NatMEG: On-Scalp MEG Platform

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a non-invasive, passive and completely silent method that directly measures the magnetic fields generated by ongoing neuronal brain activity.

With MEG, brain activity patterns can be resolved at an unrivalled temporal and spatial resolution.Next-generation MEG sensors, so-called on-scalp MEG sensors, register even more of the brain’s activity, at even better detail, detecting clinically relevant activity unseen by conventional MEG.The advancement of on-scalp MEG is thus of very high relevance for the fields of neuroscience and neurology and holds a strong promise to improve the usefulness of MEG in, for example, evaluation and presurgical planning of epilepsy patients.Sweden has made important contributions to advancing on-scalp MEG sensor development, academic and clinical applications, and method development.

Continued advancement in this field now requires the support from a national on-scalp MEG platform, at which at which beyond state-of-the-art demonstrations and the continued development of academic and clinical applications can be performed.The on-scalp MEG field is now at a critical window of opportunity, wherein Sweden’s unique momentum can be strategically strengthened and accelerated.

On-scalp MEG sensors are now commercially available, but very few labs with whole-head sensor coverage yet exist.With this application, we aim to integrate an internationally competitive 128 channel on-scalp MEG system into the well-functioning national MEG lab NatMEG.

The on-scalp MEG technology is now mature enough for this leap.The proposed on-scalp MEG system can be directly integrated into the current national MEG lab system and operations, and thereby demonstrate the advantages of different MEG sensor technologies, and provide a platform for educating new generations of on-scalp MEG users.