Events Calendar

Medical Imaging Seminar Series

Speaker: Dr. Philip Zhe Sun, Harvard University & Massachusetts General Hospital

Talk Title: "Quantitative Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (CEST) MRI for Tissue pH Imaging”

Abstract: Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) imaging is an emerging MRI contrast that is sensitive to dilute CEST agents and micro-environment properties such as pH and temperature. CEST MRI contrast, however, is complex. The experimentally obtainable CEST effect varies with labile proton concentration, exchange rate, T1 and T2. It also strongly depends on the experimental conditions such as RF irradiation power, duration, scheme and magnetic field strength. Recent development of quantitative CEST (qCEST) MRI has enabled improved characterization of the underlying CEST system. Specifically, we have developed empirical solution to quantify CEST MRI, and have optimized/translated endogenous amide proton CEST MRI to image tissue acidosis. We recently demonstrated absolute cerebral tissue pH mapping, which captures heterogeneous ischemic acidosis during acute stroke and the dynamic pH response to normobaric oxygen (NBO) treatment. In summary, CEST MRI is a versatile imaging technique that, once fully developed, will tremendously augment the conventional MRI exams for improved characterization of molecular/cellular changes in a host of diseases including stroke, cancer and multiple sclerosis.

Biography: Phillip Zhe Sun, Ph.D.*Dr. Sun received his Bachelor of Science degree in technical physics from Peking University in 1998 and his Ph.D. in Radiological Sciences from Division of Health Sciences and Technology (HST), Harvard and MIT in 2003. His Ph.D. research was in the field of MR diffusion and microscopy, under the mentorship of Professor David Cory. Upon his graduation, he went on to Johns Hopkins University, working with Professor Peter van Zijl, as a Postdoctoral Fellow and then a Research Associate. Dr. Sun joined Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, MGH and Harvard Medical School as an Assistant Professor in 2007. His research focuses on development of novel MRI techniques for assessing neurological diseases including acute stroke, multiple sclerosis and tumor. Specifically, Dr. Sun has been studying tissue acidosis using quantitative chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI. He is also interested in numerous techniques including tissue glucose and oxygen metabolism, myelin quantification, diffusion/kurtosis, blood oxygen level dependent and magnetization transfer MRI. Dr. Sun has authored/co-authored over thirty peer-reviewed articles and fifty conference proceedings/abstracts.

Host: Prof. Krishna Nayak

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Talyia Veal