Unlike most medical imaging modalities, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is based on effects that cross multiple biological levels: contrast depends on interactions between the local chemistry, water mobility, microscopic magnetic environment at the subcellular, cellular or vascular level, cellular integrity, etc. These interactions potentially allow for imaging functional changes in the same reference frame as the anatomic information. However, to tap this potential, we need methodologies that robustly incorporate the best models of the underlying physiology/physics interactions in order to extract these physiological data. This presentation will focus on two examples: pharmocokinetic modeling to help image breast cancer and noise and signal modeling in functional MRI to help quantify neuronal activation.

Back to Workshop Schedule