Biomagnetism is the study and measurements of the magnetic fields of living organisms, primarily those of the human body. These magnetic fields are generated either as a direct result of electrophysilogical currents flowing in the heart, brain, muscles and other regions, or by the presence of magnetic materials or tissues with different magnetic properties in various organs such as liver, spleen or lungs.

The development of the superconducting SQUID-magnetometer has made it possible to measure these extremely weak magnetic fields with a good signal-to-noise ratio and in-phase, true DC response.

The clinical applications of this method are under the development around the world. But the wide clinical use of this method is restricted by the necessity of the cryogenic equipment and the presence of large disturbances in unshielded magnetic measurements. From the other side magnetic methods of measurements and diagnostics offer several advantages as compared with other practical biomedical methods. The most important advantage is that the magnetic measurements are non-invasive and the body is not exposed to radiation or high magnetic fields.

The work of IPHT in this field is concentrated on the measurement the human fetal heart signal. The prototype of fetal MCG system developed at IPHT can measure the fMCG signal without any additional magnetic shield.