Optimising MRI Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping Methods for Efficient Structural and Functional Neuroimaging

1. Brief description of the context of the research including potential impact

MRI is indispensable in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases. These are poorly understood while their prevalence and socio-economic burden continue to rise. Structural and functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can provide biomarkers for early diagnosis and potential therapeutic intervention in neurodegenerative diseases. The vision for this research is to optimise MRI methods for simultaneous structural and functional mapping of tissue magnetic susceptibility as quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) has shown promise for neuroimaging, revealing changes in brain tissue composition in diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease (AD).
The rapid, efficient integrated scan developed in this research will be ideal for AD patients. It has the potential to provide a rich set of novel, multimodal MRI contrasts to allow development of new combined structural and functional biomarkers for early diagnosis of AD and other diseases

2. Aims and Objectives

The aim of this project is to optimise MRI acquisition and QSM processing methods to provide simultaneous structural and functional susceptibility maps in a much shorter time than typical gradient-echo MRI pulse sequences used for QSM.

The specific objectives are to:
- Develop and test rapid MRI pulse sequences such as echo-planar imaging (EPI)
- Implement state-of-the-art acceleration techniques such as parallel imaging and simultaneous multislice imaging while minimising image artifacts for acquisitions at multiple echo times.
- Optimise QSM processing pipelines for the new, rapidly acquired images, potentially incorporating new regularisation methods for this inverse problem and deep-learning based techniques.
- Develop and tailor physiological noise removal methods for functional QSM

The optimisation of sequences and algorithms will be carried out in both phantoms and healthy volunteers. The student will work primarily at the 3 Tesla Prisma MRI system at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery. QSM is based on the phase of the complex MRI signal so the magnitude signal (used for conventional imaging) is still available and can be utilised for standard T2*-weighted imaging and standard functional MRI with no extra scan time cost.

3. Novelty of Research Methodology

The student will develop a rapid EPI sequence optimised for both structural and functional QSM.
They will engage in development and testing of novel MRI pulse sequences incorporating new image acceleration techniques as well as developing novel and optimal methods for QSM reconstruction of the resulting images to produce structural and functional susceptibility maps. To test the accuracy of new sequences and QSM processing pipelines, the student will design and build new test phantoms containing materials with known magnetic susceptibilities.

4. Alignment to EPSRC's strategies and research areas

This research is most closely aligned with EPSRC's healthcare technologies theme as it aims to accelerate research to healthcare applications. The specific research area pertaining to this research is Medical imaging. The research may also involve artificial intelligence technologies if deep learning is developed and employed for QSM reconstruction.

5. Any companies or collaborators involved

No companies or external collaborators are currently involved in the research.