Barcelona hosted the 5th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Iberian Chapter on 3 and 4 July, organised this year in collaboration with the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC). The event brought together almost one hundred professionals from the field of magnetic resonance imaging to discuss the latest scientific, clinical, and computational advances.
The Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) hosted the 5th Annual Meeting of the ISMRM Iberian Chapter on 3 and 4 July in Barcelona. Organised jointly by IBEC and the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine Iberian Chapter (ISMRM Iberian Chapter), this meeting brought together almost a hundred international experts in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to discuss the latest scientific, clinical, and computational advances in the field.
Silvia de Santis, from the Institute of Neurosciences of Alicante, and Irene Marco-Rius, principal investigator of IBEC’s Molecular Imaging for Precision Medicine group and member of the organising committee, opened the event. In the opening session, Marco-Rius emphasised that: “The Iberian magnetic resonance community continues to grow, and this meeting is a unique opportunity to connect science, technology and clinical practice and generate synergies that promote knowledge and its application in health.”
The Iberian magnetic resonance community continues to grow, and this meeting is a unique opportunity to connect science, technology and clinical practice and generate synergies that promote knowledge and its application in health.
Irene Marco-Rius
The two-day event featured a high-level scientific programme comprising plenary lectures, oral and poster presentations, practical workshops, industrial presentations and roundtable discussions.
Keynote speakers included Meritxell Bach (CIBM Centre for Biomedical Imaging, Switzerland), who discussed the importance of reliable artificial intelligence in brain image analysis; Rui Vasco Simões (Institute for Health Research and Innovation, University of Porto, Portugal), who presented a study on cancer metabolism using multinuclear imaging; and André F. Martins (Tübingen University Hospital, Germany), who presented the latest advances in preclinical molecular imaging.
IBEC also had an active presence in the scientific programme through David Gómez Cabeza, a researcher in Marco-Rius’ group and a member of the organising committee. He presented his work on hyperpolarisation spectroscopy in organ-on-a-chip systems. The day before the conference, he also moderated a theoretical workshop on MRI, followed by a practical session on IBEC’s magnetic resonance scanner.
The conference placed special emphasis on promoting knowledge exchange between researchers, clinicians, and industry representatives. There were spaces dedicated to networking, showcasing emerging technologies, and discussing strategies to accelerate the clinical translation of advanced imaging techniques.
The day concluded with a roundtable discussion moderated by Marco-Rius and de Santis, in which the three keynote speakers explored the transfer of advanced magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy to clinical settings.
