Groundbreaking Bench-top MRI Scanner Proves the Perfect Fit for Pre-clinical Lab Work

LONDON, December 18, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

UK-based MR Solutions has announced two major breakthroughs that will make its groundbreaking new bench-top 3 Tesla* MRI scanners the perfect fit, both in terms of cost and space, for pre-clinical research laboratories.

The company, a world leader in the development and manufacture of MRI systems and spectrometers, has developed the high-performance scanner using super-conducting magnets which eliminate the need for liquid helium cooling. It has also cut the scanner's stray magnetic field so that other laboratory equipment can be safely operated within centimetres of the unit.

"These breakthroughs have two significant benefits," says MR Solutions Chief Executive Dr David Taylor. "Firstly, the cost is dramatically reduced by doing away with the liquid helium cooling and attendant safety devices. Secondly, the space required for the system is only the size of a desk."

MR Solutions, based in Guildford in the south east of England, is already a major player in the rapidly growing Chinese market and is gaining increasing recognition in Europe and the US for its state-of-the-art technologies and the excellence of its scanners' superior soft tissue contrast and molecular imaging ability.

"We are sure that our new bench-top MRIs will be welcomed with open arms by labs which are always constrained by budgets and lack of space," adds Dr Taylor.

MR Solutions was able to dispense with the usual liquid helium cooling system in their new bench top system by using a revolutionary magnet design incorporating new superconducting wire. This enables the use of a standard low temperature fridge to cool the magnet to the required 4 degrees Kelvin (minus 269 degrees C). This technology solution was pioneered by MR Solutions and its' magnet partner.

MR Solutions has 25 years of experience in developing scanners for research and academia. It also develops MRI systems and sub systems to individual customer specifications.

The company which is based at Guilford in the UK has offices in the US and Hong Kong. It has a workforce of more than twenty people, many of whom are physicists, programmers and engineers and works closely with universities involved in preclinical research in Europe, Asia and the US.

* Tesla is the SI unit measure for the magnetic field generated

Simon Vane Percy
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