UK’s most powerful MRI scanner set to arrive in Nottingham

Plans to build the UK’s most powerful MRI scanner in Nottingham, designed to tackle diseases such as Alzheimer’s, have been revealed.

Magnetic resonance imaging generates 3D internal images of the body using strong magnetic fields and radio waves.

The University of Nottingham said the new machine would use temperatures of -270C and be 1,000 times more powerful than those developed in the 1970s.

It is expected to be operational by the end of 2026 or early 2027.

MRI technology was developed at the university by Sir Peter Mansfield, who volunteered for the first human tests in 1978.

The scanner will be built by Tesla Engineering Ltd and Philips UK and Ireland.

MRI has transformed diagnostic imaging and the arrival of the UK’s most powerful scanner will pave the way for the next chapter in the history of MRI and its long association with Nottingham.

The 11.7 Tesla scanner will equal the most powerful in the world in Paris.

The UK machine will be housed at the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, on the university’s main campus in Nottingham.

It bears the name of the scientist who carried out his now legendary work there in the 1970s by developing MRI. Today, MRI imaging is used in major hospitals around the world and has saved countless lives by diagnosing cancers far more effectively than X-rays.

The word breakthrough, sometimes overused in science, certainly applies to the advent of MRI and the new machine will continue Sir Peter’s impressive legacy.

It also symbolizes that the University of Nottingham is still in the race to discover more about the human body through non-invasive imaging.

The new scanner will be used to better understand the human brain, with scientists recognizing that there is still much to know about brain development and function.

Tesla Engineering will supply the magnet and coil which, using temperatures of just 2.5°C above absolute zero, will create a magnetic field measured at 11.7 Tesla, 200,000 times stronger than that of the Earth.

Philips will develop the advanced scanner hardware to exploit new advances in machine learning to optimally produce detailed images, the university said. It is hoped that the machine will advance the understanding of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease, as well as disorders such as autism and schizophrenia. Professor Richard Bowtell, director of the university’s Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, described it as a “huge technological step forward”.

“The magnetic field it uses is much stronger, which means we get larger signals that we can use to measure information in finer detail.

“This will allow us to observe the brain in unprecedented detail, both the structure, the way things are put together and the functioning of the brain,” he said.