Two months after nabbing U.S. FDA clearance for its extremity scanner system, MARS Bioimaging has added another research installation. Bracco Imaging has purchased a mobile photon-counting detector CT scanner for its research center in Colleretto Giacosa, Italy, where it will support work on next-generation contrast agents and AI applications in imaging.

The acquisition of the MARS photon-counting CT scanner is supported by the Fondo Italiano per le Scienze Applicate-funded research project (grant FISA-2023-00298), led by principal investigator Angelo Bifone, Ph.D., of the University of Turin. The project will investigate how AI and advanced imaging can be combined to improve diagnostic performance, leveraging the unique capabilities of photon-counting CT, including spectral imaging and material decomposition, to better characterize contrast agents.

“We’re pleased that a global leader in diagnostic imaging has selected our technology,” says Ojas Mahapatra, group CEO of the New Zealand-based MARS Bioimaging. “This sale marks an important commercial milestone for MARS.”
MARS Bioimaging Group COO Mark Figgitt concurs, adding that the scanners deliver high-resolution 3D X-ray imaging with clear material differentiation. “The MARS Bioimaging Microlab scanner provides photon-counting CT technology to support ongoing innovation in contrast agent development for molecular imaging,” he says, “alongside AI routines aimed at improving detection, image analysis, and clinical decision-making.”

Figgitt describes the system as a molecular imaging platform that generates rich spectral data sets, enabling researchers to explore how those data sets, contrast agents, and AI can be combined to improve diagnostic interpretation.

This technology traces back to CERN, where Medipix3 photon-counting detector technology was originally developed. MARS Bioimaging holds an exclusive license from CERN to commercialize the system for extremity imaging at the point-of-care and mobile medical research applications.

Figgitt says the Microlab system is compact, mobile, and self-shielded, allowing deployment directly into research environments. “This gives researchers flexible access to advanced imaging capabilities without the infrastructure requirements typically associated with larger imaging systems,” he maintains.

Looking ahead, Figgitt says spectral photon-counting CT combined with AI is an area that is receiving increasing attention from a wide range of researchers and institutions. “One area of opportunity is more quantitative and personalized imaging, where clinicians may be able to obtain richer diagnostic information and better characterize tissue composition and disease processes,” he says.

He also highlights potential in next-generation contrast agents and more precise visualization of subtle biological changes that are difficult to capture with conventional imaging.

“The combination of spectral imaging and AI could help enable more advanced image analysis tools that support earlier detection, improved diagnostic confidence, and more timely, informed clinical decision-making across a range of diagnostic applications,” Figgitt says.

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