USC 3D-Printed MRI Sensors Give Infants Four Times Better Image Quality

A research team at the University of Southern California has developed flexible, 3D-printed MRI sensors that can be custom-made for individual infants in under ten minutes for about $30. In lab testing, the printed coils produced roughly four times the image contrast of standard commercial coils.

Silver Ink Printed Directly Onto Flexible Material

The process prints conductive silver ink directly onto a thermoplastic elastomer, a soft stretchable material with mechanical properties close to human skin. The finished coil flexes about 5% to 10%, so it moves with a patient's body instead of sitting rigidly against it. Standard commercial MRI coils are designed for adult anatomy and do not adapt well to small bodies.

Yasser Khan, who leads the project at USC's Viterbi School of Engineering, said the digital-first approach removes the wait for a manufacturer to fabricate a new part. "For a growing child, that could mean creating different coils as the body changes," Khan said. "The goal is imaging equipment designed for their bodies, so doctors can get the clearest picture possible as they grow."

Built for Fast-Moving Anatomy

The sensors have also shown potential for capturing fast-moving anatomy, including a beating heart. That capability came from combining Khan's flexible electronics lab with the Dynamic Imaging Science Center at USC, which specializes in MRI methods for imaging the body in motion. Clinical input came from John Wood, director of cardiovascular MRI at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.

Wood's experience imaging children's hearts, including real-time fetal heart imaging, helped guide where the technology could have the most impact. "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."

Personalized Fabrication, Not One-Size-Fits-None

The USC project fits a pattern in pediatric medical device research where 3D printing replaces slow, generic manufacturing with fast, personalized digital fabrication. Researchers at the University of Lincoln took a similar approach for a 3D-printed, sensor-embedded prosthetic arm for toddlers, building it around 3D scans of a child's forearm. At University College London, researchers 3D-printed a small wearable sensor for testing brain responses in newborns, testing it on infants just days old.

Each of these projects addresses the same gap: standard manufacturing methods cannot easily produce parts at the scale and specificity that small patients need. 3D printing is becoming the default tool whenever the patient is simply too small for existing equipment to fit.