What hopes does Iseult, the most powerful French MRI in the world, raise?

It was in France that we were able to discover images of the human brain of unparalleled precision in 2024, thanks to Iseult, the most powerful MRI in the world. One of the designers, Nicolas Boulant, explains what this feat could lead to.

On April 2, 2024, a global event was held at the Commissariat à l’énergie atomique (CEA) in Paris-Saclay. Images of a human brain of unparalleled precision to date were unveiled. A technical feat achieved thanks to a device called “Iseult”, the most powerful MRI in the world. Nicolas Boulant, research director at the CEA, worked on its design: “With these imageshe describes, We can see some pretty amazing details that tell us about anatomical details, like veins or cortical layers, that are unreachable at lower magnetic fields.”

The images produced by Iseult are ten times more precise than those obtained with a conventional MRI, thanks to the basic element of any MRI: the magnet that produces a magnetic field. Iseult’s extraordinary magnet weighs 132 tons and, while a hospital MRI creates a magnetic field of 1.5 to 3 Tesla, Iseult’s reaches 11.7 Tesla.

More than 20 years of research and development were needed to develop Iseult, a unique device in the world, which brought together a team of 200 people. The results of the first protocol conducted with volunteers are promising. They were praised by President Emmanuel Macron during the inauguration in April, a great moment of pride for Nicolas Boulant: “It was really the culmination of all these years of sweating and tears to achieve this distant goal, which was to put the first people in this MRI to take these images.”

This scientific feat is a “bet” on the future, explains the scientist: “We are explorershe believes, We have developed a microscope, now we will see what we can find. We can draw a parallel with super-powerful telescopes.”

“Of course we have ideas, but here we hope to better understand certain neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s disease or multiple sclerosis.”

Nicolas Boulant, research director at the CEA

to franceinfo

Scientists hope to test their research hypotheses by exploring the neurons in action and the cortical layers in more detail, “to better understand their behavior and their role”.

The device will remain at the CEA for the time being and is not yet a prototype with a view to its multiplication towards the general public. “It does not aim to make diagnoses”Nicolas Boulant specifies, but “to learn how the brain works, whether healthy or pathological”. It is then this knowledge which may perhaps help doctors in their diagnoses and treatments. “We are far from understanding everything, for example on Parkinson’s disease, we can see manifestations of this pathology in current images, but often too late. Having a more powerful tool will perhaps allow us to detect and detect, to help us understand the evolution or better monitor the effect of certain drugs.”

To make the MRI even more effective, other tests will be carried out on other volunteers soon.