MRI Breakthrough - Volume Resolution 100 Million X's Finer

NanoMRI, close-up view graphic - Image Credit: IBM

MRI Breakthrough - Volume Resolution 100 Million Times Finer

Nearly 60 years after IBM played a major role in developing the heart lung machine, scientists and engineers from IBM Research continue to break new ground in modernizing healthcare.

IBM Research scientists, in collaboration with the Center for Probing the Nanoscale at Stanford University, have demonstrated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with volume resolution 100 million times finer than conventional MRI.

This result signals a significant step forward in tools for molecular biology and nanotechnology by offering the ability to study complex 3D structures at the nanoscale.

NanoMRI of Virus Particles 1 - Image Credit: IBM

NanoMRI of virus particles 2 - Image Credit: IBM

By extending MRI to this resolution, the scientists have created a microscope that, with further development, may ultimately pave the way for new advances in personalized healthcare and targeted medicine.

In the 1960s, IBM invented the first continuous blood separator, used to treat critically ill leukemia patients. IBM has also helped develop the field of relaxometry, which plays a role in medical magnetic resonance imagery (MRI), and invented the method for using excimer lasers that eventually became photorefractive (LASIK) eye surgery.

And this was just the beginning; to this day, IBM continues to make significant contributions to healthcare through technology innovations.