Magdeburg (dpa/sa) – Magdeburg scientists will be able to look even more closely into the finest brain structures in the future. For this purpose, the University of Magdeburg received a new and particularly powerful magnetic resonance tomograph (MRT) on Monday. The so-called 7-Tesla-Connectome is the strongest such large device in Europe, which can map and measure brain functions and structures with particular precision, the university announced.
“This means that we can identify the smallest changes in the brain in the very early stages of the disease in order to strengthen research into therapies such as Alzheimer’s dementia,” explains neuroscientist Emrah Düzel, Director of the Institute for Cognitive Neurology and Dementia Research at the University of Magdeburg .
According to the university, this makes it the second location in the world for an MRT of this strength. Another device is at the University of California, Berkeley, in the USA.
On Monday afternoon, the core element, the almost three meter long cylindrical magnet with a diameter of almost three meters, was delivered with the help of a crane. The housing for the device was built on the medical campus in the past few months. According to the information, the total costs amount to 15 million euros and were financed with funds from the European Regional Development Fund. As early as 2004, the Magdeburg University Clinic put a predecessor model into operation.
