Probing Brain Dynamics and Mapping Neurodegenerative Markers with MRI

September 4, 2020 1:00-2:00 p.m.

Dr. Xiaoping Hu
UC Riverside

ABSTRACT: In addition to providing exquisite images of brain anatomy, MRI can also map the function, connectivity, and other important characteristics, such as melanin and iron contents, of the brain. In this talk, I will highlight our work on the methodological development and applications in some of these aspects. The first part will be on the study of brain dynamics with resting-state functional MRI. In this regard, I will describe how we can characterize the brain dynamics with a hidden Markov model, revealing spatiotemporal characteristics of resting state brain, and taking advantage of the dynamic information in brain segmentation and subject identification. In the second part, I will describe the use of MRI to image brain melanin and iron and their application in the diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease (PD), with the potential for early detection.

BIOGRAPHY: Dr. Hu obtained his Ph.D. in medical physics from the University of Chicago in 1988. From 1990 to 2002, he was on the faculty of the University of Minnesota, where he became a full professor in 1998. In 2002-2016, he was Professor and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Imaging in the Wallace H. Coulter joint department of biomedical engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University. In July 2016, Dr. Hu moved to UC Riverside to become professor and chair of bioengineering and director of center advanced neuroimaging. Dr. Hu has worked on the development and biomedical application of magnetic resonance imaging for 4 decades. Dr. Hu has authored or co-authored ~300 peer-reviewed journal articles, with a total citation of ~26,000 and an h-index of 86. As one of the early players, Dr. Hu conducted extensive and pioneering work in functional MRI (fMRI). One of his recent interest is the development of MRI biomarkers for the diagnosis and early detection of Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Hu was a deputy editor of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine from 2005 to 2013 and an Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging from 1994 to 2004. He is currently on the editorial board of Brain Connectivity and an associate editor of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. He is a fellow of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance, a fellow of IEEE and a fellow of American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.