International Tomography Center

About ITC

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The International Tomography Center of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of the Sciences (ITC SB RAS) was founded by the initiative of Academician Renad Sagdeev with the support of the Presidium of SB RAS and of the Institute of Chemical Kinetics and Combustion of SB RAS. BRUKER Spectrospin ( Germany) contributed a lot to ITC establishment and development. Since 2000, the International Tomography Center has been a research institute at the Novosibirsk Science Center of the Siberian Branch of the RAS.

ITC SB RAS is the one of the world-recognized leaders in spin chemistry, carrying out basic and applied research in chemical physics and medicine. It also runs medical examination of the population of the region using the method of magnetic-resonance tomography. Main research fields of the Center are the chemical bonding theory, reactivity of chemical compounds, mechanisms of chemical reactions, magnetic phenomena in chemistry and medicine, spin and exchange phenomena, including multispin coordination compounds, diagnostic NMR-imaging and NMR-microimaging for physical-chemical applications, development of fundamentally new magnetic materials. Discovery of the influence of the constant magnetic field on radical reactions in solutions and of magnetic isotope effect are of particular importance for modem chemistry that are widely used all over the world. Fundamentally new techniques of studying the mechanisms of chemical and biochemical reactions are being developed and applied on the basis of spin effects. One of these techniques is the method of magnetic-resonance microscopy, which enabled the first successful investigation of multiphase catalystic reaction in a real-time mode. New methods of the chemical design of molecular magnetics have been developed; a unique magnetic phenomenon, the so-called “nonclassical spin transition” due to structural rearrangement of complicated heterospin exchange clusters and the crystal macrostructure on the whole has been discovered; an unusual class of solid objects (“breathing crystals”) has been created.

In medical diagnostics ITC SB RAS develops the most advanced technology, the method of magnetic tomography.

The Laboratory of Medical Diagnostics of ITC SB RAS renders invaluable assistance to practical medicine by solving complicated problems, providing advice concerning magnetic-resonance tomography to doctor and patients. Patients are examined with the use of the super-conducting Tomicon S-50 MR-imager manufactured by BRUKER, which provides ell-reasoned conclusions and high-quality MR /images. More than 5 thousand people undergo tomographic examination annually.

Main medical diagnostics applications of MR-imager are oncology and hematology, neuropathology and neurosurgery, thoracic and abdominal surgery, gastroenterology and endocrinology, urinology and gynecology, traumatology and orthopaedy. In complicated cases patients are examined with the use of contrasting preparations to diagnose oncological and degenerate diseases. The most advanced techniques of magnetic-resonance tomography are developed and applied in the laboratory: ultraspeed scanning, MR angiography, cine-MR-lymphography, and cine-MR-cholecystopancreatography.

Research activities of the Laboratory are focused on clinical anatomy, studying of real lifetime sizes and forms of internals in healthy and sick patients: nerve tissue, subarachnoid space and vascular structures of the brain and neck, big vessels of mediastinum and heart, pectoral lymphatic duct, biliferous tract, etc. The Laboratory staff members are involved in training of students and specialists in magnetic-resonance tomography.

In addition to the basic research laboratories, ITC includes department for applied developments and a service department for scientific and medical equipment which is responsible for installation and maintenance of BRUKER equipment in Russia.

ITC SB RAS is equipped with modem scientific devices, such as DRX-300MR spectrometer-microimager, a unique system for magnetic chemical research MPMS-5S (Quantum Design), SMART APEX monocrystal difractometer (BRUKER AXS), etc.

Being a scientific institution, ITC SB RAS is financed from the federal budget, some additional funds are available from Russian and foreign grants, international projects, contracts and agreements with Russian and foreign partners. At present ITC employs 75 staff members, among them a Full Member and a Corresponding Member of RAS, 10 Doctors and 12 Candidates of Science. Most of the ITC employees are young creative researchers with the average age of 37. Young researchers with the competitions launched by ITC SB RAS and RAS, take a part in representative scientific conferences in Russia and abroad. The Center successfully cooperates with institutions of RAS and Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, the Novosibirsk State University, hospitals of Novosibirsk and other cities of the region. ITC researchers teach students in chemistry and medicine. Some ITC members were awarded honorable prizes: R. Sagdeev is Lenin Prize winner (1986); R. Sagdeev and V. Ovcharenko won the National Prize in Science and Engineering (1994).