The fully mobile MEG scanner awarded £3.1m of government funding will be used across military training sites.
Scientists will develop the world's first fully mobile brain scanner capable of measuring the effects of blast exposure on military personnel in real time at training sites.
The project funded by the Ministry of Defence will enable researchers at the University of Birmingham and University of Nottingham to study brain function within minutes of blast exposure and watch how personnel recover - potentially transforming how those who serve are protected.
The Ministry of Defence has provided £3.1m to create a magnetoencephalography (MEG) scanner powered by quantum technology. The mobile laboratory will deploy directly to military firing ranges, field hospitals and rehabilitation centres, bringing the technology where it is needed most. This will enable evidence-based decision making to protect service personnel from any potential harmful effects.
Lt Col James Mitchell, Consultant Neurologist at the University of Birmingham and Chief Investigator of the UK Military Blast Study at the UK Defence Medical Services, said: "This new system, a world first, will be transformative for research into the effects of blast exposure on our personnel. For the first time we will be able to build a time-stamped, accurate picture of exactly what happens to the brain in the minutes and hours after blast exposure and track recovery over time.
“Ultimately, we expect this system to help provide robust, scientifically informed policy on safe working practices for blast exposure."
The development of this new scanner addresses a critical defence challenge: repeated exposure to shock waves from high-power weapons might cause subtle changes in brain function, which, over a career, may increase the likelihood of serious brain health conditions.
Safe exposure levels remain unknown because the effects are subtle and fleeting – often disappearing within 24-48 hours. This makes conventional laboratory-based scanners unable to capture the effects of blast exposure.
Minister for Veterans and People, Louise Sandher-Jones MP said: “The safety of our personnel is a top priority. Thanks to technologies like this, even subtle physical changes are now becoming detectable, and we will get crucial insights that simply weren’t possible before, improving decision-making and vital protections for our forces.
“This funding demonstrates our commitment to renewing the nation’s contract with those who serve, but also shows how defence innovation benefits wider society, including those impacted by dementia, epilepsy and concussion.”
The system will enable rapid scans, providing objective assessment of changes in brain function and informing decisions on safe return to duty. By investigating multiple weapon types and tracking recovery patterns, the project will enable research to better understand which personnel face greatest risk and establish evidence-based exposure limits.
Professor Karen Mullinger, from the University of Nottingham and the University of Birmingham, who will co-lead the research programme using the new system, said: "OPM-MEG is a quantum technology which non-invasively measures electrical brain function with unprecedented precision and sensitivity.
"This makes it the perfect technology for characterising the acute effects of blast exposure on neural activity. Our unique system will enable us to understand and quantify the effect of blast from specific weaponry in the hours to days after exposure has happened."
The system will be built by University of Nottingham spin-out company Cerca Magnetics and used by the Defence Medical Services. The development of the quantum-powered scanner for defence science and brain imaging delivers on the Government’s Plan for Change, and has positive implications extending far beyond the military, significantly benefitting research into sports concussion, dementia, and epilepsy.
The technology underpinning the mobile-MEG scanner has been under development for a decade, supported by the UK National Quantum Technologies Programme – an initiative backed by the Department for Science Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and MOD.
For media enquiries, please contact Holly Young, Press Office, University of Birmingham, tel: +44 (0)7815 607 157.
About the University of Birmingham
About BLAST TBI
About the University of Nottingham
Joint Nottingham and Birmingham Professor
Professor Mullinger is an expert in simultaneous EEG-fMRI. She focuses on understanding the sources of the EEG artefacts and how to reduce them at source.
