Abstract: Diffusion MRI (dMRI) is the only non-invasive, in-vivo probe of brain microstructure at cellular size scales. This talk will discuss recent developments in dMRI and show examples from brain tumor imaging. While dMRI can demonstrate tumor infiltration beyond the conventional radiological margin, it is still not sufficient for mapping the peritumoral region accurately. We recently proposed a multidimensional dMRI method "q-space trajectory imaging" (QTI), which goes beyond conventional dMRI to measure the correlation of water molecule motion between different directions. QTI enables quantitative microstructure modeling that is not possible with conventional dMRI, and improves discrimination due to variance in diffusivity, shape (anisotropy), and orientations of diffusion micro-environments within tissue. 

About the speaker: Carl-Fredrik Westin, is the founding director of the Laboratory of Mathematics in Imaging (LMI, http://lmi.med.harvard.edu), Distinguished Robert Greenes Chair, and Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, Boston. He is Director of the Neuroimage Analysis Center (NAC), a Biomedical Technology Resource Center BTRC  funded by NIH National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). Additionally, he has a joint appointment with the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Cambridge, MA. The Laboratory of Mathematics in Imaging is focused on the application of mathematical theory, analysis, modeling, and signal processing to medical imaging applications.