- The Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale has installed cutting-edge technology that combines magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography, making the center a benchmark for studies that were previously unapproachable, thus contributing to the advancement of frontier research.
The CSIC has published the report “La imagen preclínica multimodal acerca la ciencia a la medicina personalizada” to highlight the new imaging equipment acquired at the IIBM, capable of simultaneously obtaining magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography images (MRI/PET). This system represents a bridge from basic research to hospital medicine and will be essential for nanomedicine studies aimed at precision medicine. The full report can be read below.
Biomedical imaging has revolutionized research and diagnostics in health, providing non-invasive tools to visualize internal structures and physiological and pathophysiological processes in living organisms with high precision. Within this field, preclinical imaging plays a crucial role in both basic and applied biomedical research, facilitating the characterization of pathologies and the early evaluation of the efficacy and safety of new drugs and therapies. In addition, this modality reduces the need for invasive experimentation, improving both the quality of research and animal welfare.
Among these techniques, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has established itself as one of the most advanced and versatile tools. Its ability to generate detailed, high-resolution images of soft tissues without the use of ionizing radiation makes it a highly valuable non-invasive technique. On the other hand, positron emission tomography (PET) stands out for its ability to provide functional and metabolic information in real time, allowing the visualization of biological processes at the molecular level.
Since last January, the Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas Sols-Morreale (IIBM), a joint center of the CSIC and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), has had a hybrid imaging system capable of simultaneously acquiring MRI and PET images (MRI/PET). This equipment allows for very high spatial resolution information through MRI, while the incorporation of PET, using radiopharmaceuticals, enables the visualization and quantification of biological processes at the molecular level with excellent sensitivity. This system represents the natural progression from the previously existing monomodal equipment at the IIBM toward a multimodal approach, facilitating the development of new hybrid MRI/PET sequences and protocols.
“Combining hybrid and simultaneous MRI and PET imaging acquisition is a unique feature in biomedical research,” explains Pilar López-Larrubia, director of the IIBM. López-Larrubia, also a researcher and coordinator of the Biomedical Magnetic Resonance group at the IIBM, emphasizes that the Institute is one of the pioneering centers offering this methodology in Spain, and the only one affiliated with the CSIC.
The cutting-edge technology represents a total investment of €1.2 million, financed by the European Union (NextGenerationEU) and the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI). The director points out that this system “accelerates the transfer of preclinical science—that is, the research conducted in the laboratory by investigators—to hospital medicine and will be essential for nanomedicine studies aimed at personalized medicine, the areas with the greatest potential for advancing diagnosis and achieving more effective therapies.”
Translational research: from the laboratory to the hospital
In the basement of the IIBM is the Sebastián Cerdán Biomedical NMR Scientific-Technical Service, certified by AENOR for compliance with the ISO9001 Quality Standard. Thanks to its strategic location near La Paz and Ramón y Cajal hospitals, as well as the CNIO and CNIC centers of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and its recognized scientific-technical expertise in preclinical imaging, this service has been included in the Registry of the Network of Scientific-Technical Laboratories and Infrastructures of the Comunidad de Madrid (REDLAB), standing out for the quality of the activities it offers.
The IIBM service, with the support of its three magnetic resonance systems, covers studies across a wide variety of tissues and organs, such as the central nervous system, heart, and liver, among others. To the two existing systems—a 7 Tesla (7T) preclinical MRI and an 11.7T system for in vitro spectroscopy and tissue sample analysis—the recently acquired MRI/PET has been added. This new device has the unique feature of operating at two magnetic field strengths: 7T, a high field used in preclinical environments, and 3T, common in clinical settings, facilitating the translation of laboratory results into clinical practice. The IIBM hybrid MRI/PET scanner will allow studies in animal models of numerous metabolic, vascular, neurological diseases, and cancer, which are leading causes of death, disability, and dependency in Spain and other developed countries.
“Thanks to the new hybrid system, it is possible to combine the high resolution of MRI with the high sensitivity of PET, two of the most powerful imaging diagnostic tools available today,” describes Teresa Navarro Hernanz, technical manager of the Sebastián Cerdán Biomedical NMR Scientific-Technical Service. “This will allow, for example, monitoring how a compound containing both a radioisotope and a drug targets a specific tumor, releases the drug, and how the drug exerts its action.”
Researcher Nuria Arias Ramos of the IIBM Biomedical Magnetic Resonance group specifies that “one of the main advantages of the new MRI/PET system is obtaining greater functional and metabolic information from both the tumor and surrounding tissues.” By employing simultaneously acquired multimodal imaging, it is possible to detect, in real time, the accumulation of nanoparticles in the tumor that contain radioisotopes (visible by PET) and MRI contrast agents (visible by MRI), explains Arias Ramos, who specializes in glioblastoma, a highly lethal type of brain tumor. This represents a significant advance in the researchers’ ability to monitor and evaluate tumor progression and treatment response in preclinical models, with important implications for the development of more effective and personalized therapies. In addition, “by providing a very complete view of the tumor environment, it would be possible to identify areas with subpopulations of tumor cells that respond differently to treatments, which in turn could guide the design of more specific therapeutic strategies,” Arias Ramos notes.
Another indisputable advantage of the system is its ability to operate at two magnetic field strengths, 3T and 7T. “This allows MRI imaging at both fields: at 7T, the image has higher resolution due to a better signal-to-noise ratio, but the ability to operate at 3T is essential as this field is used in hospital facilities,” adds the researcher. This flexibility means that preclinical studies conducted with the new equipment have a more direct and faster application in clinical practice. The possibility of correlating preclinical findings with clinical studies is an added value that attracts many researchers.
The incorporation of this new MRI/PET system at the IIBM not only represents a technological advance but also an opportunity to improve the quality and relevance of research in oncology and other areas of biomedicine. By providing a powerful tool for the simultaneous exploration of functional and metabolic aspects of tissues, this equipment could accelerate the development of new therapies and improve diagnostic accuracy and disease monitoring.
Pilar López-Larrubia, Teresa Navarro Hernanz, Patricia Sánchez García and Nuria Arias Ramos.
A unique imaging equipment
In both preclinical research and its direct clinical application, magnetic resonance imaging is established as a fundamental pillar in the diagnosis and prognosis of a wide variety of pathologies. In addition, it is key for early therapy monitoring, providing detailed images with structural, functional, and metabolic information non-invasively, with high spatial and temporal resolution. PET imaging, in turn, is the most powerful and robust technology in nuclear medicine, offering in vivo molecular information not accessible through other methodologies.
The IIBM stands out with its powerful and advanced multimodal preclinical imaging facilities with notable translational capacity. These facilities are available to CSIC research groups and other public research organizations (OPIs) interested in this cutting-edge technology, making the center a benchmark for studies previously unattainable, thus contributing to the advancement of frontier research.
Cover photo: Patricia Sánchez García, from the Sebastián Cerdán Biomedical NMR Service, handling the MRI/PET equipment.
This report was written thanks to the collaboration of Jon Gurutz Arranz, a science journalist who completed a three-month stay at the IIBM and interviewed Nuria Arias Ramos, Teresa Navarro Hernanz, and Pilar López-Larrubia.