The 18th Frost & Sullivan China Growth, Innovation and Leadership Summit, along with the 3rd New Investment Conference Life Sciences New Investment Summit Forum, was held in Shanghai from August 28th to 29th, 2024. The forum brought together over 40 industry leaders, biopharmaceutical companies, medical device companies, investment institutions, and professional service providers. With the theme of "Responding to Changes and Opening New Horizons," the participants discussed new models of investment cooperation, aiming to build a closer, more efficient, and mutually beneficial cooperation network to jointly promote the vigorous development of the domestic and international life sciences industry.
At this forum, Dr. Sheng Jingwei, founder and general manager of Kunmai Medical, delivered a keynote speech titled "Trends in Brain Imaging Technology and Frontier Applications in Brain Science." The speech mainly covered four parts: the development history of brain imaging technology, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology and its applications, domestic liquid-free MRI technology and products, and the future prospects of brain imaging technology.
Dr. Sheng Jingwei, Founder and General Manager of Kunmai Medical
The following are the key points from Dr. Sheng Jingwei's speech:
Development History of Brain Imaging Technology
Dr. Sheng Jingwei pointed out that before the advent of brain imaging equipment, human cognition of the brain was in an 'ignorant era,' with understanding mainly based on philosophy and simple observation methods. With the progress of technology, the invention of X-ray planar imaging in 1895 marked the beginning of brain imaging technology. Subsequently, CT (X-ray tomography) technology was introduced in 1971, enabling the diagnosis of brain injuries such as cerebral trauma and cerebral hemorrhage; MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) technology emerged in 1973, enhancing the ability to image soft brain tissues and fiber bundles.
The beginnings of brain function signal detection can be traced back to the German neurosurgeon Hans Berger, who invented the electroencephalogram (EEG), ushering in the era of brain function signal recording. The main methods of brain functional imaging technology include EEG and iEEG (scalp electroencephalogram, intracranial electroencephalogram) based on physical and electromagnetic signals, PET, SPECT, MRS (nuclear resonance imaging, macromolecular spectroscopy) based on chemical and metabolic signals, as well as BOLD-fMRI and fNIRS (blood oxygenation and magnetic resonance imaging) based on biological and physiological signals. Among them, in the application scenarios of neurology and psychiatry imaging, BOLD-fMRI has lower temporal resolution, cannot directly detect neuronal activity, has a longer scanning time, relies on statistical analysis, and has certain limitations.
Brain Magnetic Mapping Technology and Applications
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MEG) technology is a non-invasive, radiation-free method for brain functional imaging. It provides high-resolution brain magnetic field signals by recording the tangential currents generated by the postsynaptic potentials of a large number of parallel pyramidal cell synapses in the neocortex. Compared with intracranial electroencephalography (EEG), scalp MEG can penetrate the skull without damage; it also has higher resolution than scalp EEG. This makes MEG widely applicable in areas such as epileptic lesion localization, brain functional area division, and brain cognitive language processing. MEG technology has become an effective tool for studying brain language cognitive functions stimulated by auditory stimuli due to its noise-free, signal distortion-free nature, high temporal resolution, and ability to track dynamic speech processing changes. However, traditional superconducting MEG devices also face some challenges, such as large systems, complex installation, the need to build large magnetic shielding rooms, which occupy a large area; high equipment costs due to the consumption of liquid helium, limited signal strength due to detectors not being close enough to the scalp; poor population applicability, insufficient market education, and high equipment prices, along with a small domestic installation volume, all of which limit the widespread promotion of MEG technology.
Domestic liquid-free helium magnetic resonance imaging technology and products
The localization of liquid helium brain magnetic mapping technology is based on a breakthrough in atomic magnetometry (OPM) technology, which is quantum weak magnetic sensing. The development of OPM technology can be traced back to Alfred Kastler, the Nobel laureate in physics, who developed the optical pumping theory, laying an important theoretical foundation for the birth of atomic magnetometers. Hans G. Dehmelt further developed this technology, proposing the concept of an optical pumping magnetometer and promoting the development of atomic magnetometers. In 2002, Michael Romalis from Princeton University completed the first spin-exchange-free relaxation atomic magnetometer and successfully applied it to brain magnetic mapping measurements.
Years of technical accumulation have led to the development of China's first liquid-free helium magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system approved for clinical use. This device can be widely applied in multiple fields such as assisted localization of epileptic foci, division of brain functional areas, and brain cognitive research. Through breakthroughs in quantum weak magnetic sensing technology, the device no longer relies on liquid helium cooling, significantly reducing the cost and maintenance difficulty of the equipment. This innovation not only breaks through the bottlenecks of traditional technology but also greatly enhances the feasibility and clinical application scope of magnetic resonance imaging technology.
Future Prospects of Brain Imaging Technology
Brain imaging technology is rapidly developing towards 'higher clarity, greater portability, and more individualization'. With the combination of real-time MRI imaging and diffusion tensor models, current image decoding and reconstruction speeds have been increased to 0.25 seconds. This technological breakthrough makes the dynamic presentation of brain activity more precise. The application of artificial intelligence has further promoted the development of brain imaging technology, especially in the automatic detection of epileptic abnormal discharge signals. AI algorithms can complete spike detection work that takes experienced doctors three hours in just 5 seconds, greatly improving diagnostic efficiency. In addition, the development of portable and wearable imaging devices has made MRI technology more lightweight and accessible, providing more possibilities for personalized medicine; the introduction of ultra-high field strength MRI has further improved image clarity. These technological advancements will drive leapfrog development across the three stages of brain science, clinical neuroscience, and brain intelligence, providing more cutting-edge tools and methods for future brain disease diagnosis and neuroscientific research.
