Bio-imaging/Molecular Imaging Research Overview

Benveniste, Helene

Chair, Medical Department

Benveniste@bnl.gov

Summary : Benveniste's Laboratory focuses on (1) exploring, characterizing and understanding diagnostic MR contrast parameters suitable to visualize neuro-pathology in neurodegenerative diseases; (2) investigate transgenic animal models were specific genes are modified to understand mechanism(s) and treatment of addiction and of drug-induced neurotoxicity using high resolution MR imaging, (3) advance technologies in molecular MR imaging.

Bluestein, Danny

Professor

Danny.Bluestein@sunysb.edu

Summary : Despite major progress, cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in the western world. One of the major culprits in cardiovascular disease and in devices designed to treat or restore impaired cardiovascular function is the non-physiologic flow pattern that enhances the hemostatic response mainly through platelet activation. Platelets have long been regarded as the preeminent cell involved in physiologic hemostasis and pathologic thrombosis. An innovative technique for measuring flow induced platelet activation has been developed, and its utility demonstrated in experiments conducted in recirculation devices (models of arterial stenosis, Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), and mechanical heart valves). The mechanisms by which the non-physiologic flow patterns induce platelet activation and generate free emboli, that enhance the risk of cardioembolic stroke, was demonstrated in vivo with mechanical heart valves implanted in the sheep model. The results of this research will aid in elucidating physical forces that regulate cellular function in flowing blood, and may be applied to improve the design of blood recirculating devices and to develop more potent drugs for treating cardiovascular diseases.

Button, Terry

Associate Professor

Terry.Button@sunysb.edu

Summary : Fu-Pen Chiang's research interest is in the development and application of various optical techniques such as moire, holographic interferometry and speckle interferometry for stress analysis, nondestructive evaluation and metrology. He has applied these techniques to the study of fracture, fatigue and damage of metallic, composite and biological materials and published some 200 papers on various topics. He was the recipient of the 1993 B.J. Lazan Award of the Society for Experimental Mechanics. His research has been supported by NSF, ONR, ARO for his "outstanding original technical contributions in optical metrology." He is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Mechanics, Optical Society of America and a member of many professional societies including, ASMF, ASEE, AAAS and ASTM. He served as Editor of Int. J. Optics of Lasers in Engineering, Associate Editor of J. of Experimental Mechanics and ASME J. of Engineering Materials and Technology. He served as Guest Editor for four special issues of J. Optical Engineering, and organized many international and national conferences.

Chon, Ki

Professor

Ki.Chon@sunysb.edu

Summary : The cardiac autonomic nervous system is responsible for maintaining proper homeostasis, or balance, of the cardiovascular system. One of our major areas of research is to detect, quantify, and interpret differences in dynamic characteristics of the cardiac autonomic nervous system between normal and diseased subjects, in an attempt to find a marker for increased risk of sudden cardiac death. Identifying and quantifying differences in the dynamic characteristics of autonomic function between normal and diseased conditions may lead to a better understanding of the role of autonomic function imbalance in diseased conditions, and should have important clinical diagnostic and prognostic applications. Another active research area is the development of computational modeling approaches to understand differences in dynamics of renal autoregulatory mechanisms between normotensive and hypertensive conditions. For both areas of research, we are developing novel linear and nonlinear signal processing techniques that can be successfully applied to achieve the research objectives.

Dilmanian, F. Avraham

Associate Professor

Dilmanian@bnl.gov

Summary : The focus of Avraham Dilmanian's work is on the use of X-ray beams from the National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), Brookhaven National Laboratory, in radiation therapy and medical imaging. The radiotherapy program, microbeam radiation therapy (MRT), uses arrays of parallel, microplanar X-rays and has two remarkable effects on laboratory vertebrates. First, it does not damage normal tissues at doses where conventional, broad beams produce severe tissue damage. Second, MRT kills some types of malignant tumors by irradiation from a single angle, at doses that are safe to normal tissues. Dilmanian's imaging programs pivot around computed tomography using monoenergetic X-ray beams. In particular, he and his colleagues recently implemented a new X-ray imaging method, Diffraction-Enhance Imaging (DEI), in the CT mode, studying phantoms and small animals. In both MRT and the imag-ing methods, technical challenges after the feasibility studies at the NSLS would be to develop compact sources for implementing the methods in hospitals.

Ding, Yu-Shin

Senior Scientist

ding@bnl.gov

Summary : Yu-Shin Ding is a Senior Scientist with Tenure at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). She is Head of Radiotracer Development in the Neuroscience and Medical Imaging Group. Her research interests are the development of new methodologies to synthesize short half-lived radiopharmaceuticals and applying them towards investigation of biochemical transformations and drug mechanisms in primates and human. She has developed many unique radiotracers, many involving multi-step sequences; for example, she developed C-11 labeled methylphenidate (Ritalin) allowing the first studies of this drug in the human brain, including studies in normal aging, drug abuse, Parkinson's Disease and ADHD. Her research has focused on the investigation of the functional significance of dopamine, nicotinic acetylcholine receptor, opiate receptor, adenosine receptor systems as well as studies of breast cancer and melanoma.

Entcheva, Emilia

Associate Professor

Emilia.Entcheva@sunysb.edu

Summary : The focus of the Cardiac Cell Engineering Laboratory is designing and characterizing heart cell networks and heart tissue in the lab to gain a better understanding of how cardiac cells self-organize and function. We are motivated to provide useful tools for physiomics type of studies, drug, gene and stem cell therapy testing 3D cellular platforms - an experimental setting for validation of computer models of excitable tissue, and ultimately to contribute to strategies for the regeneration of the heart. This research is multidisciplinary in nature and involves a spectrum of experimental molecular and cell biology procedures, along with the application of design concepts from electrical, optical, mechanical and chemical engineering to create the enabling technology for our studies. New imaging modalities, image processing algorithms and computer modeling are essential complementary tools developed and applied by our team. Key research areas include: 1) optical mapping of excitation; 2) advanced signal and imageprocessing; 3) cardiac cell and tissue engineering; 4) unraveling the mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias.

Fowler, Joanna

Professor

Fowler@bnl.gov

Summary : A senior chemist at Brookhaven National Laboratory, she focuses on the biochemical effects of drugs, aging, and selected diseases on the brain. Fowler received a Jacob Javits Investigator Award in the Neurosciences, in 1986 and 1993; a Gustavus John Esselen Award for Chemistry in the Public Interest in 1988; Brookhaven Laboratory's R&D Award, in 1994; the Aebersold Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine in 1997; and the Francis P. Garvan-John M. Olin Medal in 1998.

Frame, Molly

Associate Professor & Undergraduate Program Director

Mary.Frame@sunysb.edu

Summary : " Our emerging understanding of oxygen delivery to the tissues is that the blood flow within the smallest arterioles is tightly organized within repeating networks across the tissue. Central to this new paradigm are the concepts of vascular communication between the beginning and end of the network (via gap junctions), and its relation to flow sensing by the vascular endothelium. Our work has shown that different types of microvascular flow patterns can be triggered by direct stimulation of the focal adhesions (alpha-v-beta-3 integrins, i.e., wound healing), compared to adenosine (i.e., metabolic change), compared to nitric oxide (i.e., inflammation), hence we can control the flow patterns. Among the goals of this work are in vitro construction of transplantable microvascular networks, using bionanotechnology to create the sturdy scaffolding, and verification of nanofabricated drug delivery units within the vasculature. To this end, equally important are mechanotransduction of the physical forces associated with flow change (i.e., wall shear stress), the pharmacologic signal transduction systems involved (which guide drug discovery and intervention), and the molecular basis for the committed step that ensures healthy flow delivery. Our work employs computational modeling of the fluid mechanics, the physiology of arteriolar network blood flow (in vivo and in vitro), and precise genomic manipulation of key proteins in healthy and vascular disease states. "

Gindi, Gene R.

Associate Professor

Gindi@clio.rad.sunysb.edu

Summary : Algorithm development for medical imaging, particularly the application of applied mathematical methods to image reconstruction and to quantitative metrics for image quality. Gindi has been working in the area of nuclear medicine, where probabilistic methods must be used to reconstruct the image from the quantum limited acquired data. His team's approach has been to use Bayesian methods able to accurately model the image formation process as well as to model assorted forms of prior information concerning the object to be reconstructed. Such prior information includes knowledge of piecewise smoothness of the object as well as side information that can be gleaned from MRIs of the same patient. Image quality involves the formulation of crisp mathematical criteria. A considerable effort in signal processing is required in formulating how noise and object variation affect these criteria. Gindi and his students have made recent progress in the formulation of methods to describe noise propagation in nonlinear reconstruction algorithms.

Goldfarb, James W.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging Scientist

James.Goldfarb@chsli.edu

Summary : The application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to the cardiovascular system, particularly in the areas of myocardial function and blood vessels. Cardiovascular disease is the major cause of death in industrialized nations. Magnetic resonance’s ability for both anatomic and physiological imaging has enormous clinical potential as a noninvasive alternative to conventional invasive procedures. However, significant hurdles remain for cardiovascular MRI. Dr. Goldfarb has been developing, refining and evaluating novel methods that allow improved temporal and spatial resolution, which is needed to transform proposed methods into reliable clinical protocols. Active areas of research include contrast-enhanced angiography, myocardial viability and the development of fast imaging techniques.

Goldstein, Rita

Assistant Scientist

rgoldstein@bnl.gov

Summary : In this study of the brain-behavior mechanisms that underlie drug addiction, I place a special emphasis on the role of the prefrontal cortex and the mesocortical and mesolimbic dopamine brain circuits in the impaired ability to change ongoing behavior (willed-behavior) in response to an emotionally salient feedback. This intricate study of the interaction between brain and behavior incorporates the interrelated yet distinct research disciplines of neuroimaging, cognitive neuroscience, and neuropsychology. My research embraces this multidisciplinary approach, translating into patient-oriented clinical research settings the principles of non-invasive techniques to measure brain function such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), event-related potential (ERP) recordings, and neuropsychology.

Hainfeld, James F.

hainfeld@bnl.gov

Summary : James Hainfeld develops organometallic cluster compounds to be used as high resolution molecular labels. These heavy metal clusters are covalently attached to peptides, antibodies, other proteins, nucleic acids, carbohydrates or lipids to map sites of macromolecules or complexes for visualization in the Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM). Such clusters have been useful in studying the proteasome, pyruvate dehydrogenase enzyme complex, actin filaments, viruses, blood clotting components, nuclear proteins, and other structures. Use of clusters in anomalous X-ray scattering or for isomorphous replacements is being investigated also. Gold, platinum, palladium, silver, iridium, and other metal clusters have been synthesized. Recently, gold clusters having Nickel-NTA for binding 6x-His tagged proteins, gold-liposomes, gold-cluster-ATP, and giant platinum clusters have been studied. Dr. Hainfeld also founded Nanoprobes, Inc., a bio-nanotechnology biotech company, and serves as the CEO. Nanoprobes researches and develops organometallic nanoparticles for use in biomedical and material science applications. for more information see: www.biology.bnl.gov/stem/stem.html and www.nanoprobes.com

Harrington, Donald

Professor

Donald.Harrington@sunysb.edu

Summary : In 1991, Donald Harrington joined Stony Brook's Department of Radiology as a professor and University Hospital as radiologist-in-chief. Previously, he had taught at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Harrington's major research interests include Magnetic Resonance Imaging in medicine; telecommunications of imaging and data for patient care and medical teaching; and medical image processing. He has published his findings in over 100 journals, including Radiology, the American Journal of Cardiology, the Johns Hopkins Medical Journal, the Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Surgery, Applied Radiology, and many others. He is also an associate editor of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology and a reviewer for the American Journal of Roentgenology.

Jacobsen, Chris

Professor

Chris.Jacobsen@sunysb.edu

Summary : Chris Jacobsen's work is aimed at the development and applications of high resolution X-ray imaging modalities. He, in collaboration with Professor Kirz and their students, built several scanning transmission X-ray microscopes which make use of two beamlines at the National Synchrotron Light Source at nearby Brookhaven National Laboratory. These microscopes use microfab-ricated diffracted optics (zone plates) to focus the bright beam of X-rays to a 50 nm spot which is used to explore the specimen. Chemical and elemental information is gained using absorption spectroscopy at any desired location. Wet specimens up to 10 microns thick may be examined at room temperature or in a frozen hydrated form at liquid nitrogen temperature to reduce radiation damage. Jacobsen was a Presidential Faculty Fellow (NSF/White House, 1992-1997), and received the International Dennis Gabor Award in 1996.

Kaufman, Arie E.

Professor

Arie.Kaufman@sunysb.edu

Summary : Arie Kaufman is the director of the Center of Visual Computing (CVC) and the director of the Cube project for volume visualization supported by the National Science Foundation, Department of Energy, Office of Naval Research, Hughes Aircraft Company, Hewlett-Packard Company, Silicon Graphics Company, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and many others. His research interests include computer graphics and specifically computer graphics architectures, algorithms, and languages; visualization including volume visualization and scientific visualization; user interfaces; virtual reality; and multimedia. Kaufman is the editor-in-chief of the IEEE Transaction on Visualization and Computer Graphics. He has lectured widely and published numerous technical papers in these areas, including the IEEE tutorial book on Volume Visualization. He has been the papers chair and program cochair for Visualization 1990-1994 and the chairman of the IEEE CS Technical Committee on Computer Graphics.

Kolsky, Kathryn L.

Scientist

kolsky@bnl.gov

Summary : Kathryn Kolsky’s primary research interest is in the development and production of radioisotopes using the BLIP facility, a high-energy charged particle accelerator at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Many of these isotopes have applications in the field of Nuclear Medicine. Of current interest is the development of techniques for the production of no-carrier added tin-117m (an Auger emitter) for tumor therapy. Most malignant tumors express one or more receptor proteins that are absent or subdued in normal cells. Targeting such exclusive proteins with radionuclides to image or treat tumors is a very attractive approach. The targeting moiety most often is an analog of the natural ligand for the receptors. We are developing methods to synthesize Sn-117m labeled precursors that will selectively bind to the estrogen receptor on malignant breast carcinoma, while sparing the surrounding normal tissue.

Liang, Jerome Z.

Professor of Radiology, Computer Science, and Physics

jzl@mil.sunysb.edu

Summary : Jerome Liang focuses his attention on the development of quantitative SPECT systems, 3D virtual endoscopy, and computer aided diagnosis. This work includes creating a quantitative SPECT imaging modality as a cost-effective means for patient diagnosis as well as developing a high resolution PET as a functional research imaging modality. Liang is also striving to create a virtual colonoscopy as a cost-effective procedure for colon screening and to construct an automatic method for brain-tissue segmentation for diagnosis of disorders. In addition, he plans to build various models, in terms of physics, mathematics, and statistics, to simulate the practical problems above and then to validate the models by experiments. Liang has published his findings in journals such as Magnetic Resonance Medicine.

Lin, Wei

Research Assistant Professor

Wei.Lin@sunysb.edu

Summary : Virtual instrumentation is defined as a layer of software and/or hardware added to a general purpose computer in such a fashion that users can interact with the computer as though it were their own custom-designed traditional electronic instrument. The technology represents a fundamental shift from traditional hardware based instrumentation systems to software based systems by using the up-to-date computing technologies. This will greatly facilitate the commercialization of the technology developed in academic laboratory because it can integrate the prototype system efficiently using commercial available hardware modules and software application. This eliminates the development cycles of traditional prototype development process and any modification to the system can be done through software modification instantly. Thus the time period for the translation of academic developed technology to commercial products will be substantially reduced.

Logan, Jean

Scientist

Summary : Jean Logan has worked in the positron emission tomography (PET) group at BNL since her post-doctoral in theoretical chemistry. Her research interests are primarily the kinetic modeling of data from PET experiments. PET measures radioactivity concentration in tissue after the introduction of a radiotracer. The PET group has developed radiotracers for a number of brain receptors (for example the dopamine D2 receptor, the dopamine transporter, the norepinephrine transporter) and enzymes (monoamine oxidase A and B which occur in the brain as well as in many peripheral organs). Since PET measures the total radiotracer concentration in the tissue it is necessary to separate the tissue accumulation due to functioning receptor etc. from other processes such as tracer delivery via blood flow. She developed a simple technique for analyzing PET data extracting information related to available receptor concentration that is frequently used in PET research today.

Mueller, Klaus

mueller@cs.sunysb.edu

Summary : Klaus Mueller's areas of interest are medical, scientific and information visualization, visual analytics, medical imaging, computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality, and high-performance computing. He has pioneered the use of programmable commodity graphics hardware boards (GPUs) for the acceleration of a wide variety of computer tomographic (CT) reconstruction algorithms and medical physics phenomena. Applications include diagnostic imaging, radiotherapy, electron microscopy, ultrasound tomography for breast mammography, and others. In the visual analytics area he works on devising new high-dimensional data visualization frameworks and combining them with statistical pattern recognition and machine learning to create intuitive interactive analytical reasoning environments for medical professionals. He is also working towards a comprehensive visual data mining environment for neuroscientists, called BrainMiner, to enable a more targeted and experiential derivation of brain functional models from large collections of knowledge and data.

Mujica-Parodi, Lilianne

Assistant Professor

lmujicaparodi@gmail.com

Summary : The Laboratory for the Study of Emotion and Cognition (LSEC) performs clinical research on the neurobiology of emotional arousal, and its effects on physiology and cognition. LSEC studies provide simultaneous measurement of neural, cardiac, endocrine, cognitive, immune, genetic and clinical components of the human emotional response. These data are then analyzed using statistics, system identification, and complex systems analyses adapted from control systems engineering to develop data-driven modeling and simulations with wide-ranging applications. LSEC performs integrative multi-disciplinary research on areas as diverse as: the neurobiological etiology, diagnosis, and treatment of schizophrenia and other mental illnesses; factors responsible for and predictive of individual variability among healthy individuals in their vulnerability and resilience to chronic and acute high-stress environments; the impact of high-stress environments on cognitive processing, pre-attentive sensorimotor gating, and strategic decision-making; functional and anatomical connectivity in fMRI, and the biochemistry/physiological effects of human alarm pheromones.

Pan, Yingtian

Associate Professor

Yingtian.Pan@sunysb.edu

Summary : 2D and 3D cross-sectional optical imaging of biological tissue at close to cellular resolution (e.g., 10um) and at depths of 1-3mm can have significant impacts on noninvasive or minimally invasive clinical diagnosis of tissue abnormalities, e.g., tumorigenesis. Laser scanning endoscopes, based on optical coherence tomography (OCT), have been developed and tested on a wide variety of tissues both ex vivo and in vivo. Encouraging results based on animal and human studies show that LSE can provide morphological details correlated well with excisional histology, suggesting its potential for optical biopsy or optically guided biopsy to reduced negative biopsies in clinical practice. Current research of Dr. Pan’s lab is focused on early-stage epithelial cancer detection, diagnosis of cartilage injury and healing, and assessment of engineering tissue growth. In addition, Dr. Pan’s lab studies skin dehydration, geriatric incontinence and laser/biochemical attack to the eye using OCT and light microscopy.

Qin, Yi-Xian

Professor

Yi-Xian.Qin@sunysb.edu

Summary : Early diagnostic of osteoporosis allows for accurate prediction of fracture risk and effective options for early treatment of the bone disease. A new ultrasound technology, based on focused transmission and reception of the acoustic signal, has been developed by Dr. Qin and his team which represents the early stages of development of a unique diagnostic tool for the measure of both bone quantity (density) and quality (strength). These data show a strong correlation between non-invasive ultrasonic prediction and micro-CT determined bone mineral density (r>0.9), and significant correlation between ultrasound and bone stiffness (r>0.8). Considering the ease of use, the non-invasive, non-radiation based signal, and the accuracy of the device, this work opens an entirely new avenue for the early diagnosis of metabolic bone diseases.

Sitharaman, Balaji

Assistant Professor

Balaji.Sitharaman@sunysb.edu

Summary : Our laboratory seeks to integrate advances in nanoscience and technology with the biological sciences and clinical medicine to achieve significant advances in simultaneous molecular diagnostics and therapeutics (theragnosis), drug delivery, and bioengineering. Towards these ends, our research interests involve a multidisciplinary approach for the development of functional (electronic, optical, magnetic, or structural) bionanosystems as contrast agents for molecular imaging, as carriers for drug delivery, and as structural scaffolds for tissue engineering. Our current projects capitalize on the unique properties of carbon nanobiomaterials to develop a) advanced contrast agents (CAs) for molecular magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), b) nanocomposites to improve the physical and biological (osteoconduction and osteoinduction) properties of polymer scaffolds for bone tissue engineering and c) non-viral vectors for gene transfection. We have exploited the potential of Gd-based carbon nanostructures: Gd@C60 metallofullerenes (gadofullerenes) and Gd@Ultrashort-tubes (gadonanotubes) as a new generation of advanced CAs for MRI and shown them to have efficacies up to 100 times greater than current clinical CAs. Our recent studies show that they are particularly well suited for passive (magnetic labels for cellular MRI) and active (pH sensitive probes for cancer detection) MRI-based Molecular Imaging. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) have been proposed as the ideal foundation for the next generation of materials due to their excellent mechanical properties. We have dispersed SWNTs and ultra short SWNTs into fumarate-based polymers to form nanocomposite scaffolds that exhibit mechanical properties far superior to the polymers alone and are osteoconductive as well osteoinductive. Our research work involves material synthesis techniques, physico-chemical characterization techniques, tissue culture and in vivo studies.

Thanos, Panayotis (Peter) K.

Assisant Professor

thanos@bnl.gov

Summary : "Gene therapy and dopaminergic mechanisms of alcohol and drug abuse Funded by NIDA, NIAAA and DOE # The role of dopamine and its receptors on alcohol, drug abuse and obesity using animal models (knockout mice, rats). -Developing gene therapy techniques for treatment of these addictions. -microPET imaging of the rodent brain treated with gene therapy -Correlating these findings with clinical studies on alcoholism, drug abuse and obesity)"

Vaska, Paul

Associate Scientist

vaska@bnl.gov

Summary : The research interests of Dr. Vaska comprise all aspects of the physics of positron emission tomography (PET). This ranges from the development of unique detector technologies which extend the limits of spatial resolution and sensitivity, through improved corrections for physical effects, image reconstruction methods, and post-processing techniques to improve image quantitation. He has worked extensively with both human and small-animal PET systems and oversees the physics aspects of the clinical PET research carried out at the BNL PET facility. His previous research as a physicist for a major PET firm included development of a dedicated brain scanner in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, and novel calibration and data acquisition methods. A recent advance in the field of neuroimmunomodulation was our identification of the “cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway,” a neural-immune connection through which the central nervous system inhibits systemic inflammation. It had been widely known that TNF, IL-1 and other mediators interact with the vagus nerve in the periphery, and induce afferent signals to the brain; the brain, in turn, responds with anti-inflammatory signals mediated by steroids such as ACTH and MSH. We discovered that the brain also utilizes conventional neurotransmitters that are released from the vagus nerve to generate a response in peripheral organs. In vivo, surgical vagotomy prevents this communication; animals exposed to endotoxin succumb to endotoxic shock more rapidly than animals with an intact vagus. We also found that macrophages express acetylcholine receptor activity, and that acetylcholine can block the activation of macrophages in response to endotoxin. Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve inhibits systemic inflammation, inhibits the release of TNF, HMG-1, and other mediators, and prevents death due to endotoxic shock. Ongoing studies are focused on identifying the neural substrate of this system, developing optimal stimulation parameters, and determining the molecular basis of cholinergic signal transduction in macrophages.

Vazquez, Marcelo

Scientist

vazquez@bnl.gov

Summary : Because successful operations in space depend on the performance capabilities of astronauts, radiation-induced neurological damage could jeopardize the successful completion of mission requirements, as well as have long-term consequences on the health of astronauts. Thus, it is necessary to understand the nature of this risk in order to assess its seriousness and to develop countermeasures. Dr. Vazquez's has focus his research primarily in the study of the mechanisms of central nervous system (CNS) damage induced by space radiation using in vitro (neural stem cells and neurons) and in vivo models (mice). His research interest is the identification of the molecular, cellular and system responses as well as behavioral alterations induced by heavy ion exposures. His long-term research goals are the development and testing of radioprotectant compounds to be utilized humans exposed to ionizing radiation (astronauts, radiation workers, radiation therapy patients, etc.). In addition, Dr. Vazquez is interested in the short and long-term effects of space radiation on bone and the cardiovascular system using state-of-the-art imaging techniques as well as molecular and cellular methods. His work is supported by the National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) and the National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA). He is also the Associate director of the NASA Space Radiation Summer School and the NASA/NSBRI Space Radiation Liaison Scientist.

Wagshul, Mark

Assisant Professor

wagshul@clio.rad.sunysb.edu

Summary : Mark Wagshul is interested in utilizing MRI techniques for better understanding, diagnosing and treating disease. His primary research involves the development and validation of a new model of intracranial dynamics which is being used in the diagnosis and treatment of hydrocephalus and related neurological diseases. Ongoing projects in this area are in collaboration with researchers in the Departments of Neurosurgery and Mechanical Engineering. The research involves patient as well as animal-based studies. He also has research efforts in pulse sequence development for new MRI procedures, developing new techniques for more effective detection of breast cancer using MRI, in the use of MRI coupled with high-intensity focused ultrasound for non-invasive surgical procedures and in MRI hardware and systems development.

Wang, Yi

MR Physicist

Yi.Wang@chsli.edu

Summary : The Cardiac MRI research lab in St. Francis Hospital focuses on noninvasive in vivo cardiovascular imaging for the heart functional and morphological assessment using magnetic resonance imaging and image processing techniques. My current major research interests are: Tissue contrast, artifact suppression and MRI sequence design related to fast cardiac imaging, Myocardium perfusion on ischemic heart, Cardiac vessel imaging to evaluate coronary artery stenosis and atherosclerotic plaque.

Zhong , Zhong

Assisant Professor

zhong@bnl.gov

Summary : My research interests are medical imaging and diagnosis using monochromatic x-rays, x-ray phase contrast, and x-ray optics. My past work include contrast agent imaging applied to angiography using K-edge subtraction and monochromatic x-rays, development of bent-crystal monochromator for conventional x-ray source. As a scientist at the National Synchrotron Light Source and co-inventor of the Diffraction Enhanced Imaging (DEI) method, my recent research efforts have been on investigation of DEI on mammography and cartilage imaging. Unlike conventional x-ray imaging methods, DEI is sensitive to phase contrast and is thus more suitable for soft-tissue imaging. I am also developing crystal optics for focusing high-energy x-rays produced by synchrotron radiation source.