USC Team 3D-Prints Custom MRI Sensors for $30 Each

A $30 Solution for Infant Scanning

Scanning a tiny infant heart with a standard MRI coil is like trying to photograph a coin across a football field. The coil is simply too big, too far from the signal source, and too poorly matched to the patient's anatomy. Researchers at the University of Southern California have a better answer: 3D-printed sensors custom-sized for each patient, produced in under ten minutes for about thirty dollars.

The team, led by Yasser Khan, PhD, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and biomedical engineering at USC, prints conductive silver ink onto a soft thermoplastic elastomer. The result is a flexible coil that conforms to the patient's body, bringing the sensor closer to the anatomy and capturing a much stronger signal.

Four Times the Contrast

Testing showed the 3D-printed coils produce roughly four times greater image contrast than standard commercial sensors. That gain matters most for small, fast-moving structures like infant hearts. The coils can capture anatomy in motion without the blur or noise that comes from forcing an adult-sized sensor onto a pediatric patient.

The process cuts both cost and time. Custom MRI equipment used to cost thousands of dollars and take months or years to fabricate through conventional manufacturing. The USC team's digital workflow lets researchers redesign and reprint a coil in minutes, adjusting shape and size on the computer before sending it to the printer.

From Prototype to Patient

Khan emphasizes that the breakthrough came from cross-disciplinary collaboration. The project required MRI technicians, cardiologists, radiologists, and imaging scientists working in the same space. "We need environments where different ideas can collide," Khan said. "This project wouldn't have happened without access to the MRI and conversations with cardiologists, radiologists and imaging scientists."

The team spent three years developing the process before reaching the current iteration. The focus now is scaling the approach beyond research labs into clinical settings. If hospitals adopt the method, pediatric imaging could improve dramatically for patients who currently have the fewest options.