Research
A growing collection of our projects and funding sources.
Our research is dedicated to developing modern techniques to measure levels of important biochemicals in the living human brain using magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We are particularly interested in improving the detection of neurotransmitters (GABA, glutamate, aspartate), antioxidants (glutathione, ascorbate), and potential molecular markers of brain tumor mutations (2-hydroxyglutarate, cystathionine).
The second major pillar of our research is the development of new post-processing and modeling methods, which we strive to incorporate in our modular open-source analysis software Osprey. We are happy to modify Osprey to support your particular acquisition technique. Finally, we strongly believe in making our tools accessible to novice users, and in building practices that help standardize MRS data acquisition, analysis, and storage.
The techniques we develop are used to investigate the neurochemical confounds in a wide range of neurological and psychiatric disorders. Currently, we study the levels of brain metabolites in patients with mild cognitive impairment and low-grade glioma. Further research projects we are involved in concern various neurodevelopmental disorders (autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, Tourette’s syndrome), tuberous sclerosis, hepatic encephalopathy. We have further built the MRS data analysis infrastructure for the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) study, the largest long-term study of early brain development in the US, and the largest multi-site MRS study to date.
We believe that the magnetic resonance spectroscopy community can reap great benefit from sharing code and data, standardizing our acquisition, and streamlining our pipelines for processing, quantifying, and interpreting spectroscopic data. In line with our drive to facilitate exchange and transparency, we have supported the creation of the MRSHub, a comprehensive resource of code and data for MRS researchers. We further actively contribute to the mission of the Committee for Code & Data Sharing, a permanent sub-committee of the ISMRM MR Spectroscopy Study Group.
