Jannie Wijnen has been appointed as Professor of ‘High-Precision MRI Imaging’ at UMC Utrecht with effect from 1 March 2026. Her chair focuses on integrating precision MRI imaging into clinical practice.
There are several advanced imaging techniques used to visualise the inside of the body without surgery. These include ultrasound, X-rays, CT scans and MRI scans. An MRI scan primarily provides information about the soft tissues of the body, such as muscles, tendons, the brain and other organs. An MRI scan can reveal abnormalities in the body that are not always visible with a CT scan or X-ray. These include tumours, inflammation, infections or tissue damage. Doctors and researchers use this information to detect diseases or to assess the effect of a treatment. Over the past ten years, MRI has also improved significantly in visualising metabolic and physiological processes.
“My research focuses on visualising metabolic processes in the body. To this end, we have developed a great deal of new MRI hardware, which we use to examine dynamic metabolic processes throughout the body – something that is unique in the world. For example, we look at the uptake and conversion of glucose to produce energy. In addition, there are many developments in the field of machine learning and AI that are highly applicable to MRI data to improve image quality.”
“My professorial profile is Methodology & Technology Researcher. This requires expertise, methodologies and equipment to innovate our facilities and subsequently apply new techniques in healthcare. This aligns perfectly with what I do together with my team. To make an impact for patients and the healthcare system, you need to be able to translate fundamental knowledge into practical applications.”
“I’m a biomedical engineer and I’m naturally curious. I work closely with doctors. They often come to me with an interesting question, and I want to work with them to find the answer. Take the neuromuscular disease ALS, for example. Henk-Jan Westeneng, a doctor who treats patients with ALS, asks, for instance, whether we can measure GABA and glutamate in specific areas of their patients’ brains. These two substances ensure a good balance between activity and rest in the brain. The neurologists suspect that changes in these substances are linked to the progression of the disease. I’m happy to contribute ideas on how we can investigate this using MRI, with our new methods and an MRI protocol that best suits the research question.”
“I aim to bring together MRI researchers at the Princess Máxima Centre, WKZ and UMC Utrecht, and to share knowledge so that we can build stronger collaboration. Many MRI methods are developed and tested on adults. But together with colleagues, I aim to apply the latest diagnostic methods (MRI) in scientific research and clinical care for children as well. For example, I work with Evita Wiegers and Manon Benders, Professor of Neonatology, to enable more detailed research into brain development and brain damage in newborns.
Brain damage, for example caused by oxygen deprivation at birth, is often detected using an MRI scanner. For this research on babies, we use an MRI scanner with a strength of 3 Tesla or lower. However, the stronger the scanner (measured in Tesla), the more doctors can see in the images. As MRI research using such a powerful 7 Tesla MRI scanner has never been carried out on newborns anywhere in the world, safety first had to be demonstrated. Together with the neonatologists, we have all the expertise in-house to conduct our own research and prove that it is safe. And so we have done this very carefully, step by step, and now all the extra-sensitive and specific imaging techniques that 7 Tesla MRI has to offer can also be used in this very young population.”
“I want to further develop the Precision Imaging group into a sustainable MRI innovation programme within UMC Utrecht, for example by entering new partnerships, including with Philips and Eindhoven University of Technology. In five years’ time, I would like to see our recently developed MRI methods being used in clinical research and clinical practice, whilst we continue to push the boundaries of MRI imaging to make diagnostics even more precise, faster and more robust. I want to use innovative MRI techniques to improve diagnostics and predict treatment outcomes in children with metabolic disorders and cancer.”
