In September 2025, NYU Abu Dhabi announced a clinical partnership with Abu Dhabi Stem Cells Center, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi and Yas Clinic – Khalifa City. Its aim is practical: to bring AI-powered MRI analysis into the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS), so that patients can be diagnosed faster and with more confidence.
What the partnership is working on
Diagnosing MS from an MRI scan depends on telling MS lesions apart from other changes in the brain. The team is using FLAIRstar, a computational tool developed at NYU Abu Dhabi that looks for the central vein sign: a small vein running through the middle of a lesion, which is a highly specific marker of MS.
The two-year effort concentrates on the step that is often hardest in medical research: moving a method from the lab into clinical validation, with real scans and the clinicians who read them.
From the lab to the clinic
The MRI techniques developed in the LAMINATE project, supported by the National MS Society, are now applied at Yas Clinic. Dr. Osama Abdullah, an MRI physicist at the NYU Abu Dhabi Center for Brain and Health, called it a perfect example of the “bench-to-bedside” journey. Dr. Lev Brylev, Consultant Neurologist at Yas Clinic, described the collaboration as a way of combining clinical expertise with state-of-the-art MRI methods.
Why it matters to us
This is the kind of work Laminate exists to carry into everyday practice: analysis that radiologists and neurologists can trust, review and use inside the workflow they already have. We will share more here as the work progresses.
Read the original announcement on the NYU Abu Dhabi website.
Cover photo: NYU Abu Dhabi.
