Labs

The Brownell Lab research focuses on the glutamatergic system in the brain, as it relates to sensorimotor and cognitive problems. They are investigating PET ligands that can be used to aid in treatment development.

The Bauer lab focuses on the application of multimodal MRI techniques (including relaxometry, diffusion methods, fMRI, and morphometry) to study the long-term neurodevelopmental consequences of early brain injury, specifically targeting white matter, neural networks, and the thalamus.

The focus of the Brugarolas Lab is to develop new small molecule PET radioligands for brain disorders and immunoPET. They are particularly interested in developing tracers for potassium channels in the brain to image multiple sclerosis and tracers for calcium channels to image epilepsy and pain.

Dr. Choi's laboratory focuses on the development of novel contrast agents for tissue- and organ-specific targeting and diagnosis. Of particular interest is “Structure-Inherent Targeting,” where small molecules can be used for targeting, imaging, diagnosis and therapy by specifically visualizing target tissue with high optical properties and by avoiding nonspecific uptake in normal background tissues.

The Elmaleh lab focuses on improving human health care using novel approaches for early diagnosis and follow-up treatment.

Current main interests of the Jacobs lab are focused on understanding the disease mechanisms of Alzheimer’s disease by investigating the interaction of biomarkers and other brain changes, such as structural and functional connectivity, and how these mechanisms relate to cognitive changes.

The Johnson Lab focuses on imaging neurodegenerative disorders. More specifically, the lab is developing preventive therapies and treatment of Alzheimer's disease symptoms.

The Liu lab focuses on

The Normandin lab specializes in kinetic modeling of PET tracers using simultaneous PET/MR for quantitative brain function analysis. They also work on the development of nanoprobes for fluorescence and SPECT imaging as a step towards development of nanomedicines.

The Ren lab aims to discover and understand the fundamentals of complex biological systems at the ‘ground truth’ level through developing systematic and scalable imaging and mapping methodologies.

Dr. Santarnecchi’s research is centered around the development of personalized, network-based Noninvasive Brain Stimulation (NiBS) approaches to modulate brain plasticity, guide connectome rewiring and enhance cognitive function, with the ultimate goal of promoting Brain Health and healthy Aging.

The Sepulcre lab focuses on brain imaging studies aiming at the understanding of large-scale brain networks implicated in human cognition and neurodegenerative disorders.

The Woo lab focuses on novel development of theoretical and computational methods for image analysis that infer useful information from medical images. We are particularly interested in novel development of (1) instrumentation (e.g., real-time imaging systems) to capture rapid motion of organs, (2) multimodal data integration (e.g., multimodal registration) through multimodal atlases to understand the relationship between anatomy and function, and (3) data mining (e.g., deep learning) to investigate underlying mechanisms of motion/physiology.

The Zhu lab is investigating ways in which PET imaging can be used to verify the delivery of proton therapy immediately after treatment, and ways in which imaging can generally be used to improve radiation therapy