Imaging without Borders (IMAGINE) summer school is a hybrid training initiative of the Consortium for Advancement of MRI Education and Research in Africa (CAMERA). The summer school is designed to provide skills training to biomedical engineers and MR imaging personnel working in MRI hardware and scanner maintenance in Low- and Middle-income countries (LMICs) in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia or clinicians and researchers interested in low-field and accessible imaging. IMAGINE implements RAD-AID’s Teach-Try-Use strategy, applied in CAMERA’s SPARK AI training program, to rapidly provide MR hardware and engineering competencies in resource-limited settings. In keeping with CAMERA’s training model, IMAGINE will use a combination of case-based and hands-on learning approaches to train a team of engineers, physicists, clinicians, and researchers who will work together as a network to grow their skills and collectively train others. IMAGINE is focused on training next-generation imaging innovators on how to use design thinking strategies and user-centered problem-solving skills to create low-cost open-source tools that will sustainably democratize diagnostic imaging and make it readily accessible to all.
Hardware and firmware developed for the IMAGINE field mapping robot are available here:
➡️ https://github.com/SipanHovsep/Field_mapper_robot
Code to the Magnet design Genetic Algorithm developed and used during IMAGINE can be accessed here:
➡️ https://github.com/tmachtelinckx/halbacharray-GA
The files needed for the magnet configuration used for the scanner build in the IMAGINE Summer School are in the Halbach Array folder. These files are meant to be opened in Autodesk Inventor or Fusion360. There are also .stp files for the individual rings so you can see how it would print.
.stp files to print the RF Coil holder and description of all the necessary parameters are provided in the RF Coil folder.
The switch used is the passive switch from the Open Source Imaging Initiative.
➡️ MaRCoS MRI
➡️ MaRGE: A graphical environment for MaRCoS
[1] Anazodo, Udunna C et al. “A framework for advancing sustainable magnetic resonance imaging access in Africa.” NMR in biomedicine vol. 36,3 (2023): e4846. doi:10.1002/nbm.4846
[2] Murali, Sanjana et al. “Bringing MRI to low- and middle-income countries: Directions, challenges and potential solutions.” NMR in biomedicine vol. 37,7 (2024): e4992. doi:10.1002/nbm.4992
[3] Negnevitsky, V., Vives-gilabert, Y., Algarín, J. M., Craven-Brightman, L., Pellicer-guridi, R., O'Reilly, T., Stockmann, J. P., Webb, A., Alonso, J., & Menküc, B. (2023). MaRCoS, an open-source electronic control system for low-field MRI. Journal of Magnetic Resonance, 350, 107424. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmr.2023.107424
[4] Algarín, J. M., Guallart-Naval, T., Borreguero, J., Galve, F., & Alonso, J. (2024). MaRGE: A graphical environment for MaRCoS. Journal of Magnetic Resonance, 361, 107662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmr.2024.107662