Jens Frahm (born 29 March 1951 in Oldenburg, Germany) is a German biophysicist and physicochemist. He is Research Group Leader of the Biomedical NMR group at the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Multidisciplinary Sciences in Göttingen, Germany (prior to January 1, 2022, at the former MPI for Biophysical Chemistry).
Early life and education
From 1969 to 1974 Frahm studied physics at the University of Göttingen. His PhD thesis under the guidance of Hans Strehlow at the MPI for Biophysical Chemistry was devoted to the use of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy for a characterization of the molecular dynamics of hydrated ions in complex solutions. He received his PhD degree in 1977 in physical chemistry.
Career
Early
Working as a research assistant at the Göttingen MPI since 1977 Frahm formed an independent research team which focused on the new possibilities offered by spatially resolved NMR and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) – discovered in 1974, by Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield.
Biomedical NMR
In 1982 the Biomedical NMR group was formally founded and from 1984 to 1992 primarily financed via two substantial grants from the Ministry for Research and Technology of the German Federal Government. The primary aim of the projects was a more sophisticated development of the rather modest MRI techniques available in the early eighties – mainly with respect to speed and specificity. Already in 1985 the group presented a major breakthrough for the future development of MRI in both science and medicine. The invention of a rapid imaging principle, the FLASH MRI (fast low angle shot) technique, allowed for a 100-fold reduction of the measuring times of cross-sectional and three-dimensional images. The FLASH acquisition technique led the ground for many modern MRI applications in diagnostic imaging. Examples include breathhold imaging of the abdomen, electrocardiogram-synchronized quasi-real time movies of the beating heart, dynamic scanning of contrast media uptake, 3D imaging of complex anatomic structures such as the brain that allow for unprecedented high spatial resolution and arbitrary view angles, and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) of the vasculature. Other achievements extended to MRI and localized magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) techniques based on stimulated echoes – another invention from 1984.
Up to date royalties from the group's patents serve to fully support all activities of the Biomedizinische NMR Forschungs GmbH (not-for-profit) which was founded in 1993 as an independent research unit associated with the Göttingen MPI. In 1997 Frahm became adjunct professor at the Faculty for Chemistry of the Georg-August-University in Göttingen and in 2011 External Member of the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization. Since 2019 Frahm continues his research at the Max-Planck-Institut für biophysikalische Chemie as Emeritus Director heading a focused research group working on the further technical development and clinical translation of real-time MRI methods and their derivatives.
Central to the research of Frahm is the further methodologic development of MRI and localized magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in conjunction with advanced applications in neurobiology (brain research) and cardiovascular research. The truly interdisciplinary team aims at innovative noninvasive approaches to study the central nervous system of humans and animals – from insects to primates with a special emphasis on mouse models of human brain disorders. Using several high-field MRI systems, current possibilities include structural, metabolic, and functional assessments of the intact living brain. Techniques range from high-resolution 3D MRI studies of brain morphology and localized proton MRS of brain metabolism to fiber tractography of the axonal connectivity via diffusion tensor imaging and mapping of the functional architecture of cortical networks by functional MRI.