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Evan Morris, PhD

Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and of Biomedical Engineering
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Contact Info

Radiology & Biomedical Imaging

PO Box 208042, Tompkin's East 2

New Haven, CT 06520-8042

United States

About

Titles

Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and of Biomedical Engineering

Biography

Morris specializes in using kinetic modeling and image processing to extract physiological information from dynamic PET images. His current projects include:

  • Modeling and texture analysis to image Non-small cell lung cancer with tyrosine kinase inhibitor tracers
  • Novel kinetic modeling to image dyskinesias in Parkinson's
  • Continued Optimization of Dopamine Movies to study Addiction and Behavior
  • Applying principles in functional connectivity and machine learning to analyze dopamine movies
  • Imaging new targets in Depression, Alcoholism

    Using multimodal PET to understand the opioid system in alcoholism.

    Creating new parametric images to speed drug discovery

Morris and his group continue to refine mathematical and statistical aspects of their techniques for making "dopamine movies" of the brain. With their dopamine movies, Morris and colleague Kelly Cosgrove and their team discovered sex differences in brains of smokers smoking cigarettes (J Neurosci Dec 10, 2014).

Appointments

Education & Training

Postdoctoral fellowship
Massachusetts General Hospital (1995)
PhD
Case Western Reserve Univ (1991)
SB
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Biology, Chemical Engineering (1983)

Research

Overview

Professor Morris specializes in using kinetic modeling to extract physiological information from dynamic PET images.

Morris and his group continue to refine mathematical and statistical aspects of their techniques for extracting transient neurotransmitter fluctuations induced by drugs or behaviors from dynamic PET data. The end-product of these modeling/image processing techniques are minute-by-minute "movies" of neurotransmitter release in the brain. Recent papers by Morris et al., (Neuroimage 2010) and Normandin et al (Neuroimage 2012) and Sullivan et al (AJNMMI 2013) and Kim et al (Hum Brain Map 2014) demonstrate the work. The culmination of these theoretical developments resulted in a paper by Cosgrove et al (J Neurosci 2014) showing differences in brain responses of male and female smokers while smoking.

Current projects include

a. relating occupancy of neuroreceptors by medications to medication efficacy
b. relating neurotransmitter dynamics to drug-seeking behavior
c. understanding medication efficacy through its effect on neurotransmitter dynamics
d. developing new models of temporal patterns in PET data as biomarkers of disease and risk
e. developing metrics for assessing the accuracy and precision of parametric images

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Positron Emission Tomography Computed Tomography; Sensory Receptor Cells

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Evan Morris's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

Clinical Trials

Current Trials

Academic Achievements & Community Involvement

  • honor

    Fulbright Senior Scholar to Israel for Teaching and Research

  • honor

    Graduate Mentor of the Year (Natural Sciences)

Get In Touch

Contacts

Mailing Address

Radiology & Biomedical Imaging

PO Box 208042, Tompkin's East 2

New Haven, CT 06520-8042

United States

Locations

  • Laboratory for Medicine and Pediatrics (LMP)

    Academic Office

    15 York Street, Ste Suite 92 B

    New Haven, CT 06510