In picture: Scanner being lowered into the new site at J10 GSH, adjacent to the Psychiatry block

The delivery of Africa’s first full-body high-field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, on Valentine’s Day 14 February 2015, at the new Cape Universities Body Imaging Centre site (CUBIC-UCT) on the premises of Groote Schuur Hospital, can best be described as the product of a labour of love.

A multi-disciplinary team led by Professor Bongani Mayosi, Head of the Department of Medicine at UCT and Groote Schuur Hospital, and Professor Ernesta Meintjes, of the MRC/UCT Medical Imaging Research Unit, fundraised over four years to secure funds from the Technology Innovation Agency, the National Research Foundation, and the Cancer Research Trust. The result is the Siemens Skyra, which is valued at R24 million.

“This state-of-the-art machine ushers in a new era of imaging research, including cardiac, abdominal and muscoskeletal” said head of CUBIC-UCT Prof Ernesta Meintjes.

The new site, adjacent to the Psychiatry block at Groote Schuur Hospital, is an extension of the original facility located at Tygerberg Hospital where a brain-only research MRI scanner has been operational since January 2007.

This Faculty core facility will open for scanning on 23 March.