Seeing the Invisible with Diffusion-Weigh.. E.Özarslan,Dec 23,L045

Seeing the Invisible with Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance

Evren Özarslan1,2

1.Section on Tissue Biophysics and Biomimetics, Program on Pediatric Imaging and Tissue Sciences, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health
2.Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging scans suffer from limited resolution that prohibits the visualization of individual cells thus providing information at coarse length scales. To obtain information at smaller length scales, the MR signal can be sensitized to self-diffusion of water molecules whose motional history is influenced by the local microstructure. Starting from the fundamentals, I will discuss the essential features of diffusion MR that makes it a powerful probe to characterize tissue and material microstructure. Emphasis will be placed on an alternative diffusion MR pulse sequence, the double pulsed field gradient (double-PFG) technique, that could be used to characterize the size, shape, and orientational distribution of cellular compartments without the need to apply strong magnetic field gradients. Theoretical predictions as well as early experimental findings demonstrate that double-PFG MR could be a powerful technique for monitoring morphological changes in tissue, and, as such, a valuable diagnostic tool.

---

*Faculty  Seminar                                            

23 Aralık Perşembe, 13:40  at FENS L045