The next generation of clinical imaging technology has been installed in Cambridge.The new equipment, largely funded by Clinical Research Infrastructure awards from the Medical Research Council (MRC), sits within the newly-refurbished Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre (WBIC), which recently celebrated two decades at the forefront of medical imaging.

The key new technologies now available in Cambridge are:

• Siemens 7T TERRA ultra high field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner, which will provide significantly enhanced resolution of brain structure and function.
• GE Healthcare PET/MRI scanner that will enable dementia and cancer research studies to combine simultaneous molecular imaging using positron emission tomography (PET) with structural or functional imaging using MRI.
• GE Healthcare hyperpolarizer for pioneering the clinical translation of a new imaging technology – called dynamic nuclear polarization – that should for the first time allow researchers to localise specific molecular signals using MRI in cancer research studies.

Together with two refurbished 3T MRI scanners, and a substantial investment in high performance computing, Cambridge is now one of the best-equipped clinical imaging centres in Europe.

Ed Bullmore, Scientific Director of the Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, said: “The past 2 years have witnessed  a massive team effort to fundraise and to install all the new equipment. I am confident we will continue to see the University and our local NHS partners working well together to translate this investment to the delivery of outstanding new science with positive impacts on the experience of patients being scanned in Cambridge.”