Elekta to supply 3-D brain mapping device to Cambridge brain science
unit
1 May 2006
Stockholm, Sweden. Elekta has won a tender to deliver its Elekta
Neuromag, a magnetoencephalography (MEG) scanner for the non-invasive
registration of nerve cell activity in the brain, to the MRC Cognition and
Brain Sciences Unit (MRC CBU) in Cambridge, UK.
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The Elekta Neuromag
magnetoencephalography scanner. Photo: Elekta |
MRC CBU will now be able to register nerve cell activity in the brain in
real time using the ability of the MEG technology to measure the intensity
of very weak magnetic fields generated by electrical activity in the brain.
This diagnostic tool increases the ability to understand and to improve
treatment of functional disorders.
MEG is presently regarded as the most efficient method for tracking brain
activity in real-time for many reasons. Compared to EEG, MEG has unique
sensitivity capabilities. MEG also offers functional mapping information and
measurement of brain activity in real time, unlike Computer Tomography (CT)
and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI and fMRI) which only provide structural,
anatomical and metabolic information.
“The scope of the research collaboration agreement offered by Elekta
Neuromag, and the associated benefits, were an important component of the
added value brought to the MRC CBU by the Elekta tender.” says Professor
William Marslen-Wilson, Director of the MRC CBU.
He continues: “The MRC CBU has just installed one of the most advanced
machines in the UK for haemodynamic measurement, in the form of its newly
commissioned MRI facility. The addition of a magnetoencephalographic (MEG)
scanner from Elekta, offering excellent performance in the temporal domain,
will put the CBU in a highly competitive situation to meet the challenge of
relating brain activity to normal and disordered cognitive function. We are
very much looking forward to installing the Elekta Neuromag system in the
autumn of this year.”
“Non-invasive, real-time brain mapping and monitoring is considered as
one of the most exciting developments in neuroscience today and around the
world researchers and clinicians are developing functional neuroimaging MEG
protocols. The list of new applications is steadily growing and this
contract between Elekta and CBU is an important step in that progress”, says
David Miles, Elekta’s Business Unit Managing Director for the UK & Ireland.
Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit
The Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (CBU) constitutes one of the
largest concentrations of cognitive scientists and neuroscientists on a
single site anywhere in the world, with nearly 100 active scientists,
students and research staff.
A priority in the CBU research strategy over the last 5 years has been to
develop a strong research program in neuro imaging, working closely with the
Cambridge partners and now at a dedicated imaging facility on its own site.
More than half of the scientific staff and students are actively involved in
neuro imaging projects. From emotions and memories to language and learning,
functional neuroimaging is being applied in many different areas of
cognitive neuroscience.
In many cases, this research relies upon support from healthy volunteers
although neuroimaging studies are also being conducted in various clinical
populations, including depression, anxiety, Parkinson's disease and
Alzheimer's disease.
Link: The Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit (CBU):
www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk/
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