The Dunedin Study will benefit from a powerful MRI machine installed at a new imaging unit in the city.
The 3 Tesla MRI at the Pacific Radiology unit in Great King St is the first in Otago-Southland.
It will be used for University of Otago research and for private patients.
From next month, the Dunedin Study's subjects will be scanned for brain function.
It will take more than two years to scan the entire cohort and each person will be scanned every five years.
The scans will track age-related brain changes in the study participants.
Managing director and radiologist James Fulton said the university could use the scanner for up to two and a-half days per week.
Dr Fulton said the 3 Tesla's main advantage was its ability to scan brain function.
High-resolution scans were also useful in other areas such as the liver.
"The difference in the Tesla is the strength of the magnetic field.
"The standard diagnostic scanners that we have [in the region] ... are 1.5 Tesla scanners.''
"You can get more signal. You get higher resolution scans ... The benefit for patients is that you get more detail in the scans.''
Brain-function scanning would be useful for the Dunedin Hospital neurosurgery department but no arrangement was in place to refer patients from the public health system to the unit, Dr Fulton said.
The unit, which opened two weeks ago, also has ultrasound and X-ray scanners.
Pacific Radiology owns Otago Radiology, and the company is rebranding the subsidiary with the parent brand.
In coming months, Otago Radiology at Marinoto Clinic will be rebranded.
