Section: MPG (DE) - Fast Low Angle Shot (FLASH) MRI | Use patents: cases from research results | e-learning centre

Main course page

MPG (DE) - Fast Low Angle Shot (FLASH) MRI

  • MPG (DE) - Fast Low Angle Shot (FLASH) MRI

    In the early 1980s, magnetic resonance imaging was a stressful procedure for patients, requiring them to remain motionless in a narrow tube for long periods of time. Then Jens Frahm and his team at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen invented FLASH, a new and revolutionary MRI method which speeded up image acquisition time by a factor of 100. In order to commercialise the patent for FLASH, a long and fierce litigation battle had to be fought, which ultimately resulted in a significant licence fee income for the Max Planck Society. In 2010, Frahm and his colleagues developed FLASH 2, which has shortened acquisition times even further. The technology moves MRI from images to films and enables real-time MRI videos of dynamic processes such as the beating heart. The commercialisation of FLASH 2 is based on a unique two-stage licensing scheme.


    Read through the following texts and try to answer the highlighted questions.

    • For your convenience, you can download the entire case study here:


    • Watch the following video to see a summary of the case. The case is presented by Jens Frahm and Jörn Erselius: