Our team at the UBC MRI
Research Centre and at the Department of Radiology at the University
of British Columbia is interested in MR signal formation in the
presence of magnetically inhomogeneous tissues, such as nerve fibres
or blood vessels. We collaborate with various researchers from the
departments of Physics and Astronomy, Radiology, Neurology and Pathology.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a tremendously successful tool for
biomedical research and diagnostic imaging. MRI research resides at
the interfaces of life sciences and natural sciences and their
respective subdisciplines. MRI is an active field with multiple
specialized sub-fields and an annual conference that attracts more
than 5,000 basic scientists and clinical researchers.
A large part of the ongoing active research in MRI is dedicated to the
manipulation of the atomic nuclei using sequences of electromagnetic
fields. There are virtually no limitations to the length and
complexity of these sequences and, most importantly, we can often
apply them without having to change the hardware of the MRI
scanner.
MRI researchers translate physics into software, the scanner
translates the software into magnetic fields and then listens to the
response of the atomic nuclei. This response depends on the
biophysical environment of the nuclei. With this approach, scientists
have learned to make movies of the beating heart, to map nerve fibre
connections between various brain regions, to visualize and quantify
blood flow through the vascular system, to watch the brain thinking,
among other applications.
Most of the information gathered with MRI is
due to subtle variations in signal magnitude which can be translated
into images with meaningful information about the nuclei's biophysical
environment.
Our lab is located on UBC's Point Grey Campus in Vancouver, Canada. We
have access to a 3 Tesla whole body MRI scanner (Philips Achieva) and
a 7 Tesla small bore scanner (Bruker Biospec), which are both located
within a few walking minutes from the lab.
Research Interests
Phase information in MRI
Susceptibility weighted MRI
Brain iron content
MRI of Multiple Sclerosis
MRI of Parkinson Disease
MR signal formation in magnetically inhomogeneous media
Blood oxygenation
Skiing
Please refer to Research and Publications for further information on what we are doing.
Welcome