Seminar

Medical Physics Seminar – Monday, March 31, 2014

Hyperpolarized carbon-13 MRI with application to obstructive uropathy

speaker

David Niles (student of Dr. Sean Fain)
Research Assistant, Dept of Medical Physics, UW-School of Medicine & Public Health, Madison, WI - USA -

Prior to the last decade, magnetic resonance imaging of the carbon-13 (13C) nuclide has been precluded by its low natural abundance, low polarization and the low concentrations of organic molecules of interest in vivo. However, recent advances in hyperpolarization techniques have produced up to 105-fold signal enhancement of 13C-labeled molecules. This enhanced signal, combined with advances in fast imaging, has enabled in vivo MR imaging not only of an injected hyperpolarized substrate, but also its biochemical products in real-time. The ability to observe biochemical processes in vivo with MRI may assist in the diagnosis or prognosis of disease. In this talk, I will discuss the principles of hyperpolarized 13C MRI and our experience in its implementation at University of Wisconsin. I will also present an application in a mouse model of obstructive uropathy, which shows changes in renal pyruvate metabolism subsequent to ureteral obstruction.

Location: 1345 (HSLC) Health Science Learning Center, 750 Highland Ave, Madison, WI 53705

Time: 4pm-5pm