IBM Research Creates Microscope With 100 Million Times Finer Resolution Than Current MRI

IBM Press room > Press releases ^ | 13 Jan 2009 | Jenny Hunter IBM Media Relations

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

San Jose, Calif

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13 Jan 2009:

IBM Research (NYSE: IBM) scientists, in collaboration with the Center for Probing the Nanoscale at Stanford University, have demonstrated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with volume resolution 100 million times finer than conventional MRI.

This result, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), signals a significant step forward in tools for molecular biology and nanotechnology by offering the ability to study complex 3D structures at the nanoscale.

By extending MRI to such fine resolution, the scientists have created a microscope that, with further development, may ultimately be powerful enough to unravel the structure and interactions of proteins, paving the way for new advances in personalized healthcare and targeted medicine. This achievement stands to impact the study of materials – from proteins to integrated circuits – for which a detailed understanding of atomic structure is essential.

"This technology stands to revolutionize the way we look at viruses, bacteria, proteins, and other biological elements," said IBM Fellow Mark Dean, vice president of strategy and operations for IBM Research.

This advancement was enabled by a technique called magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM), which relies on detecting ultrasmall magnetic forces. In addition to its high resolution, the imaging technique has the further advantages that it is chemically specific, can "see" below surfaces and, unlike electron microscopy, is non-destructive to sensitive biological materials.

[grey_whiskers]

” Quenched “ = ???

[NMR Guy]

If the field is disturbed enough to cause the superconducting coils to heat up enough, the heat from the resistance will cause the cryogen to evaporate, and the field will collapse, releasing all of the energy in the coils. The net result is you'll have most of the liquid nitrogen and helium go from liquid to gas over the course of 15 - 30 seconds. (Fortunately, modern magnets have release valves or other mechanisms to release the gas, otherwise the pressure could build up to dangerous levels.) The danger, besides losing you field, is that the evaporated cryopgens can displace all the oxygen in the room.

Check out this demo of a quench (Need the quicktime plugin to see it) It's near the bottom of the page:

http://www.nmr.gu.se/news2.html

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

More details at Forbes:

IBM's Sharp New Focus

A new technique could let biologists better see how proteins fit together and make life happen.

[wxgesr]

Yes, but can it see my favorite planet?

[Straight Vermonter]

IBM is also supplying the chips to enable fast 3D reconstruct of MRI images as well. Pretty cool stuff from about 1:40 on in this video.

http://www.mc.com/mercury.aspx?langtype=1033&id=10045