BIOLOGY
Dixit, Ram: Dr. Dixit focuses on understanding on how the
microtubule cytoskeleton regulates plant cell shape. His lab uses transgenic
plants and follow fluorescently tagged proteins in living cells using total
internal reflection fluorescence microscopy to study dynamics and function of
proteins at the single molecule level. In addition, by combining mutational
analysis with live imaging of new two-color marker lines generated in the Dixit
lab, they examine the way in which microtubule severing proteins are responsible
for pruning unaligned cortical microtubules at crossover sites and how this
activity is involved in creating ordered arrays. Collaborators: Herzog, Piston.
Herzog, Erik: Dr. Herzog studies the cellular and molecular basis
for circadian rhythms, focusing on the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the
hypothalamus. By combining electrophysiological and molecular imaging
techniques, his lab is identifying pacemaking cells and how these cells
coordinate their activities to drive behavior. The lab compares the circadian
rhythms expressed behaviorally and by cells and tissues using a variety of
techniques including behavioral monitoring and imaging with multielectrode
recordings, bioluminescence and fluorescence from animals carrying transgenic
reporters. Trainees in the Herzog lab pursue optical and digital imaging of
low-light bioluminescence, fluorescence, and bright-field preparations. Dr.
Herzog received an Outstanding Mentor Award in 2008. Collaborators: Holy,
Culver, Taghert.
BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING (BME)
An, Hongyu: Dr. An has extensive experience in MR and PET/MR
imaging and is the associate director of the Center for Clinical Imaging
Research (CCIR). Her expertise includes MRI physics, MR sequence design and
programming, image reconstruction, image and data analysis, PET/MR attenuation
correction, and motion correction. Simultaneously acquired anatomical,
physiological and metabolic MR imaging and physiological and molecular PET
imaging provide unprecedented diagnostic and prognostic values in many diseases.
A specialty of Dr. An’s group has been developing novel MR based PET
attenuation methods. An application area is the important MR imaging challenge
of quantifying cerebral oxygenation. Collaborators: Ackerman, Hershey, Woodard.
Chen, Hong: Dr. Chen’s research is focused on developing
image-guided ultrasound drug delivery (IGUDD) techniques. A new assistant
professor, Dr. Chen has a joint appointment with Radiation oncology. Her
laboratory is setting up two experimental systems: an ultrasound-image-guided
focused ultrasound system and an MRI-guided focused ultrasound system. The goal
is to translate basic research advances in imaging and ultrasound therapy into
image-guided therapy devices that can impact cancer patient care.
Collaborators: Anastasio, Hallahan, Parikh.
Raman, Barani: Dr. Raman’s research focuses on examining the
spatio-temporal signals in neural systems to understand the design and
computing principles of biological sensory systems using relatively simple
invertebrate models (e.g., Drosophila melanogaster). His lab employ’s a
variety of multi-dimensional electrophysiological recording techniques and
computational modeling approaches to investigate how dynamic odor signals are
encoded as neural representations (odor coding). Recent work from Dr. Raman’s
lab, published in Nature Communications and Nature Neuroscience, has revealed
the behavioral relevance of combinations of neurons activated by an odorant
(i.e., ‘the combinatorial code’) and in the temporal structure of the neural
activity (i.e., ‘the temporal code’). Collaborators: Gruev, Holy, Petersen.
CELL BIOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY
Cooper, John: The laboratory uses a variety of light and electron
microscopy techniques to address questions of how cells control their shape and
movement. Those techniques might include low-light level fluorescence
microscopy of living cell preparations, including spinning-disk confocal and
total internal reflection microscopy. Collaborators: Bayly, Piston.
Mecham, Robert: Dr. Mecham studies the extracellular matrix, the
critical material that helps bind together and support the structures and
tissues of the human body. He is a well-known leader in uncovering the
structure of elastic fiber and understanding the complex process involved in
producing it. His laboratory focuses on learning how cells produce elastic
fibers, a major component of the extracellular matrix. His work includes
live-cell imaging of extracellular matrix assembly. Collaborators: Holtzman,
Taber
Piston, David: The main research focus of the Piston lab is the
understanding of glucose-regulated hormone secretion from islets of Langerhans
in the pancreas. To perform live cell measurements in situ and in
vivo, his lab develops unique, state-of-the-art fluorescence imaging
methods to assay responses along critical signaling pathways in both
glucagon-secreting α-cells and insulin-secreting β-cells. These quantitative
microscopy measurements are combined with standard biochemical and molecular
biological techniques to obtain valuable information that bridges the gap
between the known details of the signaling pathways in individual cells and the
overall response of a whole islet. Experimental work involves 5D live cell
imaging and high-content screening. Collaborators: Nichols, Urano, Gross,
Lawson.
CHEMISTRY
Ackerman, Joseph: Trainees perform research in the development and
application of magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and imaging (MRI) for
study of intact biological systems, from cultured cells to mice to man. A major
area of research is the development of MR techniques that will provide a more
complete understanding of the complex structure and operating organization of
mammalian tissues in the intact, functioning state. Collaborators: Bayly,
Culver, Weilbaecher.
Mirica, Liviu: Dr. Mirica uses inorganic chemistry, organic
chemistry, and biological chemistry to address metal-mediated processes with
energy, biological, and medical relevance. One of his projects involves
investigation of the interaction of transition metal ions with Aβ peptides and
study of the role of metal ions in amyloid plaque and reactive oxygen species
(ROS) formation in patients with AD — whose plaques exhibit unusually high
concentrations of copper, iron, and zinc. He is developing Cu-64 complexes that
can be employed for PET imaging and early diagnosis of AD. Collaborators: Rath,
Tai.
COMPUTER SCIENCE
Gruev, Victor: Dr. Gruev’s research focuses on borrowing key concepts
from nature to develop ultra-sensitive, compact, lightweight and conformal
imaging sensors capable of recording spectral and polarization properties with
high spatial resolution and to bring these new sensory devices to clinical
settings. Gruev’s lab has been able to successfully mimic both the optics and
underlying neural circuitry from the visual system of both Morpho butterflies
and mantis shrimp by using various nanomaterials and nanofabrication techniques
and monolithically integrate them with circuits fabricated with advanced CMOS
technologies. The compact realization of these bio-inspired
spectral-polarization imaging sensors combined with wearable goggle devices and
real-time image processing implemented on FPGA platform, were recently used to
translate this technology into the operating room to provide instant visual
feedback to physicians. Collaborators: Achilefu, Culver, Raman.
Pless, Robert: Dr. Pless works on developing tools for the
fundamental mathematical modeling and analysis of motion in video sequences. He
co-founded the Media and Machines Laboratory, which now includes five full time
faculty and is a focal point for research on Computer Vision, Robotics, Graphics,
Medical Imaging and Human Computer Interaction. Driven by biological imaging
applications, the primary mathematical tools are data-driven, non-parametric
statistical models that represent scene-specific or patient-specific models of
common motions and behaviors. These models are ignore distracting motions
(e.g., breathing artifacts in CT). Collaborators: Bayly, Leuthardt, Miller,
O’Sullivan, Taber.
Ju, Tau: Dr. Tau’ works on computer graphics and image analysis
with application to biological imaging. His early works pioneered the
cage-based deformation paradigm which is now widely used in both entertainment
industry and academics. In collaboration with a group of image processing
specialists and neuroscientists, his lab used geometric atlases to map the gene
expression patterns in the mouse brain. While the prototype of the mapped
database (see www.geneatlas.org) was initially done in 2D, his lab recently
completed a 3D version (hosted on the same website) with the support of an NSF
grant. His lab also is working on theoretical foundations and practical
algorithms to quantify how “tubular” or “plate-like” an object (or one of its
part) is. This work is mostly motivated by the analysis of biological
structures in biomedical images with applications to optical and electron
microscopy. Collaborators: Dacey, Zipfel, Prior.
ELECTRICAL AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING
(ESE)
Lew, Mathew: Dr. Lew, a new faculty recruit, is interested in
developing imaging platforms for visualizing biomolecules in living organisms
across length scales, from subcellular to whole subjects. He trained in the lab
of W.E. Morner (Noble prize 2014). His work primarily focuses on
super-resolution microscopy. For example he developed method simultaneous
accurate measurement of the 3D position and 2D orientation of single molecules
and solutions for mitigating localization errors through modified labeling or
optical strategies. On the applications side, he works on labeling and imaging
internal cellular structures and external cell surfaces, in 3D, with resolution
beyond the diffraction limit. These techniques will enabled the mapping of
protein locations and interactions in studies of developmental cell biology.
Collaborator: Achilefu.
Nehorai, Arye: Dr. Nehorai’s research deals with analysis of
space-time data in a number of biomedical areas. In biomedicine, he is
developing methods for locating electrical sources in the brain using arrays of
electrodes (EEG) or magnetometers (MEG) placed around the head. His solutions
are important for clinical applications such as finding origins of seizures, or
in neuroscience for mapping the brain functions. He is also developing
procedures that find the stiffness of the heart wall using MRI. In microscopy
imaging, he is working on algorithms to quantify targets (e.g., antigens,
proteins etc.) from 3D microarray-based images, and quantum-dot (q-dot)
barcoded microparticle ensembles. Collaborators: Achilefu, Garbow, Song.
O’Sullivan, Jody: Dr. O'Sullivan was the director of the Electronic
Systems and Signals Research Laboratory (ESSRL) from 1998-2007, and is now dean
of the new joint engineering program between University of Missouri-St. Louis
and WU. He conducts research in a wide range of science and technology for
security applications, including borders, target and object recognition theory,
information hiding for secure and clandestine communication, and spectral
analysis for biochemical agent detection. Current imaging research includes
spiral CT imaging in the presence high-density attenuators and microPET.
Collaborators: Tai, Culver.
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
Bayly, Phillip: Dr. Bayly, Professor and Chair of Mechanical Engineering,
uses MRI to study deformation and to infer mechanical properties of soft
tissue, particularly in the brain and spinal cord. The changes in shape and
mechanical properties are important both in rapid events such as brain trauma,
and very slow events, such as brain morphogenesis. His students employ MR
tagging and analysis of tagged images to study the deformation of the brain
during linear angular acceleration of the skull. Dr. Bayly collaborates with
other researchers who use MRI measurement of water diffusion to characterize
the effects of trauma on the brain and spinal cord, in vivo, in animal
models. Collaborators: Ackerman, Carlsson, Cooper, Garbow, Pham.
Lake, Spence: Dr. Lake’s research focuses on multiscale
structure-function relationships of musculoskeletal soft tissues and joints. He
uses various imaging techniques (e.g., quantitative polarized light imaging,
two-photo microscopy, x-ray microscopy) to quantify structural
organization of tissues at various length scales and correlate with
region-specific compositional and mechanical properties. His work
seeks to understand fundamental
principles that govern how soft tissues function in healthy conditions, how
these relationships change in injury/disease, and how connective tissue damage
can be better prevented, treated, or replaced.
MEDICINE
Weilbaecher, Katherine: Dr. Weilbaecher’s laboratory investigates the
molecular mechanisms of tumor metastasis to bone. They utilize luciferase/GFP
labeled osteolytic cancer cell lines and evaluate tumor metastasis and bone
tumor growth using in vivo bioluminescence in genetically targeted
osteoclast and platelet defective mice. They also utilize MRI and PET imaging
to evaluate bone tumor growth and metastasis in spontaneous metastasis tumor
mouse models. Trainees gain experience in metastasis biology and host
cell/tumor cell interactions using an array of in vivo imaging
techniques, including PET, bioluminescence and MRI. Collaborators: Achilefu,
Ackerman, Garbow, Lanza.
NEUROLOGY
Petersen, Steven: Dr. Peterson pioneered the use of brain imaging (PET
and fMRI) to identify brain regions that contribute to attention, learning,
memory and language. He also investigates the effects of disease and brain
damage on these cognitive processes. Currently, he has two main areas of
interest. The first focus is the development of neural mechanisms underlying
cognition. Methods have been developed that allow direct statistical comparison
of child and adult imaging data. The second focus is identifying and
characterizing fMRI signals related to task organization and executive control.
Recently his lab developed a series of seminal papers on functional
connectivity mapping with MRI related to the management of motion artifacts,
the applications of graph theory and the mapping of network hubs.
Collaborators: Barch, Culver, Hershey, Raman.
NEUROSCIENCE
Holy, Timothy: Dr. Holy’s research in imaging focuses on developing
new optical methods for imaging neuronal activity. He has devised a new method,
called objective-couple planar illumination microscopy, for imaging neuronal
activity simultaneously in large neuronal populations. This approach uses a
sheet of light to provide three-dimensional resolution without point-scanning.
The principal advantage of this technique is that hundreds or thousands of
neurons can be imaged at high speed and high signal-to-noise ratio. Current
work on this technology includes optical and algorithmic methods for enhancing
resolution deeper into tissue. Collaborators: Herzog, Raman, Taghert.
Taghert, Pau: Dr. Taghert’s
research focuses on (i) how peptidergic neurons differentiate and (ii) how
neural circuits are controlled by the circadian clock to generate rhythmic
behaviors. Both areas of study rely heavily on imaging methods, including
standard epifluorescent and confocal microscopy, low light level imaging
methods, and use of bioluminesent reporters to interrogate pacemaker neuron
function and peptidergic cell secretion mechanisms. Collaborators: Hanson,
Herzog, Holy.
PSYCHOLOGY and BRAIN SCIENCES
Barch, Deanna: Dr. Barch’s research program is focused on developing
and using a variety of neuroimaging techniques to understand the developmental
interplay among cognition, emotion, and brain function to better understand the
deficits in behavior and cognition found in illnesses such as schizophrenia,
depression and substance abuse. She has a long history of mentoring graduate,
postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty in psychology, psychiatry, and
neuroscience who have gone on to productive research careers. She was the
Director of Graduate Studies in Psychology 2004 to 2014 (now Chair of
Psychology) and is a co-Investigator on the Human Connectome Project. Cofounder
of our Cognitive, Computational and Systems Neuroscience integrative training
pathway, Dr. Barch and has been actively involved in training students in
cross-disciplinary neuroimaging research. Collaborators: Petersen, Hershey.
PSYCHIATRY
Hershey, Tamara: Dr. Hershey’s research is in the fields of
neuroimaging and cognitive and clinical neuroscience. Her lab uses a range of
neuroimaging, pharmacological and cognitive techniques to understand the impact
of metabolic and neurodegenerative conditions on the brain, particularly during
development. For example, her lab explores the neural underpinnings of
cognitive and mood dysfunction in disorders relevant to dopamine and the basal
ganglia (e.g., Parkinson disease, Tourette syndrome), the effects of diabetes
and obesity on the brain, particularly within development, and the
neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative impact of a rare monogenic diabetes.
Dr. Hershey is deputy lab chief of the WUSM Neuroimaging Labs, and has mentored
numerous undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs and junior faculty and
co-directs a WU Peer Mentoring Program. Collaborators: Barch, Culver, Raichle.
RADIATION ONCOLOGY
Zhang, Tiezhi: Dr. Zhang’s primary research interests include the development of multi-pixel
x-ray source, tetrahedron x-ray imaging systems based on scanning x-ray sources.
Almost all modern x-ray imaging systems including x-ray radiography,
fluoroscopy, mammography and cone beam CT, to name only a few, utilize a single
x-ray source and a 2D detector to acquire 2D images. Dr. Zhang’s lab develops new linear scan x-ray sources and
tetrahedron beam imaging systems that can overcome the problems in traditional
x-ray imaging, including excessive x-ray scattering, suboptimal detector
performance and limited detector dimension. The novel imaging system may find
important uses in many medical procedures such as image guided radiotherapy
(IGRT), image guided intervention, and office-based point-of-care diagnostic
imaging. Besides x-ray imaging, Dr. Zhang’s lab also develops novel technologies
for precise radiation (x-ray and proton) treatment of cancers.
RADIOLOGY
Achilefu, Samuel: Dr. Achilefu is interested in molecular optical
imaging, the design and development of new molecular probes and nanomaterials,
specific delivery of imaging agents and drugs to target cells or tissues,
development of tissue-specific multi-modal imaging molecules, and
tumor-specific photodynamic therapy agents. He is co-leader of the oncologic
imaging program for the NCI-designated Siteman Cancer Center, and Director of
WU molecular imaging center. His Optical Radiology Lab provides a
multidisciplinary environment for students in a variety of disciplines,
including the chemistry, physics, and biology of optical imaging of diseases.
The lab is equipped with state-of-the-art instruments to train the student in
all aspects of optical imaging, depending on the expressed interest level of
the student. Collaborators: Culver, Gruev, Lew, Shokeen, Weilbaecher, Woodard.
Benzinger, Tammie: Dr. Benzinger`s research focuses on translating advanced neuromagnetic
resonance imaging techniques from small animal research in the Department of
Radiology, to translational research in the Center for Clinical Imaging
Research (CCIR), and into clinical practice. In particular, her current
research focuses on using directional diffusivity measurements derived from
diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to measure axonal and myelin damage in pediatric
and adult demyelination, dysmyelinating diseases, in traumatic brain injury
(TBI), and as a function of aging. Diseases under study in Dr. Benzinger`s
laboratory include multiple sclerosis (MS), acute disseminated
encephalomyelitis (ADEM), adrenoleukodystrophy, Krabbe`s disease,
Pelizaeus-Merzbacher`s disease, and head trauma. In addition, Dr. Benzinger
combines advanced neuromagnetic resonance techniques, such as DTI and
spectroscopy, and positron emission tomography (PET) to study interactions
between normal aging, Alzherimer`s disease, depression, and delirium in older
adults. Collaborators: Achilefu, Ackerman, Hershey, Culver, Woodard
Culver, Joseph: Dr. Culver’s Lab develops neurophotonic technology for
mapping brain function in humans and animal models. With the goal of producing
high-performance portable brain imaging in humans, his group has been
developing a series of innovations for diffuse optical tomography (DOT)
instrumentation and algorithms. Recently they presented the first DOT system
capable of mapping distributed brain function and networks (Nature Photonics).
Applied projects include mapping brain function in infants in the neonatal ICU,
and in stroke patients in the Adult ICU. In parallel with human imaging
efforts, the Culver lab is also developing mouse equivalent measurements of
functional connectivity using optical intrinsic signal imaging (fcOIS) - so as
to link human fcMRI with mouse models of disease (e.g., amyloid-beta models of
Alzheimer’s, stroke, brain tumors, autism). Recently, to work with faster
physiological signals, they have extend fcOIS to mice with genetically encoded
calcium indicators and are exploring transitions between awake/sleep and
anesthesia. Collaborators: Achilefu, Ackerman, Anastasio, Bruchas, Hershey,
O’Sullivan, Petersen, Shokeen.
Eggebrecht, Adam: Dr. Eggebrecht’s lab
is focused on developing new hardware and software tools for mapping human
brain function beyond the reach of current technology. Current projects include
optimizing and applying high density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) and
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to understand how brain function
underlies behavior during early childhood development and how it is altered in
children with autism spectrum disorder. Additional projects include optimizing
HD-DOT for bedside neuromonitoring applications in infants in acute care
settings. The Eggebrecht lab also develops computational software suites for
modeling, data registration, and analysis of next generation HD-DOT systems.
Collaborators: Constantino, Culver, Hershey, Marrus, Said, Smyser.
Shokeen, Monica: Dr.
Shokeen’s lab has expertise in the development and evaluation of molecularly
targeted small molecule and multi-functional macromolecular bio-conjugates for
nuclear and optical imaging of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Her group
aspires to utilize the translational capabilities of quantitative imaging
modalities (PET, SPECT, FMT and MRI) to bring the bench side discoveries into
patient care. Working on the chemistry of imaging, the Shokeen lab has been
evaluating high-affinity 64Cu labeled-Very Late Antigen-4 (VLA-4) targeted PET
radiopharmaceuticals to assess disease progression and response to treatment in
pre-clinical mouse and human models of multiple myeloma by quantitative
receptor measurements. The ultimate goal of these studies is successful
clinical translation. Her group is also investigating the unique metabolic
pathways and metabolite fate tracking in multiple myeloma tissues by using 13C edited 1H NMR and 11C-Acetate/PET-CT
imaging. Additionally, as part of a multi-PI team, the Schokeen lab is
developing a high-throughput optical in vivo imaging platform for the
detection of unstable plaque in carotid arteries using a novel custom built
Fluorescence Molecular Tomography (FMT) system. Collaborators: Woodard,
Achilefu, Culver.
Tai, Yuan-Chuan: Dr. Tai’s team conceived and demonstrated the
feasibility of the virtual-pinhole PET insert technology for improving the
image resolution of existing human and animal PET scanners. This technology is
currently being evaluated for whole-body cancer staging to improve the
sensitivity of metastatic cancer detection. Additionally, Tai’s lab has
developed several high resolution PET and multimodality imaging systems for
preclinical, clinical, and functional plant imaging applications. The plant PET
imager is now used routinely for molecular plant imaging research and has
brought the in vivo imaging technology to plant scientists and triggered
new interdisciplinary researches across multiple universities and institutions.
Collaborators: O’Sullivan, Laforest.
Woodard, Pamela: Dr. Woodard’s expertise is in translational
imaging and clinical trials, particularly in cardiovascular MRI, CT and PET.
She is Radiology’s Vice Chair of Clinical Translational Research, has an
appointment in Biomedical Engineering and is the Director of the Center for
Clinical Imaging Research (CCIR). She has been principal investigator (PI) or
co-investigator on numerous NIH grants and subcontracts, including the PIOPED
II and III Trials. Most recently, her lab has developed a receptor-targeted
nanoparticle PET imaging agent for assessment of atherosclerosis, brought it
through preclinical safety testing, applied for and received an FDA eIND for
testing in human subjects, and have begun testing in normal volunteers and
patients. New extensions of the same receptor targeted nanoparticle include
optical labelling for imaging with fluorescence molecular tomography.
Collaborators: Shokeen, Achilefu, Culver.