> The team led by scientists at the Smurfit Institute of Genetics in Trinity’s School of Genetics and Microbiology and neurologists in the School of Medicine have also uncovered a novel form of MRI scan

A typical clinical MRI machine has a resolution of about 2mm. Small lesions are invisible to it. They are expensive to run and, more importantly, a scan takes a long time, so you usually only do some sort of specialized detail measurements, not a detailed "full picture" of everything. MRI machines typically run non-stop to be economically viable (just the helium coolant costs something like 200k$ per year), consequently your research likely competes with other teams', I presume. The contrasting agents able to cross the blood-brain-barrier are not substances without concern. They tend to accumulate in the brain, I guess people may be extra cautious with a hypothesis of hyperimmunity, or leaky blood vessels.

I am pretty sure a standard MRI scan of the brain did not show the described clinical evidence before.

Also:

> Undertaking this complicated clinical research study at a time of national crisis and when our hospital system was under severe pressure is a testament to the skill and resource of our medical trainees and staff.

> "The concept that many other viral infections that lead to post-viral syndromes might drive blood vessel leakage in the brain is potentially game changing and is under active investigation by the team.” — Matthew Campbell, Professor in Genetics and Head of Genetics at Trinity, and Principal Investigator at FutureNeuro.

Part of the article talks about how testing and confirmation of a COVID diagnosis was a requirement here, which helps narrow down the study.

Maybe most obvious things don’t get funded so the research cannot be done.