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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Med. Technol.
Sec. Diagnostic and Therapeutic Devices
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmedt.2025.1515548
This article is part of the Research Topic Magnetic Neurophysiology: The Cutting Edge of Real Time Neurodiagnostic Technology View all 4 articles

Beyond Sensitivity: What are the Enabling Opportunities of OPM-MEG ?

Provisionally accepted
Timothy Roberts Timothy Roberts *Charlotte Birnbaum Charlotte Birnbaum Luke Bloy Luke Bloy William Gaetz William Gaetz
  • Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    While optically-pumped magnetometer (OPM) technology 1-3 offers a number of compelling advantages over its SQUID predecessor for magnetoencephalography (MEG), many studies and viewpoints focus on issues of (i) scalp placement, with commensurate increases in sensitivity to weak magnetic fields and (ii) room temperature operation (without the need for baths of liquid helium to maintain superconducting properties of SQUIDs). This article addresses another unique and tantalizing opportunity -the ability for the OPM array to be "wearable", and thus to move with the participant. This is critical in adoption of naturalistic paradigms that move beyond "laboratory neuroscience" toward "real world neuroscience". It is also critically important in application to pediatric populations who cannot or will not remain still during conventional MEG scan procedures. Application to the developing infant brain will be considered as well as application to pediatric neuropsychiatric and developmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder. Rather than present solutions, this article will highlight the challenges faced by conventional SQUID-based cryo-MEG and explore the potential avenues for OPM-MEG to make a positive impact to the field of pediatric neuroscience.

    Keywords: optically-pumped magnetometer (OPM), wearable, autism, auditory, pediatric

    Received: 23 Oct 2024; Accepted: 03 Jan 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Roberts, Birnbaum, Bloy and Gaetz. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Timothy Roberts, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.