{"id":3221,"date":"2025-12-22T21:28:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T02:28:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/xinzhang-lab\/?page_id=3221"},"modified":"2026-02-18T20:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:26:11","slug":"making-mri-more-globally-accessible-how-metamaterials-offer-affordable-high-impact-solutions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/xinzhang-lab\/news\/selected-media-quotes\/making-mri-more-globally-accessible-how-metamaterials-offer-affordable-high-impact-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"<style>\ndetails > summary::-webkit-details-marker{ display:none !important; }\ndetails > summary::marker{ content:\"\" !important; }<\/p>\n<p>details > summary{\n  list-style:none !important;\n  cursor:pointer !important;<\/p>\n<p>  display:grid !important;\n  grid-template-columns: 1.15em 1fr !important;\n  column-gap: 0.75em !important;<\/p>\n<p>  align-items:start !important;\n  width:100% !important;\n  line-height:1.45 !important;<\/p>\n<p>  word-break: normal !important;\n  overflow-wrap: normal !important;\n  white-space: normal !important;\n  hyphens: none !important;\n}<\/p>\n<p>details > summary .xz-pm{\n  grid-column:1 !important;\n  font-weight:900 !important;\n  line-height:1 !important;\n  text-align:center !important;\n  color:#111 !important;\n  opacity:0.85 !important;\n  margin-top:0.10em !important;<\/p>\n<p>  padding-right: 0.6em !important;\n}<\/p>\n<p>details > summary .xz-sumtext{\n  grid-column:2 !important;<\/p>\n<p>  display:block !important;\n  min-width:0 !important;<\/p>\n<p>  word-break: normal !important;\n  overflow-wrap: break-word !important; \n  white-space: normal !important;\n}<\/p>\n<p>@media (max-width:640px){\n  details > summary{\n    grid-template-columns: 1.0em 1fr !important;\n    column-gap: 0.5em !important;\n  }\n  details > summary .xz-pm{ margin-top:0.14em !important; }\n}\n<\/style>\n<p><script>\r\ndocument.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function () {\r\n  document.querySelectorAll('details').forEach(function (d) {\r\n    var s = d.querySelector(':scope > summary');\r\n    if (!s) return;\r\n\r\n    \/\/ Remove whitespace-only text nodes inside summary\r\n    Array.from(s.childNodes).forEach(function(n){\r\n      if (n.nodeType === 3 && !n.textContent.trim()) s.removeChild(n);\r\n    });\r\n\r\n    \/\/ Add +\/- if missing\r\n    var pm = s.querySelector(':scope > .xz-pm');\r\n    if (!pm) {\r\n      pm = document.createElement('span');\r\n      pm.className = 'xz-pm';\r\n      pm.setAttribute('aria-hidden', 'true');\r\n      s.insertBefore(pm, s.firstChild);\r\n    }\r\n\r\n    \/\/ Wrap everything else into a single title span\r\n    var wrap = s.querySelector(':scope > .xz-sumtext');\r\n    if (!wrap) {\r\n      wrap = document.createElement('span');\r\n      wrap.className = 'xz-sumtext';\r\n\r\n      Array.from(s.childNodes).forEach(function (node) {\r\n        if (node === pm) return;\r\n        wrap.appendChild(node);\r\n      });\r\n\r\n      s.appendChild(wrap);\r\n    }\r\n\r\n    \/\/ \u2705 Initial state (includes a non-breaking space)\r\n    pm.textContent = d.hasAttribute('open') ? '\u2212\\u00A0' : '+\\u00A0';\r\n\r\n    \/\/ \u2705 Update on toggle\r\n    d.addEventListener('toggle', function () {\r\n      pm.textContent = d.hasAttribute('open') ? '\u2212\\u00A0' : '+\\u00A0';\r\n    });\r\n  });\r\n});\r\n<\/script><\/p>\n<style>\ndetails > summary{\n  display: block !important;        \n  list-style: none !important;\n  -webkit-appearance: none !important;\n  appearance: none !important;\n}<\/p>\n<p>details > summary::-webkit-details-marker{\n  display: none !important;\n}<\/p>\n<p>details > summary::marker{\n  content: \"\" !important;\n  display: none !important;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div style=\"line-height:0; margin:-12px 0 0 0; padding:0;\">\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0 4px 0; font-style:italic; line-height:1.4;\">\n  Our research has been featured by hundreds of international media and news outlets, as well as professional societies and industry communication platforms.\n  <\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<details open style=\"display: block; margin: 16px 0; padding: 12px 14px; border-left: 6px solid #e0e0e0; background: #fafafa;\">\n<summary style=\"cursor: pointer; font-weight: 600;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2024\/making-mri-more-globally-accessible\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Making MRI More Globally Accessible: How Metamaterials Offer Affordable, High-Impact Solutions<\/a><\/summary>\n<div style=\"height:3px; background:linear-gradient(90deg,#f58529,#dd2a7b,#8134af,#515bd4);\"><\/div>\n<table style=\"width: 100%; border-collapse: collapse; margin: 8px 0 0 0; font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.6;\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 6px 6px 0; border-bottom: 1px solid #e0e0e0;\">\n<div class=\"media-card\" style=\"padding: 8px; margin: 2px 0; background: #F0F8FF; border-left: 5px solid #6ea8fe; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0 16px 36px rgba(0,0,0,0.14), 0 6px 14px rgba(0,0,0,0.08), 0 10px 26px rgba(110,168,254,0.18);\">By allowing clinicians to look noninvasively inside the human body, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become a mainstay of injury and disease detection and treatment planning and monitoring. But not everyone has benefited equally: the most powerful modern MRI tech is typically bulky, rigid, and expensive, limiting its use and impact in low-resource and remote areas.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;At Boston University, engineer Xin Zhang is leading a team that&rsquo;s working to democratize access to MRI, developing innovation-infused devices that can make scans faster, cheaper, and more accurate. To do it, they&rsquo;ve turned to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2019\/magnetic-metamaterial-mri\/\">metamaterials<\/a>&mdash;precisely engineered structures that use surprisingly ordinary building blocks, such as copper, fabric, and plastic, to manipulate electromagnetic waves and radio frequencies.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Their work has led to a string of breakthrough devices that can sharpen and speed up MRI imaging of knees, ankles, spines, and more. Each new metamaterials tool and method&mdash;from resonators that manipulate magnetic fields to wearable, jewelry&mdash;like bracelets that cut background noise&mdash;is capable of dramatically boosting the power of MRI. The researchers have reported their findings in a series of recent journal articles.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;How can we improve MRI technology to enable clear imaging that&rsquo;s also affordable, accessible, and tolerable for patients?&rdquo; says Zhang, a BU College of Engineering Distinguished Professor of Engineering. &ldquo;This is a practical problem I&rsquo;ve been interested in for a long time.&rdquo;<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 6px 6px 0; border-bottom: 1px solid #e0e0e0;\">\n<div class=\"media-card\" style=\"padding: 8px; margin: 2px 0; background: #F5FFFA; border-left: 5px solid #34c38f; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0 16px 36px rgba(0,0,0,0.14), 0 6px 14px rgba(0,0,0,0.08), 0 10px 26px rgba(52,195,143,0.16);\"><strong>Manipulating Magnetic Fields<\/strong><br \/>\nZhang, who has studied the use of metamaterials in a diverse range of fields, from optical applications to noise reduction, began focusing on their potential to improve medical imaging in 2016. Within a few years, she and her team had developed what she calls an &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2019\/making-mri-scans-faster\/\">intelligent metamaterial<\/a>&rdquo; to speed up scans, as well as a tunable helmet that could channel an MRI machine&rsquo;s magnetic field to deliver clearer images of the brain and drastically cut scanning time.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In one of the latest papers, published in Advanced Science, they build on that work with computationally designed <a href=\"https:\/\/advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1002\/advs.202400261\">wearable metamaterials that can be fitted to any part of the body<\/a>&mdash;even irregularly shaped areas like the elbow or knee. In the article, the researchers show examples of how the metamaterials could be used to improve scans of the ankle (picture a brace of connected discs surrounding the joint). Because they &ldquo;readily conform to a patient&rsquo;s knee, ankle, head, or any part of the body in need of imaging\u2026while ensuring an optimal resonance frequency,&rdquo; the researchers write, the new tech could facilitate the widespread adoption of metamaterials in clinical MRI applications.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In their earlier work, the team was able to manually design the helmet to fit over the human head. But in the latest study, says Ke Wu (ENG&rsquo;23), first author of the paper and a postdoctoral fellow in Zhang&rsquo;s lab, &ldquo;we recognized that free-form deployable metamaterials fitted to other parts of the body would require computational aid.&rdquo;<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Wu developed algorithms and programs capable of analyzing a 3D scan of a part of the body and, within less than a second, calculating the geometry and arrangement of helical resonators&mdash;structures made of plastic and thin copper coils&mdash;that can manipulate the magnetic field of MRI. Critically, these arrays of coils help to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of MRI of the target area, reducing the fuzziness of imaging that&rsquo;s caused when background electromagnetic signals seep into view.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Wu&rsquo;s computational programs use the principles of circle packing&mdash;a geometric approach to squeezing circles together without any of them overlapping&mdash;to determine the best array and architecture for arranging the magnetic coils. They can also be tuned to resonate with a particular radio frequency, while the free-form shapes can be integrated into comfortable, wearable cuffs.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 6px 6px 6px 0; border-bottom: 1px solid #e0e0e0;\">\n<div class=\"media-card\" style=\"padding: 8px; margin: 2px 0; background: #FFFAF0; border-left: 5px solid #f7b84b; border-radius: 10px; box-shadow: 0 16px 36px rgba(0,0,0,0.14), 0 6px 14px rgba(0,0,0,0.08), 0 10px 26px rgba(247,184,75,0.16);\"><strong>Boosting MRI with Low-Cost Materials<\/strong><br \/>\nIn related work published in an Advanced Materials paper, Zhang&rsquo;s team demonstrated an alternative <a href=\"https:\/\/advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1002\/adma.202313692\">wearable metamaterial design for MRI that replaces copper and plastic coils with loops made from coaxial cables<\/a>&mdash;the same cables used to bring you the internet. Coaxial cables are designed to transmit and shield high-frequency electrical signals from their surroundings, preventing unintended loss of signal. &ldquo;This material has inherent advantages because it is lightweight, flexible, and restricts the electrical field to exactly where you want it,&rdquo; says Xia Zhu (ENG&rsquo;26), first author of the paper and a graduate student in Zhang&rsquo;s lab.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Zhu created fabric-based wearable metamaterials&mdash;each using only about $50 of supplies&mdash;designed to bring loops of coaxial cables as close as possible to the part of the body undergoing a scan. In the paper, the team illustrates a potential knee scan: a pad of lightweight fabric, covered with a handful of coils, bending to the curve of the patient&rsquo;s leg as they lie in the MRI machine. The researchers found it achieved &ldquo;substantial electric field attenuation in its proximity, thereby minimizing electric field exposure to the imaging subject.&rdquo;<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Pushing even further, the team sought to develop an entirely wireless, formfitting wearable metamaterial that could boost SNR and passively tune and amplify the MRI signal. &ldquo;To create a design this simple and elegant, we had to solve several problems first&rdquo; says Zhang, who&rsquo;s affiliated with the BU Photonics Center, which provided technical assistance for much of the latest research.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;In a paper published in Science Advances with their longtime collaborator Stephan W. Anderson, a BU Chobanian &amp; Avedisian School of Medicine professor of radiology, Zhang&rsquo;s team demonstrated that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/sciadv.adn5195\">coaxial cables can be arranged into freestanding cuffs without additional support materials<\/a>&mdash;no fabric needed. They prototyped rings and cuffs sized to enhance MRI scans of the spine, the wrist, and a single finger&mdash;and in every experiment proved their seemingly simple design could amplify SNR and enable crisp MRI. The looped and ringed cables look like modern art or custom jewelry.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&ldquo;Our recent designs demonstrate several strategies for using metamaterials to boost MRI using low-cost materials,&rdquo; Zhang says, &ldquo;which we hope will be translated into technologies that allow more patients around the world to benefit from MRI.&rdquo;<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/details>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Our research has been featured by hundreds of international media and news outlets, as well as professional societies and industry communication platforms. Making MRI More Globally Accessible: How Metamaterials Offer Affordable, High-Impact Solutions By allowing clinicians to look noninvasively inside the human body, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become a mainstay of injury and disease [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1316,"featured_media":0,"parent":1096,"menu_order":7,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/xinzhang-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3221"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/xinzhang-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/xinzhang-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/xinzhang-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1316"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/xinzhang-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3221"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/xinzhang-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3221\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9947,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/xinzhang-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3221\/revisions\/9947"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/xinzhang-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/xinzhang-lab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}