The idea of measuring dielectric properties of tissues with the help of MRI, termed electrical properties tomography (EPT),  was first considered by Haacke et al. in 1991, but at the same time discarded as being practically unrealistic. Generally, estimation of either the tissue’s conductivity or permittivity relies on measuring and calculating the Laplacian of the complex electro-magnetic transmit field (B₁⁺) that is used to excite the atomic nuclei (protons) for subsequent imaging. Besides the general difficulty to properly assess the B₁⁺ field, subsequent derivation of the dielectric properties using a second order derivative is highly prone to even residual noise. As a result, successful EPT MRI is highly challenging even on cutting-edge MRI systems and hardware.

We are relatively new to this field and focus on the design of new methods for rapid and robust MRI of the B₁⁺ field for possible clinical translation.