University of California

Thomas Lowery

Alexander Pines

Shoujun Xu

Dmitry Budker

Louis S Bouchard

Micah Ledbetter

David E Wemmer

Elad Harel

A novel approach to magnetic resonance imaging is disclosed. Blood flowing through a living system is prepolarized, and then encoded. The polarization can be achieved using permanent or superconducting magnets. The polarization may be carried out upstream of the region to be encoded or at the place of encoding. In the case of an MRI of a brain, polarization of flowing blood can be effected by placing a magnet over a section of the body such as the heart upstream of the head. Alternatively, polarization and encoding can be effected at the same location. Detection occurs at a remote location, using a separate detection device such as an optical atomic magnetometer, or an inductive Faraday coil. The detector may be placed on the surface of the skin next to a blood vessel such as a jugular vein carrying blood away from the encoded region.

Magnetic resonance imaging of living systems by remote detection

Growing community of inventors

Berkeley, CA, United States of America

Thomas Lowery