Research in our lab is focused on the application of novel MRI methodology in conjunction with biophysical modeling to augment the current understanding of brain anatomy and physiology. In neurological disease, the interplay between sub-voxel, cellular-level components such as microglia and axons executes a critical role in determining disease onset and progression. To investigate these features, our lab utilizes both small animal (7 T) and human MRI/MRS (3 T, 7 T) in conjunction with optical microscopy and advanced image processing methods. In particular, we develop MRI physics acquisition and post-processing techniques for mapping myelin density, axonal packing and axonal geometry. To improve existing models, we use numerical, magnetostatic/tissue relaxation simulation models based on the cell-level geometries observed from human brain histology images. An ultimate goal is to extend magnetic susceptibility and relaxometry-based MRI models of brain tissue microstructure to develop atlases applicable to neurological disease.
Equally relevant, our lab also focuses on the advancement of physics, signal processing and hardware methodology for ultra-high field (UHF, > 3T) MRI. The current breadth of application of UHF MRI to neurological diseases represents only the tip of the iceberg. The challenge moving forward will be to leverage advanced MRI physics techniques, primarily developed at 3 T, for use with 7 T MRI. This requires addressing several critical challenges associated with UHF MRI. First, the decreased radiofrequency (RF) field wavelength associated with UHF MRI requires consistent mapping of the transmit RF field (B1+). Secondly, UHF MRI is associated with increased static magnetic field inhomogeneities (B0 effects). A consequent motivation in our lab is to advance techniques related to (a) RF field homogenization (static and dynamic B1+ shimming methods) and (b) B0 shimming (B0 field mapping, gradient Z-shimming and multi-coil shim arrays).
Selected Publications
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- Bernhardt, B. C., Fadaie, F., Vos de Wael, R., Hong, S. J., Liu, M., Guiot, M. C., . . . Bernasconi, N. (2017). Preferential susceptibility of limbic cortices to microstructural damage in temporal lobe epilepsy: A quantitative T1 mapping study. Neuroimage, S1053-8119(17)30471-8 Link to item
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- Campbell, W. G., Rudko, D. A., Braam, N. A., Wells, D. M., & Jirasek, A. (2013). A prototype fan-beam optical CT scanner for 3D dosimetry. Medical Physics, 40(6), 061712. 10.1118/1.4805111 Link to item
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- Goubran, M., Rudko, D. A., Santyr, B., Gati, J., Szekeres, T., Peters, T. M., & Khan, A. R. (2014). In vivo normative atlas of the hippocampal subfields using multi-echo susceptibility imaging at 7 tesla. Human Brain Mapping, 35(8), 3588-3601. 10.1002/hbm.22423 Link to item
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- Liu, J., Rudko, D. A., Gati, J. S., Menon, R. S., & Drangova, M. (2015). Inter-echo variance as a weighting factor for multi-channel combination in multi-echo acquisition for local frequency shift mapping. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 73(4), 1654-1661. 10.1002/mrm.25247 Link to item
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- Maranzano, J., Rudko, D. A., Arnold, D. L., & Narayanan, S. (2016). Manual segmentation of MS cortical lesions using MRI: A comparison of 3 MRI reading protocols. AJNR.American Journal of Neuroradiology, 37(9), 1623-1628. 10.3174/ajnr.A4799 Link to item
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- Maranzano, J., Rudko, D. A., Nakamura, K., Cook, S., Cadavid, D., Wolansky, L., . . . Narayanan, S. (2017). MRI evidence of acute inflammation in leukocortical lesions of patients with early multiple sclerosis. Neurology, 89(7), 714-721. 10.1212/WNL.0000000000004227 Link to item
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- Rudko, D. A., Derakhshan, M., Maranzano, J., Nakamura, K., Arnold, D. L., & Narayanan, S. (2016). Delineation of cortical pathology in multiple sclerosis using multi-surface magnetization transfer ratio imaging. NeuroImage.Clinical, 12, 858-868. 10.1016/j.nicl.2016.10.010 Link to item
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- Rudko, D. A., Klassen, L. M., de Chickera, S. N., Gati, J. S., Dekaban, G. A., & Menon, R. S. (2014). Origins of R2* orientation dependence in gray and white matter. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 111(1), E159-67. 10.1073/pnas.1306516111 Link to item
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- Rudko, D. A., Solovey, I., Gati, J. S., Kremenchutzky, M., & Menon, R. S. (2014). Multiple sclerosis: Improved identification of disease-relevant changes in gray and white matter by using susceptibility-based MR imaging. Radiology, 272(3), 851-864. 10.1148/radiol.14132475 Link to item
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- Streijger, F., Lee, J. H., Manouchehri, N., Okon, E. B., Tigchelaar, S., Anderson, L. M., . . . Kwon, B. K. (2016). The evaluation of magnesium chloride within a polyethylene glycol formulation in a porcine model of acute spinal cord injury. Journal of Neurotrauma, 33(24), 2202-2216. 10.1089/neu.2016.4439 Link to item
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