Speciailzed Terms: Brain energy metabolism; Neurovascular and neurometabolic coupling; BOLD technology; BIRDS technology; Calibrated fMRI technology; SAR technology; Cancer imaging and therapy technology; Molecular probes and nanocarriers
Specific areas of interest in functional imaging include (i) understanding the role of the extraordinarily high energy demands of ongoing and intrinsic activity within neural populations as potential for quantitative disease biomarker, (ii) advancing the spatiotemporal resolution of functional imaging to understand the relation of cellular metabolism in health and disease (e.g., healthy aging, Alzheimer’s disease, depression, epilepsy, schizophrenia), and (iii) developing advanced calibrated fMRI methods for using oxidative energy as an absolute index of neural activity, both with task and rest paradigms, across cortical and subcortical regions.
For molecular imaging we use a method called BIRDS, which we developed and quite unconventionally detects the paramagnetically-shifted and non-exchangeable protons from lanthanide (or transition) metal ion probes for high spatiotemporal resolution biosensing. Highly precise molecular imaging of temperature and pH is achievable with BIRDS. Current areas of relevance are (i) design of new molecular probes for BIRDS, (ii) early cancer detection and metastasis using absolute pH imaging, (iii) application of new probes for BIRDS as molecular targets for diseases (e.g., diabetes), and (iv) detection of tumor response to treatments (e.g., radiation, chemotherapy, heat).
Calibrated fMRI for basal metabolism – simulation studies to assess sensitivities required for fMRI and perfusion data to extract basal metabolism from calibrated fMRI data
Quantitative metabolic PET – analysis of whole brain PET data of glucose and oxidative metabolism in the human brain in relation to blood flow
Liposomal BIRDS – development and/or characterization of newly developed probes encapsulated inside liposomes for BIRDS
Dendrimeric BIRDS – development and/or characterization of newly developed macromolecular-based probes for BIRDS
Biomedical Engineering; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neurosciences; Radiology; Molecular Probes
Conditions | Study Title |
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Mental Health & Behavioral Research | Alpha-Amino-3-Hydroxy-5-Methyl-4- Isoxazole Propionic Acid Receptor Components of the Anti-Depressant Ketamine Response |