Title: Simultaneous Structural and Functional MRI Electromagnetic Tissue Properties Mapping in the Human Brain

Speaker: Karin Shmueli (Dept. of Physics and Biomedical Engineering, UCL)

Location: In Person & Online via Zoom

Abstract: Quantitative magnetic susceptibility mapping (QSM), electrical conductivity mapping (MR electrical properties tomography, MR-EPT) and fMRI each show promise in characterising neurodegenerative diseases but each currently needs a separate ~5-minute acquisition. Therefore, we aimed to develop a rapid acquisition for simultaneous structural and functional QSM and EPT to facilitate clinical brain research and biomarker development. I will present some of my team’s recent work to optimise and accelerate a multi-echo EPI sequence for rapid high-resolution integrated structural and functional susceptibility and conductivity mapping in the human brain. I will show how the acquisition and QSM and EPT processing, reconstruction and functional analysis pipelines we have developed have enabled us to perform the first resting-state functional QSM study and ground-breaking resting-state functional EPT. We are now using this sequence in an ongoing study in Parkinson’s disease.

Bluesky / website:

@mri-phys-ks.bsky.socialhttps://www.ucl.ac.uk/engineering/medical-physics-biomedical-engineering/research/research-groups/magnetic-resonance-imaging-group