Trinity’s Institute of Neuroscience (TCIN) has acquired the country’s first wearable brain scanner. The €2 million device, one of only 14 in the world, has been hailed a “gamechanger” for Irish brain research.
Developed by the Nottingham based Cerca Magnetics, the scanner – known as an OPM-MEG system – is located in TCIN’s new brain imaging facility – a specially designed, copper lined room in the basement of the Lloyd Building. The design prevents interference from background magnetic fields, so the device can pick up the most sensitive of brain signals.
The device uses magnetoencephalography (MEG) , a technique that uses quantum technology to track brain activity in real time. This records the magnetic fields produced by electrical currents in the brain, allowing researchers to create 3D images of real-time changes in brain activity, advancing knowledge of how the brain works and allowing them to identify the earliest signs of conditions such as epilepsy, dementia and ADHD.
Conventional MEG and MRI machines require users to be motionless. However the new scanner uses Optically Pumped Magnetometers combined with Magnetoencephalography (OPM-MEG), a cutting edge technology that allows for users to sit up right or even move around the room – enabling the study of the brain during natural everyday tasks. This is thanks to the OPM-MEG device’s lightweight and adaptable helmet. It also facilitates the study of children and people with brain disorders who may find using an MRI challenging.
Trinity’s Dean of Research Professor Sinéad Ryan remarked that TCIN’s role at the forefront of brain imaging research would now continue thanks to its early adoption of this cutting edge techology, that will allow “Trinity and Ireland to continue to push the frontiers of cognitive neuroscience and apply this knowledge to improve the quality of human health and welfare.”
Professor Redmond O’Connell, director of the new facility, lauded it as “the most important breakthrough in human brain imaging in the last two decades,” and referenced its potential to “change the way that we treat and diagnose conditions like epilepsy.” It is hoped that in the future, it will allow researchers to identify the precise location of the brain affected by epilepsy non-invasively – unlike methods currently used which often require invasive electrodes placed directly on the brain.
For now the facility is only open for research use, but a team from Trinity, Beaumont Hospital, and the National Children’s Hospital are currently working to have the OPM-MEG system recognised as a diagnostic tool by the HSE.
