StartUp Health NOW
The New Data Layer in MRI: Valerie and Codi Gharagouzloo, PhD, of Imaginostics on Building a One-of-a-Kind Vascular Health Platform
Why It Matters
By converting MRI from a purely visual tool into a quantitative, biomarker‑rich platform, Imaginostics could enable clinicians to diagnose diseases before symptoms appear, improving outcomes for conditions like Alzheimer’s and heart disease. The technology’s safety, scalability, and integration with existing scanners make it a timely solution as AI and precision medicine reshape healthcare.
Key Takeaways
- •New MRI data layer quantifies vascular health without toxic contrast
- •FDA breakthrough designation replaces gadolinium for kidney‑at‑risk patients
- •AI‑enhanced platform extracts individual‑level biomarkers of aging
- •Siemens partnership accelerates scanner‑agnostic commercialization and regulatory path
- •Early‑stage studies target Alzheimer’s, cardiovascular, and oncology diagnostics
Pulse Analysis
Imaginostics is redefining magnetic resonance imaging by adding a quantitative data layer that turns traditional black‑and‑white scans into detailed vascular health maps. The company’s QC‑MRI technology eliminates the need for gadolinium, a toxic contrast agent that endangers patients with impaired kidney function, and delivers images judged ten times clearer than standard care. This shift from qualitative visual inspection to quantitative insight opens new avenues for early detection of neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disease, addressing a critical gap in current diagnostic workflows.
The platform has earned FDA breakthrough designation, positioning it to replace gadolinium and iodine‑based CT agents for millions of contraindicated scans each year. A strategic partnership with Siemens provides scanner‑agnostic integration, while AI algorithms power the Vascular Intelligence Platform, extracting individual‑level biomarkers of aging and vessel health from the enhanced images. Ongoing clinical trials, including a 96‑patient study funded by the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, validate the technology’s ability to quantify blood‑brain barrier leakage and other microvascular metrics that were previously only observable at the group level.
Looking ahead, Imaginostics aims to embed its precision diagnostics into routine preventive care across neurology, oncology, and cardiology. By delivering safer, faster scans and actionable biomarkers, the system could transform screening protocols—from mammography for dense‑breast women to early Alzheimer’s risk assessment—enabling clinicians to intervene before symptoms emerge. The combination of FDA‑backed safety, AI‑driven analytics, and broad commercial partnerships promises to accelerate adoption, making personalized, preventative imaging a standard component of modern healthcare.
Episode Description
What does it mean to build something that has never existed before?
In this episode of StartUp Health NOW, Unity Stoakes sits down with CEO & Co-founder Valerie Gharagouzloo and Chief Science Officer & Co-founder Codi Gharagouzloo, PhD, of Imaginostics, the health technology company reimagining what MRI can tell us about the human body. Their platform, built on a technology invented by Codi during his PhD research in 2012, creates a new quantitative data layer inside existing MRI scanners, one that replaces toxic contrast agents, delivers images judged ten times better than the gadolinium standard, and generates vascular biomarkers measurable for the first time at the individual patient level.
StartUp Health community members Valerie and Codi break down the difference between their two platforms, ImagiView™ and ImagiSight™, explain why blood-brain barrier leakage matters for Alzheimer’s and how they are finally able to measure it in individual patients, and share what their commercialization partnership with Siemens means for getting this technology into hospitals.
Twice nominated for the Prix Galien, backed by four federal research agencies, and now running a 96-patient study funded by the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation, Imaginostics is one of the most rigorously validated zero-to-one technologies in health innovation today.
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