Significant accomplishments during FY2010 include the following: - Establishment of the Translational Neuroradiology Unit. - Development of comprehensive MRI protocols for the brain and spinal cord in multiple sclerosis and healthy controls. - Development and implementation of an image-processing pipeline for quantitative image analysis, including lesion and normal-structure segmentation and volumetrics as well as relaxometry, with collaborators at Johns Hopkins University and Vanderbilt University. - Development of parametric and non-parametric processing schemes for dynamic-contrast-enhanced MRI. Comprehensive analysis of DCE-MRI findings in patients with active multiple sclerosis (manuscript in final preparation). - Development of high-resolution and rapid imaging and mapping of cerebral blood vessels at 3 Tesla (manuscript in preparation). - Initiation of a collaboration to establish and image a primate model of multiple sclerosis and other neuroimmunologic diseases. Developed imaging protocols and acquired serial images at baseline and after disease induction (abstracts accepted for presentation). Investigated the sources of image contrast in the primate brain (abstracts presented;manuscript in preparation). - Acquisition of high-quality MR images and proton spectra at 7 Telsa with collaborators at Johns Hopkins University and Leiden University Medical Center (abstracts presented). - Acquisition and testing of a dual-tuned radiofrequency coil for proton and phosphorus spectra. Successful acquisition of whole-brain and multivoxel phosphorus spectra in healthy volunteers. - Development of a technique for distortion correction of diffusion-weighted images of the spinal cord with collaborators at Johns Hopkins University. Initial processing of a dataset of more than 300 spinal-cord scans to assess quantitative imaging correlates of arm and leg disability. Beginning to apply similar techniques to diffusion-weighted images of the optic nerve. - Development of functional statistics for parameterization and analysis of spatially varying imaging data with collaborators at Johns Hopkins University (3 manuscripts in press, 1 in preparation). - Analysis of white-matter tract-specific quantitative imaging parameters from serial data to assess longitudinal changes and estimate sample sizes for clinical trials in multiple sclerosis (1 manuscript in press).
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