<Professor Cho>

- Successful development of a commercial same-time PET-MRI imaging system

- Fusion research achieved from KAIST, Nanofabrication Center, Seokang university and Seoul national university

A research team (KAIST, Seokang University, Seoul National University with collaboration of KAIST Nanofabrication center) led by professor Gyuseong Cho from Nuclear and Quantum Engineering department at KAIST has successfully developed a same-time PET-MRI imaging system using indigenous domestic technology and obtained sample brain images from three different volunteers.

PET-MRI is a medical imaging system which is considered to be a next generation of multi-modality imaging technique. The system is composed of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) that can diagnosis the function of human body and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), which can investigate the anatomy of human body. Since the combination of two different modalities into a single system gives an advantage in investigating both anatomical and functional activity of our body at once, it is possible to precisely diagnosis and treat diseases that were difficult to find in the past, e.g. various cancers, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s or other brain-related injuries.

According to professor Cho, “With this successful development, we were able to provide a standard for domestically-produced commercial PET systems and shoulder to shoulder with other private enterprises. In addition, we project the demand for PET-MRI system will increase in medical fields particularly related to brain injuries such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s because this new state-of-the-art medical imaging system is excellent in cost and performance.”