El Fakhri Lab

About the lab

PI: Georges El Fakhri

The El Fakhri lab focuses on a variety of subjects including kinetic modeling of neurotransmission, cardiac perfusion and mitochondrial function, simultaneous PET-MR imaging, in-room PET-CT monitoring of proton therapy, high sensitivity/resolution brain imaging, quantitative dual tracer PET-CT and SPECT-CT, and objective assessment of image quality for estimation and detection tasks.

Research

Research topics include, but are not limited to:

• Quantitative PET/SPECT
• Quantitative PET-MR Imaging
• Monitoring Radiotherapy with PET
• Image Generation and Clinical task-based Image Assessment
• Pharmaco-kinetic modeling
• PET-CT & SPECT Instrumentation
• Multifunctional Nanomaterials In Biology (MNB)

Members

Selected Publications

• Han PK, Marin T, Zhuo Y, Ouyang J, El Fakhri G, Ma C. Arterial spin labeled perfusion imaging with balanced steady-state free precession readout and radial sampling. Magn Reson Imaging 2023 102 ():126-132
• Tiss A, Marin T, Chemli Y, Spangler-Bickell MG, Gong K, Lois C, Petibon Y, Landes V, Grogg K, Normandin M, Becker A, Thibault E, Johnson K, El Fakhri G, Ouyang J. Impact of motion correction on [F]-MK6240 tau PET imaging. Phys Med Biol 2023 ():
• Guehl NJ, Dhaynaut M, Hanseeuw BJ, Moon SH, Lois C, Thibault E, Fu JF, Price JC, Johnson KA, El Fakhri G, Normandin MD. Measurement of Cerebral Perfusion Indices from the Early Phase of [F]MK6240 Dynamic Tau PET Imaging. J Nucl Med 2023 ():
• Chemli Y, Tétrault MA, Marin T, Normandin MD, Bloch I, El Fakhri G, Ouyang J, Petibon Y. Super-resolution in brain positron emission tomography using a real-time motion capture system. Neuroimage 2023 272 ():120056
• Brugarolas P, Wilks MQ, Noel J, Kaiser JA, Vesper DR, Ramos-Torres KM, Guehl NJ, Macdonald-Soccorso MT, Sun Y, Rice PA, Yokell DL, Lim R, Normandin MD, El Fakhri G. Human biodistribution and radiation dosimetry of the demyelination tracer [F]3F4AP. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging 2023 50 (2):344-351
• Djebra Y, Marin T, Han PK, Bloch I, El Fakhri G, Ma C. Manifold Learning via Linear Tangent Space Alignment (LTSA) for Accelerated Dynamic MRI with Sparse Sampling. IEEE Trans Med Imaging 2022 PP 42(1)
• Detmer FJ, Alpert NM, Moon SH, Dhaynaut M, Guerrero JL, Guehl NJ, Xing F, Brugarolas P, Shoup TM, Normandin MD, Pelletier-Galarneau M, El Fakhri G, Petibon Y. PET imaging of mitochondrial function in acute doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity: a proof-of-principle study. Sci Rep 2022 12 (1):6122
• Han PK, Marin T, Djebra Y, Landes V, Zhuo Y, El Fakhri G, Ma C. Free-breathing 3D cardiac T mapping with transmit B correction at 3T. Magn Reson Med 2022 87 (4):1832-1845
• Marin T, Zhuo Y, Lahoud RM, Tian F, Ma X, Xing F, Moteabbed M, Liu X, Grogg K, Shusharina N, Woo J, Ma C, Chen YE, El Fakhri G. Deep learning-based GTV contouring modeling inter- and intra- observer variability in sarcomas. Radiother Oncol 2021 167 ():269-276
• Woo J, Xing F, Prince JL, Stone M, Gomez AD, Reese TG, Wedeen VJ, El Fakhri G. A deep joint sparse non-negative matrix factorization framework for identifying the common and subject-specific functional units of tongue motion during speech. Med Image Anal 2021 72 ():102131
• Pelletier-Galarneau M, Detmer FJ, Petibon Y, Normandin M, Ma C, Alpert NM, El Fakhri G. Quantification of Myocardial Mitochondrial Membrane Potential Using PET. Curr Cardiol Rep 2021 23 (6):70
• Pelletier-Galarneau M, Petibon Y, Ma C, Han P, Kim SJW, Detmer FJ, Yokell D, Guehl N, Normandin M, El Fakhri G, Alpert NM. In vivo quantitative mapping of human mitochondrial cardiac membrane potential: a feasibility study. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2021 Feb; 48(2):414-420.
  View in: PubMed.
• Liu F, Kijowski R, Feng L, El Fakhri G. High-performance rapid MR parameter mapping using model-based deep adversarial learning. Magn Reson Imaging 2020 74 ():152-160
• Alpert NM, Pelletier-Galarneau M, Petibon Y, Normandin MD, El Fakhri G. In vivo quantification of mitochondrial membrane potential. Nature 2020; 583(7815):E17-E18
  View in: PubMed
• Alpert NM, Pelletier-Galarneau M, Kim SJW, Petibon Y, Sun T, Ramos-Torres KM, Normandin MD, El Fakhri G. Imaging of Mitochondrial Depolarization of Myocardium With Positron Emission Tomography and a Proton Gradient Uncoupler. Front Physiol 2020; 11():491
  View in: PubMed
• Woo J, Xing F, Prince JL, Stone M, Reese TG, Wedeen VJ, El Fakhri G. Identifying the Common and Subject-specific Functional Units of Speech Movements via a Joint Sparse Non-negative Matrix Factorization Framework. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng 2020; 11313():
  View in: PubMed
• Yokell DL, Rice PA, Neelamegam R, El Fakhri G. Development, validation and regulatory acceptance of improved purification and simplified quality control of [N] Ammonia. EJNMMI Radiopharm Chem 2020; 5(1):11
  View in: PubMed
• Woo J, Xing F, Stone M, Green J, Reese TG, Brady TJ, Wedeen VJ, Prince JL, El Fakhri G. Speech Map: A Statistical Multimodal Atlas of 4D Tongue Motion During Speech from Tagged and Cine MR Images. Comput Methods Biomech Biomed Eng Imaging Vis 2019; 7(4):361-373
  View in: PubMed
• Sun T, Petibon Y, Han PK, Ma C, Kim SJW, Alpert NM, El Fakhri G, Ouyang J. Body motion detection and correction in cardiac PET: phantom and human studies. Med Phys 2019; 46(11):4898-4906
  View in: PubMed
• Wooten DW, Ortiz-Terán L, Zubcevik N, Zhang X, Huang C, Sepulcre J, Atassi N, Johnson K, Zafonte R, El Fakhri G. Multimodal Signatures of Tau Pathology, Neuronal Fiber Integrity, and Functional Connectivity in Traumatic Brain Injury. J. Neurotrauma 2019; 36(23):3233-3243
  View in: PubMed
• Woo J, Xing F, Prince JL, Stone M, Green JR, Goldsmith T, Reese TG, Wedeen VJ, El Fakhri G. Differentiating post-cancer from healthy tongue muscle coordination patterns during speech using deep learning. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 2019; 145(5):EL423
  View in: PubMed
• Pelletier-Galarneau M, Martineau P, El Fakhri G. Quantification of PET Myocardial Blood Flow. Curr Cardiol Rep 2019; 21(3):11
  View in: PubMed
• Woo J, Xing F, Prince JL, Stone M, Green JR, Goldsmith T, Reese TG, Wedeen VJ, El Fakhri G. Differentiating post-cancer from healthy tongue muscle coordination patterns during speech using deep learning. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 2019; 145(5):EL423
  View in: PubMed
• Woo J, Prince JL, Stone M, Xing F, Gomez AD, Green JR, Hartnick CJ, Brady TJ, Reese TG, Wedeen VJ, El Fakhri G. A Sparse Non-Negative Matrix Factorization Framework for Identifying Functional Units of Tongue Behavior From MRI. IEEE Trans Med Imaging 2019; 38(3):730-740
  View in: PubMed
• Lai X, Petibon Y, El Fakhri G, Ouyang J. Joint reconstruction of rest/stress myocardial perfusion SPECT. Phys Med Biol 2018; 63(13):135019
  View in: PubMed
• Alpert NM, Guehl N, Ptaszek L, Pelletier-Galarneau M, Ruskin J, Mansour MC, Wooten D, Ma C, Takahashi K, Zhou Y, Shoup TM, Normandin MD, El Fakhri G. Quantitative in vivo mapping of myocardial mitochondrial membrane potential. PLoS ONE 2018; 13(1):e0190968
  View in: PubMed
• Fahey FH, Grogg K, El Fakhri G. Use of Monte Carlo Techniques in Nuclear Medicine. J Am Coll Radiol 2018; 15(3 Pt A):446-448
  View in: PubMed
• Han PK, Ma C, Deng K, Hu S, Jee KW, Ying K, Chen YL, El Fakhri G. A minimum-phase Shinnar-Le Roux spectral-spatial excitation RF pulse for simultaneous water and lipid suppression inH-MRSI of body extremities. Magn Reson Imaging 2018; 45():18-25
  View in: PubMed
• Rakvongthai Y, El Fakhri G. Magnetic Resonance-based Motion Correction for Quantitative PET in Simultaneous PET-MR Imaging. PET Clin 2017; 12(3):321-327
  View in: PubMed
• Li Q, Li H, Kim K, El Fakhri G. Joint estimation of activity image and attenuation sinogram using time-of-flight positron emission tomography data consistency condition filtering. J Med Imaging (Bellingham) 2017; 4(2):023502
  View in: PubMed
• Cho J, Grogg K, Min CH, Zhu X, Paganetti H, Lee HC, El Fakhri G. Feasibility study of using fall-off gradients of early and late PET scans for proton range verification. Med Phys 2017; 44(5):1734-1746
  View in: PubMed
• Neelamegam R, Yokell DL, Rice PA, Furumoto S, Kudo Y, Okamura N, El Fakhri G. A report of the automated radiosynthesis of the tau positron emission tomography radiopharmaceutical, [F]-THK-5351. J Labelled Comp Radiopharm 2017; 60(2):140-146
  View in: PubMed
• Sabet H, Bläckberg L, Uzun-Ozsahin D, El-Fakhri G. Novel laser-processed CsI:Tl detector for SPECT. Med Phys 2016; 43(5):2630
  View in: PubMed
• Bian J, Sharp GC, Park YK, Ouyang J, Bortfeld T, El Fakhri G. Investigation of cone-beam CT image quality trade-off for image-guided radiation therapy. Phys Med Biol 2016; 61(9):3317-46
  View in: PubMed
• Grogg KS, Toole T, Ouyang J, Zhu X, Normandin MD, Li Q, Johnson K, Alpert NM, El Fakhri G. National Electrical Manufacturers Association and Clinical Evaluation of a Novel Brain PET/CT Scanner. J. Nucl. Med. 2016; 57(4):646-52
  View in: PubMed
• Zhang X, Chen YL, Lim R, Huang C, Chebib IA, El Fakhri G. Synergistic role of simultaneous PET/MRI-MRS in soft tissue sarcoma metabolism imaging. Magn Reson Imaging 2016; 34(3):276-9
  View in: PubMed
• Ouyang J, Petibon Y, Huang C, Reese TG, Kolnick AL, El Fakhri G. Quantitative simultaneous positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. J Med Imaging (Bellingham) 2014; 1(3):033502
  View in: PubMed
• Dutta J, Huang C, Li Q, El Fakhri G. Pulmonary imaging using respiratory motion compensated simultaneous PET/MR. Med Phys 2015; 42(7):4227-40
  View in: PubMed
• Paganetti H, El Fakhri G. Monitoring proton therapy with PET. Br J Radiol 2015; 88(1051):20150173
  View in: PubMed
• Grogg K, Alpert NM, Zhu X, Min CH, Testa M, Winey B, Normandin MD, Shih HA, Paganetti H, Bortfeld T, El Fakhri G. Mapping (15)O production rate for proton therapy verification. Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys. 2015; 92(2):453-9
  View in: PubMed
• Huang C, Petibon Y, Ouyang J, Reese TG, Ahlman MA, Bluemke DA, El Fakhri G. Accelerated acquisition of tagged MRI for cardiac motion correction in simultaneous PET-MR: phantom and patient studies. Med Phys 2015; 42(2):1087-97
  View in: PubMed
• Lorsakul A, Li Q, Trott CM, Hoog C, Petibon Y, Ouyang J, Laine AF, El Fakhri G. 4D numerical observer for lesion detection in respiratory-gated PET. Med Phys 2014; 41(10):102504
  View in: PubMed
• Schaefferkoetter J, Ouyang J, Rakvongthai Y, Nappi C, El Fakhri G. Effect of time-of-flight and point spread function modeling on detectability of myocardial defects in PET. Med Phys 2014; 41(6):062502
  View in: PubMed
• Huang C, Altbach MI, El Fakhri G. Pattern recognition for rapid T2 mapping with stimulated echo compensation. Magn Reson Imaging 2014; 32(7):969-74
  View in: PubMed
• Petibon Y, Huang C, Ouyang J, Reese TG, Li Q, Syrkina A, Chen YL, El Fakhri G. Relative role of motion and PSF compensation in whole-body oncologic PET-MR imaging. Med Phys 2014; 41(4):042503
  View in: PubMed
• Zhu X, El Fakhri G. Proton therapy verification with PET imaging. Theranostics 2013; 3(10):731-40
  View in: PubMed
• Rakvongthai Y, Ouyang J, Guerin B, Li Q, Alpert NM, El Fakhri G. Direct reconstruction of cardiac PET kinetic parametric images using a preconditioned conjugate gradient approach. Med Phys 2013; 40(10):102501
  View in: PubMed
• Nappi C, El Fakhri G. State of the Art in Cardiac Hybrid Technology: PET/MR. Curr Cardiovasc Imaging Rep 2013; 6(4):338-345
  View in: PubMed
• Petibon Y, Ouyang J, Zhu X, Huang C, Reese TG, Chun SY, Li Q, El Fakhri G. Cardiac motion compensation and resolution modeling in simultaneous PET-MR: a cardiac lesion detection study. Phys Med Biol 2013; 58(7):2085-102
  View in: PubMed
• Schaefferkoetter J, Casey M, Townsend D, El Fakhri G. Clinical impact of time-of-flight and point response modeling in PET reconstructions: a lesion detection study. Phys Med Biol 2013; 58(5):1465-78
  View in: PubMed
• Ouyang J, Li Q, El Fakhri G. Magnetic resonance-based motion correction for positron emission tomography imaging. Semin Nucl Med 2013; 43(1):60-7
  View in: PubMed
• Alpert N, Dean Fang YH, El Fakhri G. Single-scan rest∕stress imaging (18)F-labeled flow tracers. Med Phys 2012; 39(11):6609-20
  View in: PubMed
• Chun SY, Reese TG, Ouyang J, Guerin B, Catana C, Zhu X, Alpert NM, El Fakhri G. MRI-based nonrigid motion correction in simultaneous PET/MRI. J. Nucl. Med. 2012; 53(8):1284-91
  View in: PubMed
• Grogg K, Zhu X, Min CH, Winey B, Bortfeld T, Paganetti H, Shih HA, El Fakhri G. Feasibility of Using Distal Endpoints for In-room PET Range Verification of Proton Therapy. IEEE Trans Nucl Sci 2013; 60(5):3290-3297
  View in: PubMed
• Zhu X, España S, Daartz J, Liebsch N, Ouyang J, Paganetti H, Bortfeld TR, El Fakhri G. Monitoring proton radiation therapy with in-room PET imaging. Phys Med Biol 2011; 56(13):4041-57
  View in: PubMed
• Guérin B, El Fakhri G. Novel scatter compensation of list-mode PET data using spatial and energy dependent corrections. IEEE Trans Med Imaging 2011; 30(3):759-73
  View in: PubMed
• Trott CM, Ouyang J, El Fakhri G. Comparison of simultaneous and sequential SPECT imaging for discrimination tasks in assessment of cardiac defects. Phys Med Biol 2010; 55(22):6897-910
  View in: PubMed
• Zhu X, Reese TG, Crowley EM, El Fakhri G. Improved MAGIC gel for higher sensitivity and elemental tissue equivalent 3D dosimetry. Med Phys 2010; 37(1):183-8
  View in: PubMed
• Zhu X, El Fakhri G. Monte Carlo modeling of cascade gamma rays in (86)Y PET imaging: preliminary results. Phys Med Biol 2009; 54(13):4181-93
  View in: PubMed
• Ouyang J, Zhu X, Trott CM, El Fakhri G. Quantitative simultaneous 99mTc/123I cardiac SPECT using MC-JOSEM. Med Phys 2009; 36(2):602-11
  View in: PubMed
• Trott CM, El Fakhri G. Sequential and simultaneous dual-isotope brain SPECT: comparison with PET for estimation and discrimination tasks in early Parkinson disease. Med Phys 2008; 35(7):3343-53
  View in: PubMed
• Zaidi H, El Fakhri G. Is absolute quantification of dopaminergic neurotransmission studies with 123I SPECT ready for clinical use? Eur. J. Nucl. Med. Mol. Imaging 2008; 35(7):1330-3
  View in: PubMed
• Moore SC, Foley Kijewski M, El Fakhri G. Collimator optimization for detection and quantitation tasks: application to gallium-67 imaging. IEEE Trans Med Imaging 2005; 24(10):1347-56
  View in: PubMed

• El Fakhri G, Trott CM, Sitek A, Bonab A, Alpert NM. Dual-tracer PET using generalized factor analysis of dynamic sequences. Mol Imaging Biol 2013; 15(6):666-74
  View in: PubMed
• El Fakhri G, Surti S, Trott CM, Scheuermann J, Karp JS. Improvement in lesion detection with whole-body oncologic time-of-flight PET. J. Nucl. Med. 2011; 52(3):347-53
  View in: PubMed
• El Fakhri G, Ouyang J. Dual-radionuclide brain SPECT for the differential diagnosis of parkinsonism. Methods Mol. Biol. 2011; 680():237-46
  View in: PubMed
• El Fakhri G, Kardan A, Sitek A, Dorbala S, Abi-Hatem N, Lahoud Y, Fischman A, Coughlan M, Yasuda T, Di Carli MF. Reproducibility and accuracy of quantitative myocardial blood flow assessment with (82)Rb PET: comparison with (13)N-ammonia PET. J. Nucl. Med. 2009; 50(7):1062-71
  View in: PubMed
• El Fakhri G, Santos PA, Badawi RD, Holdsworth CH, Van Den Abbeele AD, Kijewski MF. Impact of acquisition geometry, image processing, and patient size on lesion detection in whole-body 18F-FDG PET. J. Nucl. Med. 2007; 48(12):1951-60
  View in: PubMed

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