Biomedical imaging: seeing through life
Stemming from the great ideas of physics implemented through engineering, biomedical imaging is undergoing unprecedented change. Dating back 30 years, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the latest of the existing imaging techniques (including X-rays, ultrasound scannning, nuclear imaging), all of which were developed in the 20th century. It has revolutionized medical diagnosis and therapeutic approaches. A diagnosis and morphological tool at its inception, modern imaging now helps monitor and adapt treatments on a case-by-case basis, relying on functional information that requires dynamic and high-precision tools. A multidisciplinary technique, biomedical imaging is at the interface between several disciplines: chemistry for tracers, biology for determining the nature of signals to be extracted, mathematics for setting up integrative biological models, social sciences and the humanities for individual and societal issues.
