IXICO plc
01 October 2026
IXICO plc
(“IXICO”, the “Company” or the “Group”)
IXICO to present advancements in neuroimaging for Parkinson’s disease at European radiology conference
01 October 2026, IXICO plc (AIM: IXI) – London, UK. IXICO, a global leader in neuroscience imaging and biomarker analytics, using its AI-driven platform to help advance drug development and diagnostics in neurological disorders, announces new research the Company presented at the prestigious 42nd European Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine & Biology (ESMRMB) 2026 scientific meeting this week.
The research compared two magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approaches for visualising the substantia nigra, a brain region strongly implicated in Parkinson’s disease (PD).Two MRI techniques sensitive to neuromelanin, a dark pigment found in specific areas of the human brain associated with neurological disease including PD, were studied in healthy volunteers: magnetisation transfer gradient echo (MT-GRE) and turbo spin echo (TSE).
Both MRI techniques successfully visualised the substantia nigra, a dark-coloured cluster of neurons located in the midbrain that plays a vital role in controlling movement and coordinating reward pathways. However, the advanced MT-GRE sequence allowed consistently improved contrast between the substantia nigra and surrounding tissue. The findings provide critical insights for the optimisation and more reproducible assessment of neuromelanin using MRI for future PD research and clinical trials. Further research will evaluate the method’s ability to differentiate patient groups and sensitively track disease-related changes over time.
IXICO also presented a new method it has developed to measure changes in the substantia nigra without needing to precisely identify and outline the structure first. This offers potential to make the measurement simpler.
Robin Wolz, Chief Scientific Officer of IXICO, commented: “Neuromelanin MRI has significant potential as an imaging biomarker in Parkinson’s disease, but its wider use depends on robust and reproducible analysis approaches. Our work presented at ESMRMB shows that both techniques can visualise the substantia nigra, while MT-GRE provides consistently stronger contrast, and also explores an analysis framework for quantitative assessment. These findings are an important step towards optimising neuromelanin MRI for use in future Parkinson’s disease research and clinical trials.”
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For further information please contact:
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IXICO plc |
+44 (0) 20 3763 7499 |
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Grant Nash, Chief Financial Officer James Chandler, Chief Business Officer |
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Cavendish Capital Markets Limited (Nominated Adviser and Sole Broker) |
+44 (0) 20 7220 0500 |
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Giles Balleny, Isaac Hooper (Corporate Finance) Nigel Birks (Healthcare Specialist Sales) Harriet Ward (Corporate Broking) Michael F Johnson (Sales) |
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IXICO is a global leader in neuroscience imaging and biomarker analytics, using its proprietary AI-driven platform to help advance the treatment of neurological disorders and reduce the uncertainties associated with drug discovery, development and monitoring.As a key part of the global neurological disease research community, the Company has built a global reputation and 20-year track record as an end-to-end Imaging Contract Research Organisation (iCRO) working with leading pharma companies, innovative biotechs, disease consortia and non-profit organisations. IXICO has supported hundreds of neurological clinical trials, analysed hundreds of thousands of scans and built an expansive network of expert imaging centres around the world.
The IXITM platform is tailor-made for neurological disease, reliably processing data from global trials, precisely measuring key imaging biomarkers associated with the identification, progression and treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s.Image data is interrogated by the platform and IXICO’s expert scientists translating complex data into clinically meaningful while minimizing data variability and increasing reproducibility.
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