The Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca uses, within the INSPIRE Platform, an 8 million euro 7 Tesla imaging device. It is the only such device between Poland and China, a fact that allows Cluj researchers to collaborate with top universities such as Harvard.
The 7 Tesla MRI scanner equipped with UBB. PHOTO: UBB
Babeș-Bolyai University (UBB) in Cluj-Napoca will publicly launch, on May 20-24, 2024, the INSPIRE Platform, the most advanced biomedical imaging unit in Eastern Europe and one of the most advanced at the international level.
The event will be attended by strategic partners from the USA, from Harvard Medical School, and from Europe (e.g. medical schools from the EUTOPIA university alliance), as well as other relevant guests/partners (e.g. from the University of Vienna/Medical University of Vienna, etc.
“Adevărul” talked with the scientific researcher grade 3 Ruben Nechifor about the most efficient imaging platform in Eastern Europe, an investment of 20 million euros from European funds, at UBB.
The researcher, who trained at UCLA (University of California Los Angeles), claims that the facilities at UBB are comparable to those of the world's great universities.
“The INSPIRE platform contains several basic pillars. An important pillar is the BrainQ platform, which contains two clinical MRI scanners for the investigation of human organs. All types of organs can be investigated. For this we have the 3 Tesla and 7 Tesla scanner respectively”explained Nechifor.
The 7 Tesla imaging machine is a novelty in Eastern Europe. From Poland to China, there is no such scanner anymore, say the UBB specialists.
25 million euro project
“The project is funded by the European Union and the initial funding was 20 million euros, but for sure when the whole project is completed, it will probably be 25 million euros or somewhere around that”explained Nechifor.
He claimed that UBB was in partnership with Harvard University and the University of Vienna.
“The fact that they collaborate with universities like Harvard or the University of Vienna means that we have cutting-edge technology. This 7 Tesla scanner, if we were to look at the component map, we only have a few dozen around the world and one is in Cluj, which is a very big advantage and is also one of the reasons why we can develop such partnerships with top universities in the world”he explained.
Such a device costs about 8 million euros.
There is also a strong preclinical component – a Preclinical MRI Center with 7 and 11.6 Tesla scanners.
“One of the things that makes this platform unique is that we have both components in the same institution, in the same building, meaning both the preclinical and clinical components. In addition to this, this aspect is also significantly important“, Nechifor also said.
He pointed out that the platform will allow the vital functions of the patients to be monitored during the scan, thus being able to test the effects of some interventions.
The people of Cluj will be able to benefit, under certain conditions, from this top imaging equipment in the world.
Dr. Ruben Emanuel Nechifor is currently a Grade III Scientific Researcher at the International Institute for Advanced Studies in Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health of Babeș-Bolyai University. He worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Radiological Sciences Department at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in the USA (https://ucla.academia.edu/RubenEmanuelNechifor) and as a Postdoctoral Researcher in MRI Research Centers at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) in Canada.
The INSPIRE platform
The Babeș-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca (UBB) has completed the first stage of the organization of the INSPIRE Platform, the most advanced biomedical imaging unit in Eastern Europe and one of the most advanced internationally.
The INSPIRE platform is one of the leading units supporting the new UBBMed program within the UBB School of Health.
The INSPIRE platform is the result of an older collaboration between two reference institutes of UBB, namely the Institute of Advanced Studies in Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health and the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences, in major infrastructure projects (originally the RICI project, and recently the INSPIRE project), to which other specific projects were then added.
Three research centers
The INSPIRE platform currently includes three research-development-innovation centers, each with a series of laboratories equipped with state-of-the-art equipment, which will support advanced research, quality education and innovative services:
(1) The BrainQ Platform (Clinical MRI Center), with exceptional facilities (eg 3 and 7 Tesla) for clinical biomedical imaging, including EEG systems, doubled by complementary virtual reality systems and an advanced artificial intelligence and data analysis laboratory (part of the Institute of Mental Health);
(2) Preclinc MRI Center, in turn with exceptional equipment (7 and 11.6 Tesla) (part of the Institute of Bio-Nano-Sciences);
(3) Center for Contrast Agents and Therapeutics (part of the Institute of Bio-Nano-Sciences).
Test phase
The INSPIRE platform is currently operating in the testing phase – with the completion of human resource preparation and training, including the finishing of the new building – already attracting several major projects
Univ. Prof. Dr. Daniel David, coordinator of the BrainQ Platform, says that this is now the most advanced biomedical imaging platform between Poland and China (probably even from Eastern Europe) and one of the most complex internationally.
“But the key element is the human resource, which, bringing together top researchers from the country and abroad on such an advanced infrastructure, puts Romania on the map of biomedical research, for now especially in the area of (1) neurosciences (e.g. clinical neurosciences; neurosciences cognitive; mental disorders; mental illnesses associated with aging, etc.) and (2) non-communicable diseases in general (here in close collaboration with the National Competence Center for a Healthy Lifestyle – co-founded by the Romanian Academy and UBBMed – https:/ /healthylifestyle.research.ubbcluj.ro/), initially in psycho-oncology (here in close collaboration with the Center for a Complex and Multidisciplinary Approach to Cancer – co-founded by the Oncology Institute of Cluj-Napoca and UBBMed – https:// oncology.research.ubbcluj.ro/)”, says David.
Univ. Prof. Dr. Simion Simon, director of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences and manager of the initial INSPIRE project, states: “The major advantage of the INSPIRE project was and is the complementarity and scientific strength of the collectives involved, a model validated within the Institute of Interdisciplinary Research in Bio-Nano-Sciences, the project succeeding that, in addition to the collectives that were the basis of its foundation, namely the schools of clinical psychology and magnetic resonance, to be trained also those of molecular biology and biochemistry, respectively of applied informatics in the processing of medical data, all elite scientific fields with significant contributions to the international prestige of UBB.”
The new UBBMed
UBBMed was recently launched, strategically covering three clinical areas (1. mental health; 2. non-communicable diseases – initially mostly cancer; 3. public health), along with other more specific medical conditions (depending on existing projects) and two approaches strategic transversals (1. engineering & medical technology; 2. ethics & psychosociology of medicine), along with other more specific interdisciplinary approaches.
Three academic units have been developed so far within UBBMed to support the strategic areas: (1) BrainQ Platform (https://psychotherapy.psiedu.ubbcluj.ro/center-for-biomedical-imagining-and-integrative-medicine/) – especially in relation to mental health; (2) National Competence Center for Healthy Lifestyle (https://healthylifestyle.research.ubbcluj.ro/) – in relation especially to public health and non-communicable diseases; (3) Multidisciplinary Center for Research and Comprehensive Approach to Cancer – in relation to oncology (https://oncology.research.ubbcluj.ro/).
Also, the INSPIRE Platform (https://inspire.research.ubbcluj.ro/) and the Center for the Prevention of Covid-19 and other Infectious Diseases (https://news.ubbcluj.ro/ubb-infiinteaza-centrul-de-preventie -covid-19-and-other-infectious-diseases-within-the-ubbmed-program/ ) supports even more specific clinical areas.
In total, these developments employ research-development-innovation and scientific infrastructure projects of approximately 25,000,000 euros so far.
