Optically-pumped Magnetometer (OPM)

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 581031632

Through this application we seek to install a new system for magnetoencephalography (MEG) based on optically-pumped magnetometers (OPM) at the Institute for Biomagnetism and Biosignal Analysis (IBB). The OPM-MEG will feature about 50-100 triaxial sensors and will operate in a magnetically shielded room. The system will be used by 13 research groups at the University and the University Clinic and also many associated partners and collaborators. The scientific projects for the OPM-MEG fall into different categories. In methodological projects we will use our expertise in mathematical modelling to characterise, validate and optimise the use of triaxially recorded magnetic fields afforded by the OPM sensors for source localisation. Several projects investigate fundamental cognitive processes in healthy participants. They aim to improve our understanding of the fundamental mechanisms that govern human cognition. They capitalise on the high information content of MEG signals pertaining to the current brain state. Several of these projects investigate the role of brain rhythms in cognition. The specific processes under investigation are predominantly speech, attention, emotion and working memory. These projects work synergistically with more clinical projects that focus on psychiatric and neurological disorders. In collaborations with the Clinic of Neurology, OPM-MEG will be used to study epilepsy but also swallowing impairments that are clinically of high relevance. Psychiatric projects focus mostly on affective disorders such as depression. Here, OPM-MEG will be used to longitudinally characterise pathological neural processes in depression and their predictive value for individual changes in mood. Further projects use OPM-MEG to study developmental speech disorders in young children, investigate the bidirectional signaling between body and brain in health and disease and elucidate how changes in body state through fasting or exercise modify brain states as reflected in OPM-MEG signals.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Optisch-gepumpte Magnetometer (OPM)
• Instrumentation Group: 3450 Magnet-Enzephalographie-Systeme
• Applicant Institution: Universität Münster
• Leader: Professor Dr. Joachim Gross