GE HealthCare, University of Cincinnati (UC), UC Health, and Cincinnati Children’s are establishing a new collaboration with the goal to accelerate MRI innovation. The collaboration intends to create a co-located MRI Research and Development (R&D) center of excellence on UC’s medical campus to foster interaction between clinical investigators and GE HealthCare scientists.
As part of this academic-industrial collaboration, GE HealthCare will receive assistance in the form of an R&D grant from JobsOhio, the state’s private economic development corporation, to support engineering and manufacturing job growth at its Aurora, OH, MRI coils facility, as well as new clinical and scientific roles at the Cincinnati R&D center of excellence facility.
The collaboration would build upon GE HealthCare’s presence in Ohio, including its MRI RF coil R&D and manufacturing facility in Aurora, home to the AIR Coils that improve patient comfort, positioning flexibility, and image quality in MRI exams. The collaboration would leverage Ohio-based healthcare innovators to advance imaging technologies to benefit patients in Ohio and beyond.
Studies are intended to be conducted at the Research facility that would help to develop and validate next-generation MRI technology with the goal of 1) increasing accessibility and productivity of MRI scanners and 2) increasing precision and personalization of MRI exams. Many of the projects would build upon AIR Coil technology designed and manufactured in Ohio.
The Research center on the UC campus would house GE HealthCare’s most powerful 3.0T wide-bore MRI scanner, the SIGNA Premier. This MRI platform features GE HealthCare’s innovative hardware technologies, including AIR Coils, and its latest AI software technologies, such as AIR Recon DL and Sonic DL deep-learning reconstruction applications, which can improve image quality and scan times. The scanner’s advanced suite of imaging capabilities has led to its adoption by many academic sites for imaging studies spanning neurology, oncology, cardiovascular, and musculoskeletal applications in both adult and pediatric populations.
