MBCIU at the ISMRM 2026 Annual Meeting

The ISMRM 2026 Annual Meeting was held recently in Cape Town, South Africa, the first ISMRM Annual Meeting held on the African continent. The MBCIU team was active across a diverse range of frontiers in MRI, with five presentations covering topics spanning acquisition methods, pulse sequence design, data reconstruction, and post-processing.

Yasmin Blunck delivered a power pitch on her interleaved 1H-MP2RAGE and 23Na MERINA sequence which can acquire structural proton MRI and simultaneously image sodium with high signal to noise ratios while adhering to SAR constraints. View the abstract.

Tudor Sava presented two digital posters, one with a focus on denoising methods to allow for 0.4mm intracranial vessel wall imaging at 7T with a reasonable scan time, and another on the use of polypropylene pellets to improve B0 homogeneity. View the abstracts and digital posters here: Denoising high resolution intracranial vessel wall imaging at 7T | B0 Homogeneity Improvement at 7T Utilising Polypropylene Pellets

PhD candidate Joe Bartlett's work was presented by Yasmin Blunck as a power pitch; Joe’s work utilises deep learning for rapid tailored dynamic pTx multiband excitation pulse design. View the abstract and poster here.

Finishing off the MBCIU’s round of presentations, PhD candidate Yining Chen delivered an oral presentation on the Serial Acquisition of RF Pulse MOdes (SAMO) method which incorporates acquisition and post processing techniques and regains signal in areas that suffer from B1+ signal inhomogeneity. Not only is this a key challenge when imaging at 7T, it is a significant achievement to be awarded an oral presentation during one’s PhD candidature. View the abstract and a recording of the presentation here.

The MBCIU’s work was well received with all sessions sparking interest from the international community. It is a testament to the lab that we are able to bring a diverse group of researchers to Cape Town, from PhD candidates, to ECRs and senior academics. Follow us on LinkedIn for real-time updates on MBCIU presentations, along with research output and work with our collaborators. https://www.linkedin.com/company/mbciu