DiaPol - Revolutionizing cancer diagnostics using diamond

Fraunhofer IAF is coordinating the joint project »DiaPol«. The project’s goals include the development of an innovative diamond polarizer to improve the resolution of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
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Fraunhofer IAF is coordinating the joint project »DiaPol«. The project’s goals include the development of an innovative diamond polarizer to improve the resolution of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Cancer is one of the most frequent causes of death worldwide. Various imaging techniques are currently used for diagnosis and therapy assessment.  The MRI method is particularly gentle on the patient because it does not use chemicals or radioactive substances that are harmful to humans. In the DiaPol project, the partners use new developments in quantum physics to significantly increase the efficiency of the MRI method. A novel MRI method will be equipped with a polarizer made of nanodiamonds. The Fraunhofer IAF is consortium coordinator of the joint project. Together with the company NVision Imaging Technologies, the University of Ulm, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and ICDAT, Fraunhofer IAF will develop novel methods to optimize diamonds with a large number of nitrogen defect centers for optimal polarization.

 

PROJECT TITLE

DiaPol − Revolutionizing Cancer Diagnostics with Diamond Quantum Technologies

 

PROJECT DURATION

2018 − 2021

FUNDING SOURCE

Federal Ministry of Education and Research

OBJECTIVES

  • Production and development of diamond plates with nitrogen defect centers for hyperpolarization
  • Development of a diamond-based polarizer for preclinical experiments

 

Further Information

 

 

Press release

Detecting tumor tissue more precisely and faster using diamond