Parts of GMI's development were funded by the NIH's Biomedical Imaging Institute (NIBIB) in the USA, and others by the Research Council of Norway. The research team includes experts from several key institutions in the United States, notably: Dr. Orhan Nalcioglu (University of California, Irvine), who specializes in the physics of MRI systems, and Dr. Benjamin M.W. Tsui (Johns Hopkins University Medical Center), who specializes in the development of novel image reconstruction techniques.

Gamma Medica-Ideas is currently targeting the pre-clinical market for introduction of its first product employing the new technology. The company believes that the pre-clinical setting is a perfect environment to challenge new imaging systems to develop optimized performance and to prove out new technologies before launching large-scale clinical applications. As such it aims to expand its market-leading range of products for pre-clinical imaging with the addition of the MRI-SPECT product in 2010. In the future, GM-I plans to target specific clinical applications of the technology such as breast cancer imaging; neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's; and atherosclerotic plaque in cardiovascular disease, areas where it believes the technology will make a large impact.

SOURCE: Gamma Medica-Ideas, Inc.