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Research by Professor Karl Friston at UCL has led to the development of Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM), a statistical framework and software package. By providing a way to analyse signals measured from the human brain in MRI scanners, SPM triggered the creation of an entirely new field of imaging neuroscience. Beneficiaries include: commercial manufacturers who provide imaging equipment; healthcare practitioners and patients, where SPM is used to deliver new treatments; pharmaceutical industries using SPM to deliver clinical trials; the IT industry developing new software based on SPM; and entirely new industries such as neuromarketing that could only have been created once SPM had been invented.
The FLAIR (Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery) MRI sequence developed at Imperial College has transformed the sensitivity of clinical neuroimaging for white matter brain lesions. FLAIR has had significant commercial impact with incorporation as a standard imaging sequence offered by all manufacturers on their MRI scanners. The inclusion of FLAIR in routine diagnostic MRI protocols in radiology centres worldwide provides evidence of the continued extensive reach of impact for better healthcare outcomes through improved diagnosis and management. The use of FLAIR has led to more powerful Phase II trial designs for development of medicine for stroke, neuroinflammatory disorders, epilepsy and neuro-oncology based on imaging outcomes.
Theoretical and computational methods for optimising the design of gradient and shim coils with arbitrary shapes and topologies were developed in collaboration with Magnex Scientific as part of a CASE award (2004-07). The resulting software was licenced to Agilent (who now own Magnex Scientific), for whom it has opened up new market opportunities in the supply of novel magnetic resonance imaging systems, leading to £3.4M sales since 2009. The software has also been used by Paramed Medical Systems to improve their `open' magnetic resonance imaging systems, which are optimised for orthopaedic imaging, allow vertical subject posture, and facilitate image-guided treatment, as well as offering a better patient experience. Our work has thus resulted in impact in the economy and healthcare.
UCL's research has led to changes in patient care for men with prostate cancer, through the implementation of less invasive, image-directed treatment and diagnostic strategies, and clinical trials that use these techniques. The use of medical image registration software to deliver high- intensity ultrasound therapy in a targeted manner has been shown to change the treatment plan in half of the patients participating in a clinical study. New biopsy criteria are now used routinely to classify patient risk at University College Hospital, where, since 2009, clinicians have determined the treatment options for more than 741 prostate cancer patients. The scheme has been adopted, by 15 other hospitals in the UK and internationally, where it has become the recommended standard of care, and has been used to treat more than 1,200 patients.
Nottingham researchers constructed the world's first 3T MRI scanner, thus demonstrating the viability and benefits of high-field MRI. This provided a stimulus for magnet and MRI system manufacturers to develop 3T scanners, which have now become established as the standard platform for high-end clinical MRI studies. We estimate that since 2008: 2500 3T scanners have been installed, representing a global investment of $5 billion;and 30-40 million patient examinations have been performed with 3T MRI scanners. Technical advances which underpinned the Nottingham 3T scanner also impacted on the development of functional MRI, thus opening up a new field of medical research and clinical application. In a subsequent phase of research, the Nottingham group developed ultra-high (7T) magnetic MRI in partnership with PhiIips; forty 7T MRI scanners (current unit cost >$10M) have now been installed across the world.
Visual analytics is a powerful method for understanding large and complex datasets that makes information accessible to non-statistically trained users. The Non-linearity and Complexity Research Group (NCRG) developed several fundamental algorithms and brought them to users by developing interactive software tools (e.g. Netlab pattern analysis toolbox in 2002 (more than 40,000 downloads), Data Visualisation and Modelling System (DVMS) in 2012).
Industrial products. These software tools are used by industrial partners (Pfizer, Dstl) in their business activities. The algorithms have been integrated into a commercial tool (p:IGI) used in geochemical analysis for oil and gas exploration with a 60% share of the worldwide market.
Improving business performance. As an enabling technology, visual analytics has played an important role in the data analysis that has led to the development of new products, such as the Body Volume Index, and the enhancement of existing products (Wheelright: automated vehicle tyre pressure measurement).
Impact on practitioners. The software is used to educate and train skilled people internationally in more than 6 different institutions and is also used by finance professionals.
Scientists in the MRC Cyclotron Unit within Imperial College pioneered quantitative Molecular Imaging methods for neuroscience drug development that have since been expanded through collaboration between Imperial and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) scientists. Human Molecular Imaging has had significant commercial impact with adoption by the major pharmaceutical companies to reduce the risks and costs associated with early drug development. This led directly to the selection of the Imperial Hammersmith Hospital site for the world's first clinical imaging centre embedded in a pharmaceutical company. New GSK investment created new and highly skilled UK employment opportunities first at this GSK Clinical Imaging Centre (CIC) and then Imanova, Ltd., a specialised imaging CRO that was "spun out" from the CIC. Outcomes from studies commissioned by GSK in the CIC and later in Imanova have directly influenced GSK clinical development planning, strategy and drug candidate progression. More recently, outcomes from Imanova are influencing clinical development decisions of other pharmaceutical organisations in similar ways.
danceroom Spectroscopy (dS) is a cutting-edge, interactive public engagement project that allows people to literally step into an interactive molecular dynamics simulation. It has its origins in fundamental research carried out to understand ultrafast chemical dynamics in liquids. On a large scale, dS impact has arisen from its deployment in premier cultural settings in the UK and internationally, eg the London 2012 Olympics, London's Barbican Arts Centre, Ars Electronica (Austria), ZKM (Germany), and the World Science Festival (New York City). Statistics indicate well over 60,000 people have so far experienced dS, with audiences spanning ages from 3 to 73, and attracting those with a variety of interests including science, technology, art and education. Within the cultural and media sectors, dS has received several awards and substantial press attention, all of which has proven beneficial to several non-academic collaborators and partner institutions. The substantial momentum and opportunities available from dS are also being commercially exploited through a spin-out company called Interactive Scientific Ltd.
New methods to study the biophysical action of the human digestive system were developed in Nottingham using high speed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and have been used by: (i) the food and drug industry (Unilever, Proctor & Gamble, Mitsubishi Chemicals, Reckitt Benckiser, Glaxo and McNeil Pharmaceuticals) to develop new products; (ii) Plant Bioscience Limited (PBL) to develop an artificial Dynamic Gut Model (DGM) which is now being applied commercially to characterise drug and food ingestion; (iii) the BBC and other media agencies in programmes related to the promotion of better understanding of nutrition in an effort to combat obesity.
Over the last 15 years the Medical Applications Group (MAG) has engaged in applied research into the use of product design techniques and technologies in medical procedures. Their work has directly led to better, safer, faster, more accurate and less intrusive surgical procedures. The group has worked with surgeons at NHS hospitals all over the UK to deliver well over 2,000 medical models for surgical use during the period. A number of hospitals have adopted MAG's techniques, meaning that the Group's research has improved the dignity, comfort and quality of life of around two and a half thousand people since 2008 whilst saving the UK tax payer many thousands of pounds.
[Throughout this template, references to underpinning research are numbered 1-6; sources to corroborate are numbered 7-15]