Dr. Giles Santyr is a medical biophysicist working with physicians and engineers to pioneer new techniques for imaging the lungs of children. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is an attractive option since it does not involve x-rays, but is challenging in the lung due to very low signal. In the Santyr lab, the lung airways can be safely “illuminated” using MRI of a specially prepared inert gas (called hyperpolarized Xenon-129, or ¹²⁹Xe) inhaled by the subject. Santyr’s lab is one of a handful in the world that is developing hyperpolarized xenon-129 gas MRI as well as other approaches to allow the exploration of the paediatric lung, providing for safer, earlier and more accurate diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression and treatment response. This research is expected to have a significant impact on the way physicians detect, diagnose and treat paediatric lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis, asthma and lung injury.