Magnetic Resonance Engineering

The goal of this laboratory is to develop new technologies and approaches in the field of biological science and biomedical applications by applying physics and electronics technologies to biomedical problems. Specifically, we are conducting the research on electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) imaging to visualize specific molecules in vivo (molecules called free radicals). Through such research, we aim to develop new approaches in the engineering, physics, chemistry and biomedical fields.

We have developed technology to run EPR imaging (which specifically visualize molecules with an unpaired electron [free radicals]), 10 times faster than before. A uniformly distributed projection method and fast magnetic field sweep were used to speed up EPR imaging. This imaging technology helps to clarify the in vivo behavior of short-lifetime free radicals, thus contributing to clarify disease and life phenomena involving free radicals.

We have developed a resolution-recovery method that significantly enhances the spatial resolution of EPR imaging. This dramatically enhanced resolution allows high-definition in vivo visualization of free radicals. Our aim was to solve the long-standing problem of the limited resolution of EPR image processing.

Some molecules that serve as medicines have a non-superimposable mirror image in their atomic configuration, although they have the same physicochemical properties. They are called chiral molecules, and this feature is called chirality. We are conducting the development of both a method and the instruments to distinguish chiral molecules that look the same in the body. This research is characterized by labeling of isotopic nitrogen that behaves differently to unpaired electrons in chiral molecules, which are hard to distinguish.