VIDEO INTERVIEW

THE EXPANSE

The Human Neuroscience Platform at Campus Biotech in Geneva is strengthening and expanding the panel of tools available to the whole scientific and clinical community with the arrival this year of a MEGIN TRIUX™ neo MEG system : https://hnp.fcbg.ch/project/meg-2022/

The MEG finally arrived in Geneva at the very end of 2022.

In this video, Gwénaël Birot, manager of the Human Neuroscience Platform MEEG-BCI facility, and John Fulford, Managing Director at MEGIN OY, share how MEG benefits and compliments other neuroscience modalities and what will be the applications at Campus Biotech.

Watch the full video here:

A first in Switzerland

A major event happened in the fall 2022 when the first ever MEG system was delivered in Switzerland. Geneva welcomed at Campus Biotech a MEGIN TRIUX™ neo – the latest generation MEG system equipped with helium recycling and the latest generation of magnetic sensors.

Installing the MEG revealed itself as a formidable challenge, as the system presents major constraints in terms of space, weight, cooling demands, or energy. It is also incredibly sensitive to vibrations and electromagnetic interferences, indeed a pre-requisite for being able to read the microscopic electromagnetic signals originating from our brains. On October 10th, the MEG was finally delivered on site by the teams of MEGIN and positionned inside a magnetically shielded room in the new platform built inside the MEEG-BCI facility of the Human Neuroscience Platform at Campus Biotech.

MEG & MRI, two complementary modalities

MEG is not trying to replace MRI, but rather complement it. At MEGIN, MEG is seen as a rapid and quantitative brain technique that can detect and measure brain activity in a non-invasive manner. The high temporal resolution of MEG (on the orders of milliseconds) can be combined with the high spatial resolution of MRI (on the orders of millimeters) to provide a precise and complete picture of brain activity in response ot a particular task. MEG and MRI respectively provide information on WHEN and WHERE brain activity arises.

What are the applications of MEG at Campus Biotech?

Neuroscience and its subdomains – whether it is psychology, cognitive neuroscience, or clinical neuroscience – will strongly benefit from the Geneva MEG. One of the major axis of reserach using MEG at Campus Biotech will be focused on language, via a strong collaboration initiated with the National Center of Competence Evolving Language. In addition, the MEG will also be used in combination with brain-computer interfaces (BCI), a specialty of Campus Biotech consisting in decoding in real-time brain signals in order to control another machine/device. Researchers are also interested in using MEG to perform neurofeedback studies, where the brains signals are displayed to the subject in real time in order to learn how to control specific aread of the brain, for instance for mindfulness or meditation purposes, or to better control tinnitus.

The HNP is excited to foster a long-standing collaboration on the development of MEG technology together with MEGIN and the National Center of Competence (NCCR) Evolving Language. Our common objective is to develop further this technology with a strong focus on neuroscience and promote the use of this system in Switzerland and abroad.