Imago : Integrated Multimodal Optical and Magnetic Resonance Imaging, by Attract

IMAGO project has the ambitious objective to develop nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with a resolution down to the micron scale. Considering that currently, the resolution of clinical MRI is about 1mm while the intrinsic resolution of molecular diffusion MRI (DMRI) is about 10-20 micrometres, the technology proposed to represent a clear advance on the state of the art.

This scientific breakthrough requires the integration of optical and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging that nowadays remains a challenge.

Optical imaging, like fluorescence microscopy, is able to visualise in vitro with submicron resolution the different cellular and subcellular compartments and determine their size, shape and dynamics but optical imaging suffers from scarce light penetration in tissues making it unusable for in vivo diagnostics.