The research done by the Institute is organized along two lines :

• A methodological axis including: the physics of MRI, the optimization of data acquisition and data processing for Positron Emission Tomography (PET), the image processing and the development of associated software architectures as well as the development of tracers for PET Imaging and for multimodality PET - MRI - optical imaging.
• preclinical and clinical research in the field of neuroscience, metabolic disease, heart disease, and cancers.

The methodological and technological line of research includes:

• Methodological/instrumental developments for ultra-high magnetic field MRI (novel T2* contrast acquisitions for UHF MRI, RF parallel transmission and, novel generation of coil antennas, hyperpolarized MRI)
• The development of PET image reconstruction algorithms
• Multi-modalities image processing tools and the associated computer architectures incorporated in brainVisa software
• Analysis of data of several different kinds (biological, genetic and imaging data), data from multiple spatial scales and development of the proper computer architectures
• Development and/or evaluation of new tracers for PET, MRI, and optical Imaging
• Development of imaging protocols for early disease diagnosis and treatment

The Preclinical and Clinical applications line of research includes :

• The investigation of high level human cognitive functions using neuropsychology and neuroimaging approaches in children and adults during the development and during the normal and pathological ageing
• The contribution of the imaging in the understanding of biological mechanisms associated to the onset and the development of various human diseases, as neurodegenerative diseases or some cancers.
• The development of animal models, in rodents and in non-human primates, miming neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson's disease, Huntington’s disease, and Alzheimer’s disease) allows validating disease biomarkers and therapeutic protocols with the aim of their development in human
• The development of Imaging protocols for early diagnosis and therapeutic efficacy evaluation.

Another field of major development is the field of the brain development and the mechanisms of learning (reading, calcul, …) The imaging coupled with the neuropsychology and with the genetic information allows to better identify the brain regions and their connections involved in its high level brain functions and the strategies of adaptation: these results can contribute to the definition of new methods of learning. The medical imaging allowed showing that some psychiatric affections of the child and the teenager as the autism or the schizophrenia came along with anatomical changes.

 Fields of application in the human diseases concern above all the neurology (epilepsy of the child and the adult, the Parkinson's disease, the Alzheimer's disease, the multiple sclerosis, the brain vascular accidents, the brain tumors), the psychiatry (bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, addictions), the cardiology, the cancers and the metabolic diseases such as the diabetes.