Descrizione del progetto
Progressi nella risonanza magnetica potrebbero contribuire a svelare le firme metaboliche delle malattie
Gli scienziati che lavorano alla risonanza magnetica nucleare e alla risonanza magnetica per immagini sono importanti esempi del modo in cui la collaborazione interdisciplinare è in grado di apportare vantaggi alla scienza e alla società. Questi campi di studio hanno comportato progressi significativi in una vasta gamma di discipline, che spazia dalla chimica alle scienze della vita. Tuttavia, la bassa sensibilità intrinseca di tali metodi rende impossibile la loro applicazione su nanoscala e di conseguenza l’osservazione dei processi metabolici. Per affrontare questa sfida, il progetto HyperQ, finanziato dall’UE, introdurrà metodi per controllare gli spin a stato solido in condizioni di temperatura ambiente, soluzioni che incrementeranno la polarizzazione degli spin nucleari di diversi ordini di grandezza al di sopra dell’equilibrio termico, rivoluzionando così lo stato dell’arte della risonanza magnetica. La tecnologia di HyperQ contribuirà a svelare le firme metaboliche di una vasta gamma di patologie, tra cui il cancro, la malattia di Alzheimer e altri disturbi neurodegenerativi.
Obiettivo
Many of the most remarkable contributions of modern science to society have arisen from the interdisciplinary work of scientists enabling novel methods of imaging and sensing. Outstanding examples are nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) which have enabled fundamental insights in a broad range of sciences extending from Chemistry to the Life Sciences. However, the key challenge of NMR and MRI is their very low inherent sensitivity due to the weak nuclear spin polarisation under ambient conditions. This makes the extension of magnetic resonance to the nanoscale (small volumes) and to the observation of metabolic processes (low concentrations) impossible.
HyperQ will address this challenge with the development of room-temperature quantum control of solid-state spins to increase nuclear spin polarisation several orders of magnitude above thermal equilibrium and thereby revolutionise the state-of-the-art of magnetic resonance. Essential for this development is the synergy of an interdisciplinary team of world leaders in quantum control and hyperpolarised magnetic resonance to enable the development of quantum control theory (“Quantum Software”), quantum materials (“Quantum Hardware”), their integration (“Quantum Devices”) and applications to biological and medical imaging (“Medical Quantum Applications”). HyperQ will target major breakthroughs in the field of magnetic resonance, which include chip-integrated hyperpolarisation devices designed to operate in combination with portable magnetic resonance quantum sensors, unprecedented sensitivity of bio-NMR at the nanoscale, and biomarkers of deranged cellular metabolism.
The HyperQ technology will provide access to metabolic processes from the micron to the nanoscale and thereby insights into metabolic signatures of a broad range of disease such as cancer, Alzheimer and the mechanisms behind neurodegenerative disease. This will enable fundamentally new insights into the Life Sciences.
Campo scientifico
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftware
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineneurologydementiaalzheimer
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringsensors
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicineoncology
- engineering and technologymedical engineeringdiagnostic imagingmagnetic resonance imaging
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-SyG - Synergy grantIstituzione ospitante
89081 Ulm
Germania