turning MRI into a diagnosis tool for dementia

3D brain reconstruction from an MRI scan

A brain reconstruction from an MRI scan using Oxford Brain Diagnostics’ software allows researchers to explore neurodegenerative changes.Credit: Oxford Brain Diagnostics

Oxford Brain Diagnostics is a spin-off from the University of Oxford, UK.

Neuropathologist Steven Chance spent 20 years looking at brain tissue through microscopes and examining magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. During this time, he became increasingly interested in the information gap between the two. Histological analysis using microscopes reveals cellular scale changes, but only after death. MRI, by contrast, is safe for use in people, but can visualize only relatively large-scale changes. Chance wanted the best of both worlds: “an index of cellular scale changes, in life”, he says. “That’s the trajectory I was on.” Such changes reveal the neurodegeneration…

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