2 Toronto teens developing innovative MRI techniques
Toronto teens Ben Nashman and Sunrose Billing, who together are the co-founders of the medical imaging company Synex Medical, are determined to one day deliver higher quality images than a standard MRI through a non-invasive approach.
According to a CBC News report, the 17-year-old high school students from Upper Canada College and University of Toronto Schools learned all they know about medical imaging by participating in the Knowledge Society, which prepares 13- to 17-year-olds to be leaders in technology.
Ultimately, goals for their ring-sized non-invasive magnetic resonance device includes successfully detecting glucose, cholesterol or drug levels and producing images that will help diagnose degenerative diseases of the brain without penetrating the skin.
Nashman and Billing's patented imaging approach detects other ions in the body, according to the report, instead of detecting signals from positively charged hydrogen ions in water and fat like a typical MRI.
"The bare bones of it is we have a way of using nuclear magnetic resonance to eventually put a device on your body," Nashman said. "The main thing here that hasn't been done before is that it's noninvasive and it's very small."
A recent graduate from Dominican University (IL) with a bachelor’s in journalism, Melissa joined TriMed’s Chicago team in 2017 covering all aspects of health imaging. She’s a fan of singing and playing guitar, elephants, a good cup of tea, and her golden retriever Cooper.