Seminar über aktuelle Frage der theoretischen Kernphysik
18.06.13 16:15
Biophysical Classification of Brain Tissue via MR Signal Modeling
Tony Stöcker (DZNE Bonn)
The DZNE combines molecular and cell biological fundamental research of Neurodegenerative Diseases (ND), the development of new therapies and animal models as well as the translation of scientific findings into clinical applications, all in a single institution. In order to noninvasively investigate biophysical changes in brain tissue related to ND, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is an important technique for the DZNE. MRI provides objective measures to quantify disease and therapy progression or, generally, spatially localized information about brain structure and function. There exist a plethora of MRI-based methods for probing biophysical tissue parameters. However, disentangling the various signal components, amplifying the effect of interest while suppressing unwanted contributions, requires a thorough understanding of the measurement process – the MRI sequence – and its underlying basic physical principles. Accurate tissue parameter estimation often requires advanced signal modeling and time-consuming MR physics simulation.
The talk gives a brief overview to the DZNE’s imaging program and introduces some promising MRI biomarkers of ND. As an example, MR relaxation time mapping is presented in more detail, based on the (classical) principles of nuclear spin dynamics and extensions thereof to quantify coherence pathways in multi-pulse MR experiments.
(Seminarraum I)