Scannexus newsletter 02-2013

newsletter issue 02-2013

9.4T operational

Royal Opening Pioneer Fund News

About research: Dr. Heidi Jacobs Dr. Yasin Temel Dr. Pieter Emans

Scannexus | Oxfordlaan 55 l 6229 EV Maastricht l The Netherlands

www.scannexus.nl l information@scannexus.nl

Welcome to the second edition of the Scannexus newsletter As 2013 draws to a close, it is a good opportunity to reflect on progress and look forward to what the New Year will bring.

This has been a momentous year for Scannexus and the past few months have been a demonstration of this with some major milestones being achieved. As described in the following pages, in September we received the handover of the 9,4T scanner – opening up a new frontier of brain research in Maastricht. With the arrival of this last piece of the puzzle, we were delighted to welcome His Majesty King Willem-Alexander to perform the formal opening of the facility in front of an audience of over 300 invited guests. I hope that the photographs allow you to experience some of the wonderful atmosphere of the event.

In the midst of all of this excitement; with all three of our state-of-the-art scanners now operational, there has been an ever increasing activity at the facility. Amongst the many projects that are running, we have seen the start of a number of pilot studies funded by the Brains Unlimited Pioneer Fund. Elsewhere in this newsletter, there are overviews from three researchers funded in the first round of projects and you can read about the launch of the new call for proposals.

These studies are part of a wide range of projects – encompassing many aspects of fundamental and clinical research. A key element in continuing to grow this pipeline, and a fundamental mission behind our “open-access” approach, is collaboration. We passionately believe that the amazing technology and expertise that has been established in Maastricht can be most efficiently used when working with others to address their own research questions. This is a vision that we continue to share at international conferences and via the networks of our current user community. It is pleasing to report that during our first year of operation we have already begun projects with researchers in universities, hospitals and companies from across Europe and North America – a clear validation of our approach and a solid foundation for future years.

To keep up to date with news from Scannexus; please register your details at www.scannexus.nl to automatically receive future copies of the newsletter and follow us on Twitter, @Scannexus. Also, please visit us during our Open Day on Saturday 1st February.

On behalf of the entire Scannexus team, I wish you and your families an enjoyable and relaxing festive period, and a happy and successful 2014,

Ross Mclennan CEO, Scannexus Scannexus | Oxfordlaan 55 l 6229 EV Maastricht l The Netherlands

www.scannexus.nl l information@scannexus.nl

King Willem-Alexander officially opened the Scannexus facility and Brains Unlimited complex on 29th October 2013

More photographs can be found here.

To see and hear some more about the opening and the background of this initiative, please view this short overview film (in English), watch live the speeches and discussion (in English), or see the broadcast from L1 television (in Dutch and German).

Scannexus | Oxfordlaan 55 l 6229 EV Maastricht l The Netherlands

www.scannexus.nl l information@scannexus.nl

9.4T in use During the past summer, Siemens Medical Systems completed the installation of the 9.4 Tesla human MRI system. This is one of only five in the world, which are the highest field strength systems for humans that are presently operational. It completes the set of three cutting-edge MRI scanners to which Scannexus provides access.

Ultra High Field (UHF) magnets have particular advantages for MRI and other MR techniques, particularly delivering increased signal strength, spectral separation, and some forms of tissue contrast. However there are some disadvantages, particularly when it comes to applying the radiofrequency (RF) power evenly across the sample. Recent developments in UHF MRI have used so-called parallel transmission (pTx), where instead of the standard, single transmitter channel, multiple transmitters are used independently to generate the desired uniform excitation. The 9.4T is equipped with the latest version of this from Siemens, allowing for the use of eight independent transmitter channels with a workflow that approaches a normal clinical setting.

Although the size of the magnet would allow whole-body imaging, the gradient set (which provides the changes in magnet field needed for image encoding) is optimized for scanning of the human head. This arrangement allows for optimal performance while imaging the brain, particularly for functional and diffusion studies.

While there is much development work to be done to bring this system into routine use, some initial imaging has been performed. The results are already quite impressive, showing both excellent anatomy and function as well as good control of the image homogeneity. As we gain experience with and further optimize this system, we anticipate even more impressive will come!

Some initial images from our 9.4T

Scannexus | Oxfordlaan 55 l 6229 EV Maastricht l The Netherlands

www.scannexus.nl l information@scannexus.nl

Brains Unlimited Pioneer Fund During the Royal Opening of new building complex on 29 October 2013, the second round of the Brains Unlimited Pioneer Fund was opened!

The Brains Unlimited Pioneer Fund supports research, carried out by UM researchers in the Scannexus MRI facility. The Pioneer Fund makes money available for innovative pilot studies which have a collaborative nature. These studies aim to generate a proof-of-evidence that substantiates an idea and increases the likelihood of further grant funding for follow-up research.

In the beginning of this year a first round of applications were approved and are now successfully starting their projects. Dr. Heidi Jacobs, Prof. Dr. Pieter Emans and Prof. Dr. Yasin Temel were amongst the 8 UM researchers who successfully applied in the first round, you can read their stories on the next page.

The second call is now open for submission of applications until 22 January 2014. All researchers are encouraged to apply, aslong as the proposal fits within the following conditions: - The main applicant is a researcher with an appointment at Maastricht University - The research is, preferably, interdisciplinary and allows for collaboration with external partners - The application demonstrates that the next steps have been well considered - The grant funds can only be used for accessing the MRI scanners and associated peripheral equipment and/or support within the Scannexus scanner facility - To retain a focus on ‘pilot’ projects, each proposal is limited at a maximum of 10 scanner hours.

For more information on the Brains Unlimited Pioneer Fund and the application form, you can contact Nadine Reijnders (contact person to the advisory committee) at n.reijnders@scannexus.nl.

The Brains Unlimited Pioneer Fund has been made possible by the University Fund Limburg/SWOL. If you would like to support the good cause that is served by this specific fund, please contact Jos Kievits, director University Fund Limburg for the possibilities (jos.kievits@maastrichtuniversity.nl).

Scannexus | Oxfordlaan 55 l 6229 EV Maastricht l The Netherlands

www.scannexus.nl l information@scannexus.nl

About research Dr. Heidi Jacobs: Visualizing Alzheimer neuropathology with ultra-high field MRI The Brains Unlimited Pioneer Fund provided me the opportunity to test an innovative, high-risk research idea on visualizing tangle pathology with ultra-high field MRI. As I had never done postmortem imaging, this fund allows me to gain experience with this methodology and to deal with potential pitfalls before starting a large project. When this pilot work is successful, these results will lay the ground work for a larger study in which I aim to improve the differential diagnostics of patients with neurodegenerative disorders.

The project team includes researchers from UM’s departments FPN and FHML. Dr. Yasin Temel: Ultra-high field imaging of the subthalamic nucleus The subthalamic nucleus is a small region situated deeply in the brain, which functionally plays an important role in the pathophysiology of Parkinson’s disease. Although it is an important target for deep brain stimulation, which involves the surgical placement of electrodes, its visualization with clinical MR-scanners is still compromised. Because of the substantial increase in contrast and resolution, imaging the subthalamic nucleus at 7T offers new opportunities to investigate its role in Parkinson’s disease. Taking advantage of these strengths of ultra-high field MRI, this research is expected to provide new high detailed insights into the subthalamic nucleus and importantly its subdivision into a motor and non-motor subregion. We expect that this research will facilitate the clinical management of patients with Parkinson’s disease who receive deep brain stimulation.

The research group B. Plantinga, K. Uludag, A. Roebroeck, B. Ter Haar Romeny, Y. Temel Department of Neurosurgery azM, UM’s departments FPN and FHML. Dr. Pieter Emans: High resolution 7T MRI evaluation of cartilage repair comparing perichondrium transplantation with autologous chondrocyte transplantation after 20 years Cartilage defects do not heal spontaneously. Moreover cartilage damage remains without any symptoms for quite some time since it is know that cartilage does not have any nerve innervation. The matrix of cartilage is unique and essential for the function of cartilage. A better insight in the matrix composition of cartilage is essential not only to evaluate and optimize cartilage repair techniques, but also to image cartilage damage in very early non-symptomatic phase. In collaboration with the Pioneer Fund and Scannexus, high field MRI’s will be used to evaluate the matrix of (repaired) cartilage and further optimize repair strategies. This study will be performed by MUMC+, in collaboration with Güteburg University Sweden.

Scannexus | Oxfordlaan 55 l 6229 EV Maastricht l The Netherlands

www.scannexus.nl l information@scannexus.nl

News Our 1st User meeting was planned for 12 December 2013, about 50 users attended. We created an open forum where current and potential users of the Scannexus facility could hear about recent and planned developments, and make suggestions for future directions.

Saturday 1st of February 2014 Brains Unlimited, including our scanning facility, will hold an Open Day. This will coincide with the open day of azM. If you are interesting in learning about the facility, in the technology, and how ultra-high-field imaging provides new levels of insights into human anatomy and function you are more than welcome to visit us.

Scannexus, and the research that is enabled by the facility have been mentioned in the media several times over the past weeks. To read the article which was published in the Elsevier click here (Dutch), for the Telegraaf click here.

Also, the scannerlab has been filmed by many tv-crews during the past few months. As well as appearing in the children’s programme Klokhuis, on CNN International and as background for Flikken Maastricht, the Alzheimer Stichting made a very nice film regarding the research of dr. Heidi Jacobs who is also featered in this newsletter. Scannexus employees have also been interviewed by ‘het jaar van de Vlinder’, TvL, tvMaastricht, Radio amongst others.

Scannexus | Oxfordlaan 55 l 6229 EV Maastricht l The Netherlands

www.scannexus.nl l information@scannexus.nl