Bradley T. Christian Ph.D.

Director of PET Physics, Waisman Brain Imaging Lab
Associate Professor of Medical Physics and Psychiatry

Research Interests

Our research focuses on developing and translating novel PET methods for the study of neuropsychiatric illness. This involves using PET methodologies to investigate neurochemical changes in the brain and studying novel radioligands to characterize neurotransmitter-protein interactions and how they are influenced by the effects of psychotropic drugs. These imaging methods are being applied to investigate the etiologies and mechanisms in diseases such as Down syndrome, affective disorders, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and Tourette syndrome.

Publications

• Christian BT, Wooten DW, Hillmer AT, Tudorascu DL, Converse AK, Moore CF, Ahlers EO, Barnhart TE, Kalin NH, Barr CS, Schneider ML. Serotonin Transporter Genotype Affects Serotonin 5-HT_1A Binding in Primates. Journal of Neuroscience 33(6):2512-2516, 2013. NIHMSID: NIHMS 442926.

• Floberg JM, Holden JE, Weichert JP, Hall LT, Mistretta CA, Christian BT. (2012) Improved graphical analysis of dynamic PET data with optimized HYPR-LR. Medical Physics 39(6):3319-3331, 2012. PMCID: PMC3371076

• Wooten DW, Hillmer AT, Moirano JM, Ahlers EO, Slesarev M, Barnhart TE, Mukherjee J, Schneider ML, Christian BT. (2012) Measurement of 5-HT_1A Receptor Density and In Vivo Binding Parameters of [¹⁸F]Mefway in the Nonhuman Primate. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 32(8):1546-1558, 2012. PMCID: PMC3421091

• Hillmer AT, Wooten DW, Slesarev M, Ahlers EO, Barnhart TE, Murali D, Schneider ML, Mukherjee J, Christian BT. (2012) Specific α4β2 PET Imaging of Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors: Quantitative Analysis of [¹⁸F]Nifene Kinetics in the Nonhuman Primate. J Nucl Med 53(9):1471-1480, 2012. PMC Journal - in process.