Advances in Multichannel SERF OPM-MEG Systems: From Technology Development to Clinical Applications

The CRC 1261 Colloquium is pleased to welcome two distinguished experts for this special event, which will feature contributions from both speakers within the available session time.

Spin-exchange relaxation-free (SERF) optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) are transforming the field of non-invasive neuroimaging. By enabling non-cryogenic, wearable, on-scalp magnetoencephalography (MEG) systems with flexible sensor placement, high spatial coverage, and exceptionally low noise levels, OPMs are opening new opportunities for studying brain function in both research and clinical settings. At the same time, a growing number of OPM-MEG centers are being established in Germany and worldwide, accelerating the transition from bulky laboratory setups to compact, wearable OPM-MEG systems suitable for neuroscientific and clinical applications.

This special colloquium will highlight recent advances across the OPM-MEG ecosystem, from sensor and system development to clinical implementation and emerging applications.

Details

Towards a clinical high-density full-head on-scalp MEG system

Prof. Dr. Svenja Knappe
Founder & CTO, FieldLine Medical, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Research Professor, University of Colorado Boulder

Contents of the Talk

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) has seen a boost of excitement through the availability of novel uncooled magnetic field sensors called OPMs. The small quantum magnetometers allow for on-scalp placement, thus combining some of the mobility advantages of EEG with the good source localization accuracy of MEG. Such an OPM-MEG system will be introduced and important specifications, advantages, and challenges discussed. Cross-validation measurements between the OPM-based HEDscan system and the cryogenic 4D system will be presented.

Short CV

Svenja Knappe received her Ph.D. in physics from the University of Bonn, Germany. For 16 years, she worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder CO, developing chip-scale atomic sensors. She is now a Research Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder, and her research interests include microfabricated atomic magnetometers. In 2018, she founded FieldLine to commercialize a non-invasive functional brain imaging system based on quantum magnetometers. As the CTO of FieldLine Medical, she is aiming to expand the boundaries of this imaging technology through quantum sensing. She published over 80 peer-reviewed scientific papers, 6 book chapters, 20 patent applications and is the recipient of the Rank Prize, the Department of Commerce Gold Medal, James Zimmerman Prize, and Carl-Zeiss Humboldt Research Award.

OPM-MEG Core Facility at University of Lübeck: Imaging brain networks with high temporal and spatial resolution

Dr. rer. nat. Mohsen Alavash
Technical Lead, OPM-MEG Core Facility
Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM)
University of Lübeck & University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein

Contents of the Talk

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a method of characterizing brain function in health and disease with unique advantages. MEG can detect outside the skull the tiny magnetic fields generated by the flow of electrical currents associated with neuronal brain activity. The temporal precision of MEG is excellent, in contrast to the widely used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and the magnetic fields are not affected by the inhomogeneous conductivity profile of the head as in electroencephalography (EEG), which improves spatial resolution. Subsequent modelling of the measured fields enables imaging brain functional connectivity. Established in April 2026, the MEG Core Facility at UKSH (campus Lübeck) equipped with whole-head optically-pumped magnetometers (OPM-MEG) and a magnetically-shielded room will now advance human neuroscience research by overcoming shortcomings of conventional MEG, especially in the central topics of (1) cognitive and social processes across the lifespan in infants, children and older adults and (2) the neuroscience of movement disorders. In my talk I will introduce the OPM-MEG Core Facility and illustrate its potential to identify and characterize large-scale cortical networks of intrinsic neural oscillations in the context of adaptive listening behavior.

Short CV

Dr. Mohsen Alavash serves as Technical Lead of the OPM-MEG Core Facility at the Center of Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM), where he supports the development and deployment of next-generation OPM-based neuroimaging technologies. His work focuses on establishing advanced experimental infrastructures for functional brain imaging and facilitating interdisciplinary collaborations between neuroscience, engineering, and clinical research. After studying Biomedical Engineering at Azad University of Tehran, Iran (2012) and finishing his PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at University of Oldenburg, Germany (2015), Mohsen joined the Research Group Auditory Cognition (Prof. Obleser) at Max-Planck Institute in Leipzig and later in Lübeck (2016), where he was postdoctoral researcher in ERC-funded project AUDADAPT (https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/646696) and later Principal Investigator of DFG-funded project NICOSA (https://gepris.dfg.de/gepris/projekt/426620060). Since 2024 Mohsen is the Technical Lead of the OPM-MEG Core Facility at Center of Brain, Behavior, and Metabolism (CBBM) at University of Lübeck. His research focuses on the dynamics of human brain networks during cognitive control and their alterations in disorders such as age-related hearing loss or Parkinson’s disease.