Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1400707
4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 11 AUGUST 2021 NEWS ON Saturday 7 August, the University of Malta inaugurated Malta's first research focussed Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner. The machine is part of the Magnetic Resonance Laborato- ry being set up through the The Transdisciplinary Research & Knowledge Exchange Complex Project (TRAKE) and managed through the University's Mag- netic Resonance Research Plat- form (UMRI). This project is a fruitful col- laboration with Mater Dei Hospital, which is hosting the fully-fledged 3 Tesla Sie- mens Magnetom Vida scanner. TRAKE, made possible through European Regional Develop- ment Funds (ERDF.01.0124), is pushing human imaging to new limits and increasing the capacity of collaborative Engi- neering research. Prof. Ing. Andrew Sammut, Dean of the University's Fac- ulty of Engineering, is the pro- ject leader of TRAKE, and has overseen the coming together of an interdisciplinary group, the UMRI, whose aims are to oversee and build a research in- frastructure for facilitating high throughput MRI research while ensuring that the rights of hu- man research participants are respected. "This multi-disciplinary per- spective has been key in moving the project forward at a steady pace, and I believe this mode of research also highlights the fact that quality research is under- pinned by common interests, or rather the motivation of the common good", he commented. University of Malta Rector, Prof. Alfred J. Vella, paid a visit to the new research MRI scan- ner situated at the Medical Im- aging Department of the hos- pital together with MDH CEO, Ms Celia Falzon. They were shown around the MRI facility by Dr Claude Baja- da, the Chair of the UMRI, who explained some of the implica- tions of this new equipment. From functional imaging that produces real-time video of ac- tivity in the human brain, to dif- fusion MRI, where the machine can be used to quantify the mi- crostructure of tissues. The benefits of MRI research are not only medical. This ma- chine will bring together scien- tists from disparate fields. Med- ical physicists, radiographers, computer scientists, statisti- cians and doctors must all work on the same problem "If we want to build our own tools in medical imaging to ben- efit our own society, we must be in it together", Dr Bajada said. It creates the potential of a new generation of students and researchers who can collaborate on problems that extend well outside their narrow fields of expertise. UM Rector, Prof. Alfred J. Vella, commented on the huge potential of the project to im- prove the lives of many individ- uals, noting that "such a project helps bring the research out of the classroom and the labora- tory into the capable hands of practitioners who turn their work into an opportunity to think about our collective fu- ture." Academics or researchers wishing to join the working group are encouraged to con- tact the Chair of the MRI Re- search Platform, Dr Claude Ba- jada. The "Setting up of transdis- ciplinary research and knowl- edge exchange (TRAKE) com- plex at the University of Malta (ERDF.01.124)" is being co-fi- nanced through the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund 2014 – 2020. www.eufunds. gov.mt University of Malta invests in MRI scanner for collaborative research