Prof. Szymon Pustelny and Dr Piotr Put from the JU Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science will work on the MRI-NOVA project over the next four years. It was among 43 selected from 2,103 proposals submitted to the EIC Pathfinder Open 2026 call, organised by the European Innovation Council (EIC). The international consortium led by the Jagiellonian University will receive a grant of 4 million euro.

EIC Pathfinder is a funding initiative of the European Innovation Council, under the Horizon Europe programme. It supports high-risk-high-gain early-stage research into promising emerging technologies. Projects applying under the Pathfinder Open call can seek funding of up to €4 million. The results of the call were announced on 14 October 2026. The 43 projects selected out of 2016 submitted proposals involve a total of 218 organisations from 30 countries.

Magnetic resonance imaging allows physicians to look inside the human body, while magnetic resonance techniques help chemists investigate molecular structures. In conventional measurements, however, the detected signal comes from a huge number of nuclear spins. The information obtained therefore reflects their collective behaviour rather than that of an individual molecule.

One of the aims of MRI-NOVA (Magnetic resonance imaging at nanoscale via atomic-like defects in diamond) is to achieve a spatial resolution of 10 nanometres for objects located outside the diamond. This is comparable to the size of many proteins. At the same time, the researchers will develop methods for obtaining information about the structures of individual molecules and how those structures change.

'Our proposed technique is intended to make it possible to image objects at the nanometre scale and observe, among other things, how molecules pass through cell membranes and how proteins change during chemical reactions. Ultimately, it could enable the observation of individual molecules using magnetic resonance techniques. This would fundamentally change our understanding of the world and open the way to many applications in chemistry. It could also play a crucial role in drug manufacturing, for example', says Prof. Szymon Pustelny.

The project will use nitrogen-vacancy (NV) colour centres, the defects in the diamond crystal lattice in which a nitrogen atom sits next to a vacant carbon lattice site. Their spin states depend on the local magnetic field, allowing them to act as highly sensitive sensors. These states can be controlled using microwaves and read out optically.

The researchers will create a layer containing many such centres just beneath the diamond surface, as close as possible to the molecules being studied but placed next to the diamond. This proximity is important because magnetic signals of single molecules are extremely weak.

Sensitivity alone, however, is not enough to produce an image. It is also necessary to determine where the detected signal originates. To achieve this, researchers will use controlled magnetic field gradients to create specific spatial patterns of spin states within the NV-centre layer, resembling spirals. By adjusting the direction and pitch of these spin spirals, they will be able to probe objects at different spatial scales and use the resulting information to reconstruct images. This process will be supported by physics-informed machine learning algorithms, which are expected to reduce the number of measurements required.

The team will also develop methods for measuring distances between selected sites within individual molecules using magnetic labels. These measurements could help reconstruct three-dimensional molecular structures and investigate how their shapes change.

Measurements are also complicated by the movement of molecules in liquids. They may leave the measurement region before enough data can be collected. To address this, the researchers will use nanochannels made from two-dimensional materials, designed to restrict molecular motion without completely immobilising the molecules.

The project will be led by Prof. Szymon Pustelny, with Dr Piotr Put being the key researcher. The international consortium brings together Jagiellonian University (coordinator), Ulm University (Prof. Fedor Jelezko’s team), Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics in Garching (Prof. Ignacio Cirac’s team), and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne – EPFL (Prof. Aleksandra Radenovic’s team). The four-year project has a planned budget of approximately €4 million, of which €1.4 million is allocated to Jagiellonian University. Work is scheduled to begin on 1 January 2027.

MRI-NOVA focuses on developing and experimentally testing new measurement techniques rather than building a ready-to-use diagnostic device. If the project’s objectives are achieved, these methods could eventually help researchers study proteins whose structures change over time, including those associated with neurodegenerative diseases.