Full-waveform imaging of the human brain

Rapid brain imaging is central to the diagnosis and treatment of acute neurological conditions, but existing imaging methods require large, immobile, high-power instruments that are near-impossible to deploy outside specialised environments. We will create a device that can be simply and rapidly applied to any patient, any time, any place, exploiting advances that have already revolutionised imaging in geophysics. We will image the brain using sound waves, transmitted across the head, applying advanced computer modelling to remove the distorting effects of the skull, thereby enabling high-resolution high-contrast imaging of the brain unachievable by conventional ultrasound. Safe, fast, universally applicable, deployable continuously, and above all portable by paramedics, our device will revolutionise brain imaging, in health and disease. The technology has particular relevance to stroke – globally the second-commonest cause of premature death and a major, growing cause of adult disability – and to brain imaging in resource-limited and inaccessible environments.