Zecotek Medical Systems Singapore Pte Ltd, last week announced that it has entered into a collaborative research agreement with the University of Washington. Jointly, the two parties will develop a proprietary PET-MRI detector as the core technology of a next generation medical imaging system.

"Zecotek's new crystal materials, photo-detectors and advanced optical components design are critical to a successful fusion of PET and MRI into one machine. The major barrier to a fusion of PET-MRI has been the strong magnetic fields of MRI which destroy the photo-detection capabilities of current PET," said Faouzi Zerrouk, PhD, chairman and CEO, Zecotek. "Zecotek has developed the technologies to overcome this barrier and will be working with UofW on a complete solution."

Under the agreement, Zecotek will contribute the project's funding and the enabling technologies of scintillation crystals and solid state photo-detectors. Zecotek and UofW will collaborate on systems and component designs as well as project management over the project's anticipated three-year life. Among Zecotek’s intellectual property contributions will be these new technologies in development, including its solid state photo-detectors and advanced scintillation materials. Part of the UofW's contribution is its extensive experience in PET detector and electronics design as well as system integration and image reconstruction algorithms and display/analysis. New designs developed at UofW will utilize Zecotek's crystal and solid-state photo-detectors as well as access to Zecotek's expertise in optical components design, along with advancements in the University's unique FireWire based data acquisition methodologies and image reconstruction algorithms for the new scanners.