Interdisciplinary Efforts Lead to Imaging Tag for MRI

In a collaborative and highly interdisciplinary effort, the Wang, Warren, Malcolmson, Blum, and Theis labs have disclosed a new class of molecules that may be used as biomolecular tags for MRI, potentially enabling metabolic processes to be viewed in real time.  The work, published in the journal Science Advances and highlighted in Duke Today, details the hyperpolarization of these molecules through an iridium-catalyzed spin-polarization transfer from singlet-state hydrogen gas, increasing NMR signals, which persist for over one hour, by over 10,000-fold.  The process promises a general imaging tag for MRI that may be generated through a cost-effective and easily accessible technique.

To read more about this work, please visit the Science Advances webpage.