International Tomography Center was founded in 1989 by academician Renad Zinnurovich Sagdeev, with a strong support of the Presidium of SB AS and the Institute of Chemical Kinetics and Combustion SB AS. A West German company Bruker Spectrospin has also greatly contributed to establishing ITC. The official Opening Ceremony of the International Tomography Center was held on 13 September 1993; this date is considered as the ITC birthday. Academician Renad Sagdeev has been the director of ITC since its foundation. In 2016 academician Viсtor Ovcharenko has become the director. In 2018, Konstantin Ivanov, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics and Professor of RAS, has been elected to this position. Presently ITC SB RAS is a powerful research center equipped with modern scientific instruments. It employs >50 researchers, including 11 doctors of science and 26 candidates of science, two academicians and three professors of the Russian Academy of Sciences. ITC is one of the leading institutes of SB RAS and a place where students of the Novosibirsk State University (NSU) work on their theses and carry out pre-diploma practices; they are coming from the physics department, the faculty of natural sciences and the faculty of fundamental medicine. The average age of researchers employed in ITC is about 42 years.
ITC is the first center of magnetic resonance tomography/imaging (MRT/MRI) beyond the Urals. ITC takes the lead in this field in Russia, being a home of diverse applied, experimental and theoretical studies on the development and optimization of MRI techniques. The staff of the Institute has made a significant contribution to the development of spin chemistry, magnetochemistry and design of molecular magnets. ITC has a strong scientific background in the field of magnetic resonance spectroscopy, as well as in the fields of physico-chemical and biomedical MRI applications. Basic studies performed by ITC researchers over the past 25 years have resulted in more than 1100 publications in leading scientific journals, 15 doctoral theses and 58 PhD theses. Scientific results of ITC have been included in the list of the key achievements of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 2014 ITC was the leading Institute of RAS in the number of publications indexed by Web of Science per one researcher. World-level research activities carried out at ITC have became possible due to significant support by programs of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Federal Targeted Programs, more than 120 grants from the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, more than 10 grants from the Russian Science Foundation and funding from other agencies.
Like in the past 25 years, ITC SB RAS presently exhibits dynamic development, continues to expand the range of the research subjects. In the framework of the development program of the Novosibirsk Scientific Center «Akademgorodok 2.0», ITC initiates foundation of a world-level versatile scientific research center in the field of magnetic resonance, the «National Center of Magnetic Resonance Tomography and Spectroscopy». This initiative meets the urgent need to develop modern scientific infrastructure that enables magnetic resonance spectroscopy and imaging studies in strong magnetic fields, being important for comprehensive study of biomolecules and nanomaterials. The tasks of the Center include development of methods for increasing the sensitivity of magnetic resonance through the use of «hyperpolarized» spin systems; development and application of MRI methods for studying the brain and improving the quality of diagnostics of neuropathologies and socially significant human diseases; expansion of research in the field of design and study of new magnetic materials. To strengthen the educational component at ITC, it launches together with NSU an educational program on modern magnetic resonance techniques and develops scientific exchange programs in order to cooperate with leading Russian and international research centers and participate in major collaborations.
