07.07.2025
How Neural Networks Are Changing Medical Imaging – With Reinhard Heckel
Research Film
Clear imaging is essential for accurate diagnosis — but when it comes to the heart, motion makes it one of the most difficult organs to capture in high resolution. Traditional reconstruction methods often struggle to deliver the detail clinicians need.
«Deep neural networks can improve the clarity and diagnostic value by giving much sharper and higher resolution images from measurements where classical methods just don’t do as well.»
Reinhard Heckel
MCML PI
Reinhard Heckel, Professor of Machine Learning at TUM and MCML PI, is using deep neural networks to change that. His team is developing methods that reconstruct sharper, more detailed images from limited or noisy measurements — even when the subject is moving.
«The data is really what makes the difference between a well-performing method that is robust and reliable, and a method that is just going to work on a handful of patients.»
Reinhard Heckel
MCML PI
A key focus of his research is data: how to source it, how to ensure it’s diverse, and how to train robust models that generalize across patient populations.
This work is paving the way for more accurate imaging tools that can help detect pathologies that might otherwise go unnoticed.
This video is part of our MCML spotlight series on researchers driving real-world impact with AI.
©MCML
The film was produced and edited by Nicole Huminski and Nikolai Huber.
Related
28.07.2026
Gaps in the Benchmark: Why Medical AI Fails in the Real World
MCML researchers show in Nature Health how dynamic red teaming exposes hidden weaknesses in Medical AI beyond static benchmarks.
26.07.2026
Barbara Plank Becomes President of the Association for Computational Linguistics
MCML PI Barbara Plank becomes President of the Association for Computational Linguistics, the world's leading NLP organization.
25.07.2026
Konstantin Riedl Receives 2026 SIAM Student Paper Prize
Former MCML Junior Member Konstantin Riedl receives the 2026 SIAM Student Paper Prize for research on nonconvex optimization.
