Please join us for the 2013 BRIC-Radiology Research Day!

The detailed schedule for Research Day is still in progress, please check back here for more details.  For a rough outline of the day:

12:00-1:30PM Poster Session and Lunch - Lobby of North Carolina Cancer Hospital

2:00-4:45PM Presentations in North Carolina Cancer Hospital conference room 1

5:00-6:00PM Keynote speaker, Zahi A. Fayad, Phd., FACC, FAHA. In Bondurant G100

• Dr. Fayad is Director of the Translational and Molecular Imaging Institute, a Professor of Radiology, and a Professor of Cardiology at Mount Sinai.  He is a world leader in the development and use of multimodality cardiovascular imaging (CMR, CT, PET) and molecular imaging to study cardiovascular disease.

Presented by Tor D. Wager, Ph.D.

"Towards a Neuroscience of Human Emotion"

Abstract:

Emotions are powerful organizers of perceptual, mnemonic, motivational, and physiological processes. Understanding emotions, and their basic affective and cognitive ingredients, is essential for understanding healthy and disordered brain function. However, in spite of some claims to the contrary in the popular press, there are as yet no reliable human brain markers for affective processes. Here, I introduce an analysis framework for identifying fMRI patterns specific to particular types of mental events. This framework is qualitatively different from the "brain mapping" approach because it emphasizes a) optimization of psychological ("reverse") inference using machine learning; b) quantitative assessment of the diagnostic value of brain patterns; and c) prospective use of the same diagnostic patterns across studies. Using this approach, we have identified a brain pattern that can predict the intensity of physical pain at the level of the individual person with 90-100% accuracy in some tests. This brain marker for pain is distinct from other patterns that are diagnostic of other types of affective events (e.g., observed pain, aversive images, and romantic rejection). These results suggest that it may be possible to develop fMRI-based brain markers for distinct emotional states. Such markers would provide new ways of measuring and classifying emotions, characterizing brain disorders, and testing the effects of cognitive manipulations on pain and emotion.

Presented by Xiaopeng Zong, Ph.D.

Research Associate, University of Pittsburgh, NeuroImaging Laboratory

"Chemical Exchange Sensitive MRI: Amide and Amine Protons"

Monday, March 11th, 2013 2:00-3:00 PM

Medical Research Building D Conference Room

Abstract:

Imaging the pH and chemical compositions of the brain is important for understanding brain function and may provide useful information in clinical applications of brain diseases. Chemical exchange of protons between water and biomolecules can be exploited in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for measuring pH and metabolite/protein concentration changes which are detected indirectly through water signal with enhanced sensitivity by applying saturation or spin-locking radiofrequency pulses. Exchangeable amide and amine protons are abundant in the brain and have been shown to be promising chemical exchange sites in preclinical studies of brain cancer and stroke. In this talk, I will present the physical principles and the quantification and optimization issues of chemical-exchange sensitive MRI and discuss the in vivo signal source of MRI techniques sensitive to the amide- and amine–water proton exchange.

Wednesday, February 27th

11:00AM - 12:00PM

Bondurant Hall G100

Imaging, Therapy and Beyond

We will be also holding a user group discussion after the seminar.  Anyone who has interests in optical imaging or has questions regarding imaging instrument or agents are welcome to attend the discussion.

Below is the detailed seminar information:

Date:  Tuesday, Feb. 26^th, 2013

Seminar

Time: 1:00-2:00 PM

Location: Bioinformatics Building Auditorium, Room 1131

User Group discussion

Time: 2:00-3:00 PM

Location: BRIC conference, Medical research D building (BRIC facility building)

(refreshments provided)

Seminar Title: Optical Imaging: Research in Preclinical Models of Cancer, Inflammation, and Toxicology

Speaker: Dr. Jeffrey D. Peterson, Director of Applied Biology and Biology R&D

LST Center for Personalized Health & Innovation, PerkinElmer Inc.

Topics:

-Model Development and Characterization

Considerations for successful in vivo imaging studies

Sharing Methods of Success

-IVIS Application Update

Imaging biomarkers of disease.

Multiplex 2D & 3D Imaging Advances

-FMT Application Update

Oncology, angiogenesis, inflammation, kinetic imaging

-Agents and Applications

Imaging disease physiology, vascular permeability & angiogenesis.

Agents in cancer, inflammation, and toxicology

Presented by: Ananda Kumar, Ph.D.

Visiting Research Associate, Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Optimal MRI Signal Detection and RF Safety at Very High Field Strengths

Tuesday, February 26th

11:00-12:00PM

Medical Research Building D Conference Room (to the right as you walk in the front door, click here for directions to the building)

Presented by:

Challenges and Opportunities in Human MR Imaging at Ultrahigh Fields: an RF Perspective

Tuesday, February 19th 2013 2:00PM – 3:00PM

Presented in the Medical Research Building D Conference Room

Abstract:

High (e.g. 3 and 4T) and ultrahigh magnetic fields (e.g. 7, 8 and 9.4T) for human MR applications have been advocated due to their intrinsically high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and spectral dispersion. A major challenge to fully realize such high-field advantages is the design of high-frequency RF coils, especially large volume coils and parallel imaging transceiver arrays, which determines the feasibility of in vivo MR studies at ultra-high fields. In addition, the high frequency wave behavior of the B1+/B1- fields in the conductive and high dielectric samples (such as human body) causes inhomogeneous signal distributions. In this talk, we will discuss the problems faced in high frequency coil designs, such as increased radiation losses, degraded sensitivity, image inhomogeneity, complex wave behaviors, high operating frequency limitations, and also the solutions using the newly developed microstrip transmission line (MTL) coil design method and their in vivo applications. The coil design examples will cover surface coils, volume coils, parallel imaging transceiver arrays and dual-tuned coils. Parallel transmit using multichannel transceiver arrays for B1 shimming and selective excitation will be also discussed.

Dr. Lindquist is presenting a talk entitled "An fMRI-Based Biomarker for Physical Pain."

Abstract:

Persistent pain is central to many disorders, but can only be measured by self-report, which hampers diagnosis and treatment. In this work we introduce a biomarker based on distributed patterns of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) actively that a) accurately predicts pain experience and b) differentiates physical pain from related experiences. Four studies (total N=114) tested the biomarker’s sensitivity and specificity for pain at the level of the individual person.

Our presenter is Dr. Gang Zheng, a professor of Medical Biophysics, Bioengineering, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, from the University of Toronto.

He will be presenting "Porphysome nanotechnology and Beyond"

Abstract:

Recently we discovered ‘porphysomes’, the first all-organic nanoparticles with intrinsic multimodal photonic properties and beyond. They are self-assembled from porphyrin-lipid building blocks to form liposome-like nanoparticles (~100 nm diameter). The porphyrin packing density is so high (>80,000 per particle) that they absorb and convert light energy to heat with extremely high efficiency, making them ideal candidates for photothermal therapy and photoacoustic imaging. The large aqueous core of porphysomes could be loaded with drugs, whereas the porphysome bilayer, upon disruption, will enable fluorescence imaging. In addition, porphysome can directly chelate metal ions thus unlocking their potential for PET, MRI and radiation therapy. By changing the way porphyrin-lipid assembles, ultra small porphyrin nanodisc and large porphyrin shell microbubbles (dual photoacoustic/ultrasound probe) were also developed. Further, porphysomes are biocompatible, biodegradable and can be easily scaled up. Compared with classical “all-in-one” nanoparticles containing many functional modules, the simple yet “one-for-all” nature of porphysomes not only confers high potential for clinical translation but also represents a novel approach to the design of multifunctional nanoparticle.

Jieping Ye, PhD

Department of Computer Science

Arizona State University

Abstract:

Recent advances in high-throughput technologies have unleashed a torrent of biomdeical data with a large number of dimensions; biomedical investigations have become computationally more complex and more challenging. In this talk, we consider sparse methods for (1) variable selection where the structure over the features can be represented as an undirected graph or a collection of disjoint or overlapping groups, (2) multi-source data fusion with a "blockwise" data missing pattern, and (3) simultaneous construction of multiple networks. We address the computational challenge by designing novel screening strategies which scale sparse methods to large-size problems. Promising results on several biomedical applications will be presented.

Dr. Younes will be presenting "Analysis of Shape Datasets in the Brain and in the Heart."

Abstract: We describe a processing pipeline for the analysis of large datasets of triangulated surfaces, arising from brain or cardiac medical images. Starting from segmented regions of interest (such as brain subvolumes, or cardiac ventricles), the pipeline executes the following sequence of operations: computation of a population average, or template, registration of all shapes on the template using large deformation diffeomorphic metric mapping algorithm (LDDMM) and statistical analyses of group differences based on deformation markers. The approach is illustrated by specific examples, involving Alzheimer's disease (BIOCARD, ADNI), Huntington disease (PREDICT) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.