The team recently applied the technology for the first time on children, and say the scanner would be ideal for such patients due to the difficulty they find in staying still. They also note that it could be useful for better understanding abnormal brain activity that generates seizures in epileptic patients.

Working with partners at UCL, the team in Nottingham is now seeking to commercialize the equipment, having already sold components of the scanner to brain imaging laboratories worldwide.


"We are currently working towards commercialization; indeed this is a major goal of the funding that we have received via the UK quantum Hub for sensors and Timing," said Hill.

The scanner is expected to be significantly cheaper than MR.

A separate research team across the Atlantic recently received $6 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health to begin work on their own prototype MEG wearable scanner, which will be designed to be more comfortable and used to assess children, people with chronic pain, and those with motor disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.

The findings were published in Neuroimage.

Back to HCB News

Alzheimers/Neurology Homepage