We are proud to announce that Dr. Efrat Shemeron, faculty member at the Andrew and Erna Viterbi Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, and the May-Blum-Dahl MRI Research Center for the Human Brain at the Technion, has been awarded a prestigious ERC Starting Grant from the European Research Council.
Dr. Shimeron’s project focuses on developing a new generation of MRI devices that are compact, portable, and significantly more affordable than standard systems – making them highly promising for widespread medical use. However, these next-generation devices face key technological challenges, such as long scan times and low image quality due to their operation in very low magnetic fields. Her research aims to overcome these limitations by creating an innovative platform that combines MRI with machine learning, enabling substantial reductions in scan duration and marked improvements in image quality. Ultimately, this work seeks to make advanced MRI examinations far more accessible to the general public.
ERC grants are among the most prestigious and competitive in the world, awarded to young, outstanding researchers leading bold, high-risk projects with the potential for major scientific breakthroughs. Each grant amounts to €1.5 million. In addition to Dr. Shimeron’s achievement, we are proud to note that Dr. Ariel Rapaport from the Technion’s Faculty of Mathematics has also been awarded an ERC Starting Grant this year, for groundbreaking research in fractal geometry
Photographer: Inbal Ginat