Prodrive Technologies workshop
15:30 and 16:00
Sustainable gradient amplifiers based on SiC MOSFETs
To reduce scan time and enhance image quality, MRI scanners rely on gradient amplifiers to drive the gradient coils with voltages above 2000V and currents of 1200A. The gradient systems of the latest MRI scanners consume more and more energy. With increasing energy prices and challenging sustainability targets, this energy consumption is becoming a bigger issue for hospitals. Prodrive Technologies is applying its sustainability design methods, to develop a new generation gradient amplifiers based on SiC MOSFETs to reduce the energy consumption of an MRI scanner and to improve the circularity of its components. In this talk Joost explains these methods and the technology behind this innovation.
Joost van Straalen
Joost van Straalen is the principal engineer at Prodrive Technologies for the gradient amplifier portfolio. He started working at Prodrive Technologies in 2005 and worked on numerous projects as electrical engineer and later as system architect. Between 2012 and 2018 Joost worked as a part-time lecturer at Fontys Hogescholen teaching Power Electronics and Control Systems. Since 2014 Joost is working on the development of gradient amplifiers for MRI scanners. Together with a talented team of engineers, he is currently creating a new generation of more sustainable gradient amplifiers.
Communication between clinicians and scientists workshop
15:30 and 16:00
How to speak each other’s language: improve communication between clinicians & scientists
Sometimes clinicians and scientists seem to come from different planets. It is, however, ever so important to communicate effectively for the translation of MRI research to the clinic. As written by Linda Restifo (a clinician-scientist) and Gerald Phelan (a scientist) there is a wide and persistent gap in the abilities of researchers and clinicians to understand and appreciate each other.1 According to them this ‘cultural divide’ comes from not speaking each other’s language, as after years of specialized training both groups have developed their own jargon, and having different values systems & motivational sources. It is essential to meet and learn from each other to improve communication and consequently translation. Offering both perspectives, Anja van der Kolk (a clinician-scientist), and Donnie Cameron (scientist) will guide us in how to understand each other better.
- Restifo LL, Phelan GR. The cultural divide: exploring communication barriers between scientists and clinicians. Dis Model Mech. 2011;4(4):423-426. doi:10.1242/dmm.008177
Anja van der Kolk
Anja is an ambitious clinician-scientist who is passionate about combining clinical questions with technical solutions. Being both researcher and medical doctor, she has the unique position of ‘living in two worlds’: the research world in one hand and the clinical world in the other. She is therefore the chosen person to teach young clinicians & scientists how to come closer together. After obtaining her PhD on intracranial vessel wall MRI at ultrahigh field MRI (7 tesla) in 2014, she continued combining research with clinical duties, first as a Radiology Resident and since August 2020 as a (neuro)radiologist. She is currently working at the Radboudumc.
Donnie Cameron
Donnie is a physicist who specializes in developing and applying new MRI/S methods. He obtained a bachelor’s in physical sciences and a master’s in medical physics received his Doctorate in Medical Imaging in 2013. Donnie has plenty experience working with both clinicians & scientists at several centers such as the National Institute on Aging in the US. He is currently investigating new methods for quantifying skeletal muscle physiology, composition, and fiber architecture in muscular dystrophies and other musculoskeletal conditions at the C.J. Gorter MRI Center at the Leiden University Medical Center and is part of both the annual meeting organizing committee as the board of the ISMRM Benelux.