Microstructure-weighted MRI: Development of novel contrasts

This research program seeks to refine MRI diagnostic techniques that illuminate subtle brain tissue alterations associated with neurological conditions such as epilepsy, brain tumor invasion, and incipient dementia.

These conditions often elude detection by standard MRI methods, and improved imaging would be of great value both scientifically and clinically.

The project capitalizes on breakthroughs in MRI technology, microstructure modeling, and novel diffusion encoding strategies to define contrasts that maximize sensitivity to targeted microstructure features while minimizing it to irrelevant ones.

The project has four objectives: designing new encoding methods targeting microstructure alterations for specific diseases; enhancing these through realistic tissue simulations; accelerating image acquisition to comply with demands in clinical practice and clinical science; and characterizing the new microstructure-weighted contrasts in healthy subjects and patients to test the potential of the approach.

Preliminary results indicate that our novel methods reveals epileptic lesions that were invisible with coventional MRI and that they can be used to map alterations dendritic spine density, central to both learning and neurodegeneration.

Our work will utilize state-of-the-art equipment, is supported by an extensive network of experts and industry leaders, and is therefore positioned to significantly advance medical imaging and enhance patient treatment.