2016 Otto Schmitt Lecture (Gore) | Institute for Engineering in Medicine Archives

"New Developments in Structural and Functional MRI"

11:30 AM -12:30 PM
Tuesday, November 1, 2016

John C. Gore, Ph.D.

University Professor
Hertha Ramsey Cress Chair in Medicine
Professor of Radiology and Radiological Sciences
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics
Profressor of Physics and Astronomy
Director, Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS)

ABSTRACT

Several new experimental observations promise to extend the role of MRI in neuroscience. For example, temporal diffusion spectroscopy uses measurements of apparent diffusion rates over different time scales to derive microstructural information such as axon sizes non-invasively. Also in white matter, anisotropic correlations between resting state MRI signals from adjacent voxels were recently reported. These correlations can be analyzed in similar manner as diffusion tensors (but without diffusion gradients) and often appear to follow white matter tracts and reveal an apparent underlying functional structure. The biophysical origins of these signals are under active investigation as they potentially provide new insights into information flow in white matter. Resting state correlations have also been discovered in the central grey matter of spinal cord, both in non-human primates and human subjects, and depict functional connectivity between sub-regions such as the ventral and dorsal horns. These correlations change after an injury and thus may provide a biomarker of the functional integrity of the cord. Aided by technical advances in ultra-high field imaging, these developments suggest potential new research directions and applications of MRI.