First ever full brain scans with new quantum technology achieve leap in human imaging - UK breakthrough

A scanner that shows whole brain activity in greater detail than previously possible - with four times the sensitivity and far higher resolution - is ready for commercial development following trials.

The wearable, helmet-style device will transform our understanding of neurological diseases, including dementia, and solve mysteries about human brain activity.

The device has been under trial for the past year, scanning the brains of children, something which is highly difficult using conventional technology due to movement and head size.

The new scanner is a collaboration between The University of Nottingham, where the foundations for MRI were laid in the 1970s by Nobel prize winning physicist Sir Peter Mansfield, and University College London. Funding has been provided by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) via the UK National Quantum Technology Hub in Sensors and Metrology and The Wellcome Trust.

The lightweight magnetencephalography (MEG) device allows free movement. This opens formerly unavailable options for scanning the brains of babies and young children. 

Other benefits:

• Insight into how brains are affected by activities, ranging from learning to play a musical instrument to immersion in virtual reality.
  
• Advancing knowledge of many disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease, Tourette’s Syndrome, brain injury and concussion.

The scanner uses quantum mechanics to measure magnetic fields generated by electrical activity within the brain’s network of 100 billion neurons, translating the data into 3D images of electrophysiological brain activity. The device uses 50 small quantum sensors to give whole brain coverage.

Prof Kai Bongs, Director of the UK Quantum Technology Hub for Sensors and Metrology, said: “The prospect of a commercial roll-out for the wearable MEG is a transformative moment for those trying to develop and target treatments aimed at neurological disorders. We can also now anticipate vast amounts of new data about how the human brain actually works.”

Existing techniques for mapping brain function, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), only capture changes in blood flow to active brain regions. They cannot measure electrical activity in cells, which remain a mystery. 

Electroencephalography (EEG) does measure electrical activity, but lacks spatial precision to determine where in the brain that electrical activity originates. It is also extremely sensitive to activity from other areas, such as muscles. The result is often poor quality readings.

“We’ve reached a step-change for neuroimaging, transforming MEG from a cumbersome and limited laboratory tool, and one only available in a few places, to a small, wearable system and one that can scan the brain during natural activities,” said Prof. Matt Brookes of The University of Nottingham, leader of the MEG project.

“More widespread use, increased sensitivity, resolution, and vastly improved practicality, which quantum technology has unlocked, can enable the use of MEG across a wide variety of brain disorders from childhood development to mental health problems in young adults to neurodegeneration old age. This offers new insights into many seriously debilitating conditions.” 

The research findings will be published in Nature Communications and available here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-12486-x

Note to editors:

Traditional magnetoencephalography (MEG) – invented in the 1970s – requires an operational temperature of minus 269 degrees centigrade, which can only be achieved in controlled, cryogenic conditions requiring liquid helium; and sensors to be kept some distance from the skull, limiting sensitivity. Subjects must also be immobile, which limits its use with children and people with many neurological disorders. There are only 10 MEGs in the UK, principally used for research rather than clinical purposes. Each costs about £2 million to buy and a further ~£120,000 a year to operate. The wearable MEG will cost considerably less and involves no significant running costs.

The UK National Quantum Technologies Programme, which has been in place since 2014, was extended with a £235 million investment announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn Budget. This is in addition to the £80 million announced in September for the continuation of 4 quantum development hubs and means the UK’s pioneering programme will receive £315 million between 2019 and 2024.