​​​​​​Talk from Nicolas Boulant, NeuroSpin (BAOBAB Joint research unit,METRIC lab)​​

Short abstract:​​

The PREMS first protocol undertaken at 11.7T on the Iseult scanner at NeuroSpin was a success. Occuring between April 2023 and Feb 2024,spectacular anatomical images could thereby be obtained thanks to the NeuroSpin team's effort. Importantly also, no adverse effects could be found on the 20 volunteers exposed to the 11.7T magnetic field. The published results however emphasized the positive aspect of the exams and did not provide a full picture of the challenges encountered. Head motion, field oscillations, incomplete RF pulse inversions etc were indeed common and also led to bad results. Last minute, non-optimized, fMRI experiments were furthermore run at the end of PREMS to attempt seeing first neural resting-state activations on Iseult. But the results were disastrous and led to a new puzzle to solve. Facing regulatory issues to continue scanning in vivo, in the meantime the team therefore undertook the troubleshooting of the fMRI experiments. The period again was educating and gave birth to a series of guidelines in fMRI protocols. A new authorization to scan in vivo (protocol Tristan) was finally granted in March 2025, which led to new in vivo scans and to the validation of the performance of the scanner in fMRI, provided some precautions are taken. New tools related to motion correction, RF pulse designs, a new RF coil etc to complete further the portfolio of sequences offered on Iseult could be tested successfully. This talk will present the current status of the Iseult 11.7T scanner: what we have learnt, what we can and cannot do, and ongoing developments and challenges.