Full day workshop
Chairs: Chantal Tax (NL & UK), Mariam Andersson (DK)
Committee: Elda Fischi-Gómez (CH), Emma Thomson (DK), Maëliss Jallais (UK), Isabelle Corouge (FR)

This whole-day workshop will provide a structured overview of state-of-the-art microstructure imaging, integrating physical foundations, methodological innovation, and complementary validation strategies, aiming to support interaction between communities that may otherwise operate separately. The target audience includes researchers, clinician-scientists, engineers, and trainees working in or entering the field of microstructure imaging. 

Microstructure imaging is among the most rapidly advancing domains in magnetic resonance research, enabling increasingly specific insights into tissue architecture and pathological alterations. Despite these advances, important challenges persist regarding model assumptions, biological specificity, and cross-modal validation. 

The workshop will open with an interactive session on the physics of diffusion in microstructure, introducing propagator formalism and diffusion encoding strategies. The second session will focus on multi-contrast microstructure MRI, including diffusion–relaxation methods, low-field relaxometry, and diffusion-QSM, emphasising how integrated contrasts enhance sensitivity to specific microstructural features. The third session will broaden the perspective of microstructure imaging beyond MRI, incorporating talks on advanced microscopy and ultrasound approaches by leading researchers within their respective fields, followed by a panel discussion. The final session will highlight emerging directions, including within-cell MRI and organoid-based microstructure imaging, and will introduce a proposed community-wide microstructure imaging challenge designed to stimulate methodological benchmarking and development, as well as collaborative discussion.

Abstract presenters will be invited to deliver short pitches, complemented by dedicated poster-viewing sessions.

Temptative programme

09.00 Session 1: Educational
• The physics of diffusion within microstructure – Rafael Neto Henriques, University of Lisbon, Portugal
• Imaging diffusion with MRI: from basics to state-of-the-art – Simona Schiavi, ASG Superconductors, Italy

10.45 Session 2: Multi-contrast microstructure MRI
• Diffusion-relaxation – Daniel Topgaard, Lund University, Sweden
• Low-field relaxometry and relation to diffusion – Lionel Broche, University of Aberdeen, Scotland
• Diffusion-QSM – TBA

12.00 Power pitches

12.30 Lunch

13.30 Session 3: Microstructure imaging with non-MRI techniques
• State-of-the-art in microscopy – Marianne Liebi, Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland
• Ultrasound – Emilie Franceschini, CNRS, Aix-Marseille University, France

14.25 Panel discussion

14.50 Break and posters

15.45 Session 4: Out of the Ordinary
• Within-cell MRI with ultra-high field – Luisa Ciobanu, CEA/Neurospin, France
• Organoid microstructure – Ivan Alić, University of Zagreb, Croatia

16.35 Microstructural imaging challenge

17.00 Concluding remarks
17.15 Networking and poster viewing
18.00 END