POWERFUL new brain scanners worth £3.5 million were being unveiled today by a government minister at the University of York.

Lord Sainsbury, Minister for Science and Innovation, will officially open the university's new NeuroImaging Centre, which is home to two new scanners, providing a major boost for research into conditions such as epilepsy and brain damage.

Currently the facility, at the York Science Park, is used for research by students and academics, but the aim is to use the facility in the treatment of NHS patients.

The two new scanners are now in place. The first addition to the centre was a £1.1 million MagnetoEncephalo-Graphic (MEG) scanner and, the second is a £2.4 million high field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner, which weighs 12 tons and had to be craned in today.

The MEG scanner can be used to locate abnormal brain activity associated with conditions such as epilepsy, and its design allows it to be used for all age groups.

The university's vice-chancellor, Professor Brian Cantor, said: "This centre places York at the forefront of the study of the human brain, not only in the UK, but worldwide."

The MEG device, purchased from 4D Neuroimaging in California, will form the focus of an international centre for studying brain development.

Dr Barry Wright, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Lime Trees Child and Family Unit in York, said: "The MEG scanner is non-invasive and, so far as we know, safe for children.

"Since research in children using scanners has been hampered by the ethics of using X-rays or other electromagnetic fields on children, this opens up new opportunities.

"We will be able to localise which parts of the brain are electrically active as children perform various tasks.

"Alongside other excellent research experts and facilities in York, we could begin to better understand a range of disorders.

"There are clear clinical areas where MEG will be helpful. For example, it could be used to find focuses for epilepsy and help in the planning of treatment, or to explore brain damage and monitor recovery after a head injury."

The 3 Tesla Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner has twice the power of a typical hospital device.

This allows high-resolution structural and chemical investigations of the whole body as well as studies of brain function.

Professor Gary Green, the centre's director, said: "The unique combination of these particular MRI and MEG scanners at one site will provide unparalleled facilities for the study of the human brain in both health and disease.

"Research programmes for studies of autism, epilepsy, dementia and stroke are all planned and the centre is actively encouraging collaborative projects with the local and regional NHS."

The York Neuroimaging Centre will also provide free accommodation for meetings of patient support groups such as those for Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy and autism.

Updated: 11:18 Friday, May 27, 2005