Research project 'Advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques for the quantitative assessment of inflammation and fibrosis as diagnostic and follow-up markers' is coordinated by ITMO University and led by Dr. David Bendahan from the Center for Magnetic Resonance in Biology and Medicine (CRMBM), Aix Marseille University, France. This interdisciplinary project is laureate of the 8th International scientific cooperation 'Mega-grants' program and is funded for three years from the 1st of June, 2021. The 'Mega-grants' program is one of the most competitive calls in the Russian Federation. The success rate of this call is 9%. Only 43 projects have been selected from a total of 465 applications. 
 
The establishment of the qMRI-MA (Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Medical Applications) research laboratory will ensure the development of expertise in the field of quantitative imaging both from the points of view of acquisition and post-processing to address clinical issues raised by the clinicians of the research team. Inflammation and fibrosis have been identified as two significant histological changes that could be used for diagnosis and follow-up in a wide variety of pathologies (e.g., myocarditis, sarcoidosis, post-ischemic inflammatory processes, rheumatoid arthritis, spondyloarthropathy, and liver iron overload). On that basis, the core of this project is the development of dedicated imaging and data processing methods to quantify and monitor these two types of histological changes.
 
The final aim is to offer clinicians a novel and universal set of methods that provide unique information relevant to various diseases with an expected impact on diagnosis and follow-up and eventually on patient care, quality of life, and healthcare efficiency and costs.