Research groups from the Biomedical Imaging Unit at UEF’s A. I. Virtanen Institute for Molecular Sciences are engaged in scientific collaboration with a leading pharmaceutical company on a project aimed at the development and validation of novel MRI approaches for myelin imaging. In this project, novel structural and functional MRI approaches are established for the detection of demyelination and remyelination in the brain. The results are validated using advanced histopathological approaches. New imaging biomarkers that can specifically report changes in myelination are crucially important, for example for monitoring disease progression and early signs of treatment efficacy in multiple sclerosis (MS).
“We are excited about this opportunity to apply our novel MRI methodology to address medical needs in MS, and to be part of this research collaboration with the world’ leading imaging groups tackling the same problem”, says the principal investigator of the project, Professor Olli Gröhn.
The 1.5-year joint research project between academia and industry, entitled Advancing Myelin MR Imaging as Quantitative Clinical Biomarker, is co-financed with a total budget of 242,000 euros and is conducted in Professor Olli Gröhn’s and Research Director Alejandra Sierra Lopez’s research groups.
