Keynotes 2026
Hui Hui is a Professor of biomedical engineering at the Beijing Key Laboratory of Molecular Imaging Technology Research and Translation, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China. He received his Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Franche-Comté, Besançon, France, in 2013. His research focuses on developing multimodal molecular imaging techniques, especially for magnetic particle imaging, and artificial intelligence in medical image processing. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Young Scholars of Beijing Natural Science Foundation, and the outstanding member of the Youth Innovation Promotion Association, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is currently serving as the deputy secretary general of Medical Imaging and Equipment Committee of China Graphics Society.
Development of MPI scanners and biomedical applications
This talk will highlight the developmental roadmap of Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) from fundamental research to clinical translation in China. Key technological advancements include a systematic development from small-animal to non-human primate scale scanners, achieving superior performance with high sensitivity, high resolution, and a large field of view. The integration of artificial intelligent strategies—such as hardware-informed pre-training, gradient-pulse encoding, and constrained reconstruction—has significantly enhanced imaging speed, quantitative accuracy, and signal-to-noise ratio. We also establish an open platform for MPI software and algorithm development. In biomedical applications, MPI demonstrates exceptional utilities in tumor detection, cell tracking, and cardiovascular disease visualization. This highly sensitive capability positions MPI as a powerful tool for in vivo visualization and monitoring of disease progression at the molecular level.
Tobias Knopp received the Diploma degree in computer science and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Lübeck, Germany, in 2007 and 2010, respectively. He is a Professor of Biomedical Imaging with a joint appointment at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). Additionally, he heads the Business Channel Diagnostics at the Fraunhofer IMTE. As a core contributor to the field of Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI), he authored the first comprehensive textbook on the subject and led the development of the first human-scale MPI head scanner. Beyond MPI, his current research focuses on the intersection of physics and computation, where he is establishing magneto-mechanical resonators as a new tracking and sensing platform.
Magneto-Mechanical Resonators: A New Tracking and Sensing Platform Inspired by MPI
This talk introduces Magneto-Mechanical Resonators (MMRs), a novel tracking and sensing platform originating from the MPI inventor. While departing from classical tracer-based imaging, MMR technology is deeply rooted in the physical principles of induction, magnetic field excitation, and complex pulse sequences. We present the fundamental physics of these resonators and discuss the specialized instrumentation required for high-precision signal acquisition. A central focus is placed on the signal processing pipeline and the reconstruction challenges, where we utilize sensitivity encoding—relying on the spatial characteristics of the coil setup rather than classical magnetic field gradients. A key advantage of the MMR platform is its focus on passive, wireless, and highly miniaturizable sensors that operate at very low field strengths with minimal technical overhead. Finally, we discuss the potential of this technology for future biomedical applications, where its robustness and low complexity could enable new ways of precise localization and sensing. By leveraging tailored reconstruction and signal processing techniques, we establish an independent and highly efficient platform for precise wireless tracking based on magneto-mechanical resonance.
Jungwon Yoon received his Ph.D. degree in mechatronics from the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju, South Korea, in 2005. From 2010 to 2011, he was a Visiting Fellow in the Functional and Applied Biomechanics Section, Rehabilitation Medicine Department, Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA. He also worked as a Senior Researcher at the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI), Daejeon, South Korea, in 2005. From 2005 to 2017, he served as a Professor in the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, South Korea. In 2017, he joined the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), where he is currently a Professor in the department of AI convergence. Since 2019, he has been the Director of the Research Center for Nanorobotics in Brain (RCNB) at GIST. He is also the principal project director of several research projects supported by the South Korean government in the fields of brain stimulation, drug delivery, and hyperthermia using nanorobotics. His current research interests include magnetic particle imaging and nanorobotics. He has authored or coauthored more than 200 peer-reviewed international journal and conference articles. Dr. Yoon is an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Robotics and AI and has served as a Technical Editor for IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.
Magnetic Particle Imaging-Guided Targeted Therapy for Brain Disorders
Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are a promising candidate for use as carriers in targeted drug delivery systems because they can function at both the cellular and molecular levels. Electromagnetic sensing and guidance schemes using magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) can enable a nanotechnology-based drug delivery approach to be feasible for targeted therapies for brain diseases such as brain cancer, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease. Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a fast and sensitive imaging modality used to measure the spatial distribution of MNPs. MPI systems offer spatial resolutions on the millimeter scale and high temporal resolutions, fulfilling the requirements for cardiovascular, neurological, and peripheral vascular applications. An electromagnetic navigation scheme using MPI can deliver magnetic nanoparticles to efficiently targeted regions of the brain with feedback information while minimizing particle aggregation and allowing passage through the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This talk will demonstrate how the MPI scheme can be combined with the electromagnetic guidance scheme. The proposed MPI-based targeting approaches can finally be adapted to medical robotic platforms for brain drug targeting, brain stimulation, and brain hyperthermia.
Tuo Shao is a Professor at the Medical College of Soochow University, specializing in Immunology and Infectious Diseases. He received his Ph.D. degree in 2017 from the School of Medicine at the University of Louisville. He subsequently completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) from 2017 to 2021, and served as an Instructor at Harvard Medical School and MGH from 2022 to 2023. His research focuses on developing and translating next-generation cell therapies, with a particular emphasis on magnetic particle imaging (MPI)-based cell tracking to enable quantitative, longitudinal, and mechanism-driven evaluation of therapeutic cell fate and efficacy in vivo. Dr. Shao is a recipient of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) K01 Career Development Award.
A Translational MPI Platform for Quantitative Cell Tracking in Regenerative Medicine and Immunotherapy
Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) is an emerging quantitative imaging modality with high sensitivity, zero tissue background, and excellent linearity for detecting superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO) tracers. These features make MPI uniquely suited to address the “black box” of cell therapy—where therapeutic cells go, how long they persist, and how many remain at target sites after delivery. This talk will highlight recent advances in MPI-enabled tracking of multiple therapeutic cell platforms, including mesenchymal stromal/stem cells (MSCs), CAR-engineered macrophages (CAR-M), and transplanted neurons. We will also present the first clinical translation of MPI for MSC tracking, demonstrating longitudinal, compartment-resolved quantification of cell retention and redistribution in vivo. Collectively, MPI-based cell tracking provides PK-like exposure metrics that can be linked to therapeutic outcomes and used to optimize dose, delivery route, and treatment regimen for next-generation cell therapies.