Medical Imaging Physics (INM-4)

The working group "Clinical Multimodal Imaging" is primarily concerned with the investigation of individual biomarkers with a view towards their use in individually optimised therapy. Within the framework of precision psychiatry, it is anticipated that the research will help patients with mental illnesses and may be used to predict therapy success.

For this purpose, the research group, led by Prof. Dr. Irene Neuner, uses multimodal imaging, collecting MR, PET and EEG data simultaneously.

Another focus of the group is the successful implementation of simultaneous EEG data collection with MRI at the ultra-high magnetic fields of 7T and 9.4T. The high signal to noise ratio of these field strengths allows connectivity changes to be monitored during therapy in individual treatment cases and paves the way to support practitioners in predicting the efficacy of the given therapeutic approach (7T Mental Health - Precision Psychiatry). The interdisciplinary group links key technologies and innovative applications to clinical settings. As the senior clinician scientist within JARA-BRAIN, Prof. Dr. Irene Neuner represents the bridge between clinical and research activities. The group is internationally visible in this function (EU FP7 project TRIMAGE, total volume 6 Mio. €), and the trimodal simultaneous imaging developed within the group offers a truly unique research opportunity. The images below relate to current research on a processing pipeline developed to acquire brain atlases relating to GABA_Abinding potential and mGluR5 binding potential.