By Amanda Pedersen

GE Healthcare and Imeka want to expand the capabilities of MRI for brain imaging and advance precision medicine for brain health.

Based in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada, Imeka has developed a neuroimaging technology with broad applicability in research and clinical care settings across the spectrum of central nervous system (CNS) diseases and disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, and traumatic brain injury. The company’s ANIE biomarker platform combines advanced, non-invasive white matter imaging with artificial intelligence (AI) to identify and quantify axonal loss, neuroinflammation, and demyelination.

It has traditionally been challenging for healthcare professionals to leverage MRI to see deep inside the internal structures of the brain and obtain detailed images of white matter, the wiring of the brain. So, Chicago, IL-based GE Healthcare plans to integrate Imeka’s technology into the BrainWave advanced diffusion processing package to allow researchers and clinicians to analyze diffusion MRI signals in the brain in greater detail.

GE Healthcare partners with Germantown, MD-based Medical Numerics to offer BrainWave, an analysis and visualization tool for functional brain image data. BrainWave is designed to enable processing, analysis, 3D rendering, and display results from blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) MRI and diffusion tractography scans. By leveraging Imeka’s advanced brain imaging processing technology within BrainWave, researchers and clinicians will be able to quickly obtain highly localized views of white matter, which can yield valuable insights into the impact of CNS diseases and disorders.

 “Imeka has experienced rapid momentum over the past several months, including customer and company growth and collaborations with industry innovators like GE Healthcare,” said Imeka’s CEO, Jean-René Bélanger. “Our Advanced Neuro Imaging Endpoints (ANIE) biomarker platform is helping scientists, researchers, and clinicians across pharma, life sciences, and healthcare organizations accelerate the search for and development of cures for brain diseases. We are excited to partner with GE Healthcare, a pioneer in medical imaging, to expand into additional markets and help clinicians improve patient outcomes.”