Brisbane on Wednesda
About researchers:
Professor Perry Bartlett, FAA
QBI Director & Head of Neural Plasticity
Research
Professor
Perry F. Bartlett, FAA
The Queensland Brain Institute
Phone: (07) 3364 8817
International: +61 7 3364 8817
Fax: (07) 3364 8836
International Fax: +61 3364 8836
Email:
pa@qbi.uq.edu.au
Professor Ian
Brereton
ACTING
DIRECTOR
DIRECTOR,
Queensland NMR Network
Address:
Centre for Magnetic Resonance
Level 2, Gehrmann Laboratories
Research Road
The University of Queensland
Brisbane. QLD. 4072
E-mail address: Ian Brereton
Telephone: +61-7-3365 4245
Fax: +61-7-3365 3833
Home Page:
Ian Brereton
Funded:
The Queensland Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
Network is funded with assistance from the Smart State Research Facilities Fund
(SSRFF). QNN is a network of high field NMR equipment in Queensland which
supports a developing biotechnology industry in this State. The facility allows
researchers from universities, institutes and companies to carry out
high-resolution molecular structure determination and imaging supporting
research programs in a broad range of fields, including biodiscovery, drug
design, and neuroscience. The facility attracts national and international
researchers and establishes Queensland as a central hub for NMR spectroscopy and
imaging research in Australia. QNN facilitates access by regional Queensland and
interstate centres to world class research infrastructure.
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