Infrastructure

Our facilities include pre-clinical and clinical imaging systems, ensuring state-of-the-art capability:

  • XMRI facility (Siemens 1.5T Aera with Artis-Q-Biplane CathLab system) 

Cardiac, body imaging, biomedical and image guided interventional procedures

  • 3 x 3T Philips MRI Scanner – Cardiac, biomedical, cancer & perinatal imaging and teaching
  • 1.5T Philips MRI Scanner – Fetal, Cardiac & biomedical imaging
  • 7T facility with RF lab
  • Pre-clinical scanners (9.4T Bruker Biospec® MR scanner , 3T Clinical MRI with Hyperion IIDPET Insert- Prototype, NanoSCan PET/ CT)
  • 18.9MeV PETrace cyclotron (PERL) with clinical and R&D tracer production labs

Key Infrastructure:

  • Imaging Bioresource with matched imaging and clinical with biological samples 
  • Clinical trial coordination to support the setup and management of clinical studies
  • High Performance Computing (2800 CPUs connected with high speed networking allowing parallel computation)
  • PET Tracer Development: 18.9MeV PETrace cyclotron (PERL) with clinical and R&D tracer production labs, Pipeline with available staff to develop, optimize, test and obtain regulatory approvals for new tracers

Translational support:

  • Health Technology Assessment: Through our Partner the King’s Technology Evaluation Centre (KiTEC) we can evaluate innovative medical technologies (including devices and diagnostics) by producing systematic reviews, meta-analyses, economic models and outcomes research through our dedicated Health Economist and Medical Statistician
  • Engagement with the public and patients through our experienced Public Engagement team, accessing 5 PPI groups and reaching a non-academic audience of nearly 50,000
  • We have established relationships with several global multinational companies, including Medtronic, Siemens, NVIDIA and GlaxoSmithKline. Our industry engagement also includes small to medium enterprises (SMEs), and we welcome any new opportunities to work with new industry partners. Please contact our Innovation Manager for more details. We also have a well-established pipeline for IP and licensing and for commercialising our research.
  • Ethics and Governance: Expertise available to support IRAS applications, guidance on R&D and HRA approvals, clinical study set-up, management and governance
  • Regulation and Quality support with expertise on quality assurance, quality control, use of radiopharmaceuticals as IMPs, guidance on regulatory/ MHRA approvals and GMP.  We aim to develop and implement a Quality Management System to facilitate clinical uptake and commercialisation of hardware and software by creating a controlled structure within which medical devices can be developed in line with the relevant regulations

Bioresource:

The Centre for Medical Engineering Imaging Bioresource aims to provide a resource of clinical data, clinical images (e.g. MRI/PET scans) and biological samples (blood, saliva and tissue) to be used in medical research. Through the Imaging Bioresource, we aim to maximise research capacity by creating a resource that can cross-reference morphological features, using clinical images, with molecular signatures, using biological samples. This research can also be further enhanced with the use of anonymised clinical data to give a multidimensional view of the condition.

The Imaging Bioresource has been approved for operation as a Research Tissue Bank by the London – Chelsea Research Ethics Committee in March 2020 and has begun recruitment of cardiovascular patients within St. Thomas’ Hospital. A technician has also be recruited to assist in the collection and processing of samples and Bioresource operations.

The Imaging Bioresource is next looking to expand to include Oncology and Neurology participants and to set-up the application process for researchers to apply for samples and images to enhance their research. An integration of previously established resources into the Imaging Bioresource has also been ongoing which would allow over 15,000 samples to be made available for cardiac research.

Once set-up applications will be welcomed and considered for approval with research questions in the remit of the Centre for Medical Engineering Imaging:

“To improve outcomes for patients with neurological, cardiovascular and oncological conditions using our underpinning research themes of physics and engineering, computer science, imaging chemistry and interventional engineering.”

For further information, please contact: imaging-bioresource@kcl.ac.uk