Research

Awards and Honors: April 30, 2008

Rebecca Fahrig, PhD, assistant professor of radiology, has been selected as one of sixteen School of Medicine Faculty Fellows for 2008. Over the next year, the Fellows will meet monthly for leadership meetings with invited faculty who will serve as role models. In addition, they will attend small mentoring groups led by senior faculty mentors and will devise a career development plan. The Faculty Fellows were nominated by their departmental chairs and were ranked by the Faculty Fellow Review Committee based on their "leadership potential and demonstrated commitment to building diversity."

Before joining our Department as an assistant professor, Dr. Fahrig completed her PhD in medical biophysics at the University of Western Ontario and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. She has won numerous awards including the Greenfield Award for the Best Paper (nonradiation dosimetry) published in Medical Physics in 2005; the Fellowship Research Trainee Prize (along with Zhu, PhD, candidate) from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Physics Subcommittee; and the Faculty Scholar in Translational Research Award from the Baxter Foundation. Dr. Fahrig's research focuses on imaging for guidance of minimally invasive procedures. She works on software and hardware that permit the use of a C-arm system for both fluoroscopy and CT imaging, and she has extended the applications of C-arm CT to retrospectively gated 3D/4D cardiac imaging in the interventional suite. She is also developing an MR-compatible X-ray fluoroscopy system, including a new rotating-anode X-ray tube for use in the fringe fields of 1.5T and 3.0T magnets.

New Faculty Hires and Promotions: April 24, 2008

Debra Ikeda, MD, director of the Stanford University breast imaging section, has been promoted to full professor of radiology. For 16 years, Dr. Ikeda has served as the director of the breast imaging section. Prior to coming to Stanford, she received her medical degree from the University of Connecticut, Farmington, and completed her internship and residency in radiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After completing fellowships at the University of San Francisco Medical Center and Malmo General Hospital in Sweden, Dr. Ikeda came to Stanford to build our breast imaging section into a state-of-the-art center. She has developed and led two of the leading CME courses in the world of breast imaging, each attended by over 300 participants. She has also been very active in teaching our residents and fellows and was awarded "Teacher of the Year" for her efforts. Her achievements include chairing the American College of Radiology (ACR) BIRADS Lexicon Committee, which resulted in the publication of the ACR MRI BIRADS text that is used to report breast MRI throughout the world. Dr. Ikeda's research focuses on the roles and limitations of breast cancer detection and imaging using X-ray methods, ultrasonography, and MRI. New research involves imaging of Asian women, evaluation of breast density, imaging of accelerated partial breast irradiation, optical imaging, and digital mammography with CAD.

(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)

Awards and Honors: April 18, 2008

Sandip Biswal, MD, assistant professor of radiology; Sheen-Woo Lee, MD, MSc, postdoctoral scholar; Shin Kamaya, BSE; Deepak Behera, DNB, postdoctoral fellow; Edward Graves, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology (radiation physics); and Garry Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and, by courtesy, of bioengineering and orthopaedic surgery, were awarded the Moncada Award at the 31st Annual Meeting of the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR) for their outstanding research project "Imaging Pain and Nociception with Manganese-Enhanced MRI (MEMRI)." The Moncada Award was named in honor of Rogelio Moncada, MD, who helped establish the SCBT/MR research awards program. Please find photos and brief biographies of some of our award winners below.

Deepak Behera, diplomate of National Board (DNB), specialized in nuclear medicine from Medwin Hospitals in Hyderabad, India, after receiving his medical degree (MBBS) from MKCG Medical College in Orissa, India. Before coming to Stanford, he served as senior resident in the nuclear medicine clinics at PGIMER in Chandigarh, India. Dr. Behera is currently a postdoctoral fellow in the Molecular Imaging of Musculoskeletal Illnesses (MIMI) Laboratory where he is investigating a clinically applicable nociception imaging agent that has applications in both cancerous and noncancerous conditions. Outside the lab, he enjoys traveling, outdoor sports, dancing, and singing.

Sandip Biswal, MD, assistant professor of radiology, received his medical degree from Harvard Medical School-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Division of Health Science and Technology (HST). As a faculty member at Stanford, he was won the Junior Faculty of the Year Resident Teaching Award twice and the RSNA Research Trainee Prize three times: once each in Informatics and Nuclear Medicine with Bao Do, MD, and once in Nuclear Medicine with Brian Kim, MD. Dr. Biswal is the leader of the Molecular Imaging of Musculoskeletal Illnesses (MIMI) Laboratory, where he researches the use of multimodality molecular imaging techniques to study nociception as it relates to bones, joints, the peripheral nervous system, and the spinal cord.

Garry E. Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and (by courtesy) bioengineering and orthopedics at Stanford University, received a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1988 and his MD from Stanford in 1992. Dr. Gold has authored over 60 journal articles, 170 abstracts, and 5 patents in MRI. He has been the principal investigator or a co-investigator on over 30 funded research projects, and he is the principal investigator on two NIH-funded projects to improve MR imaging of osteoarthritis and the use of real-time MRI for the study of biomechanics. The International Skeletal Society recently awarded Dr. Gold the President's Medal. He is also a five-time winner of the Lauterbur Award for the best MRI paper from the Society for Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR). Dr. Gold reviews manuscripts for ten peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (JMRI) and the journal of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (MRM), and he is on the editorial board of several publications. At Stanford, Dr. Gold practices clinical musculoskeletal radiology, teaching medical students, residents, and fellows. He teaches two courses in imaging physics and human anatomy for medical students and graduate students, and he was recently awarded the Kaiser Award for outstanding and innovative contributions to education. He also serves as an advisor and co-advisor for many engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Edward "Ted" Graves, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology (radiation physics), received his PhD in bioengineering in 2001 from the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital in Charlestown, Massachusetts, he came to Stanford in 2003 as an acting assistant professor of radiation oncology and joined the Department as an assistant professor in 2004. Dr. Graves has received numerous awards, including NIH-postdoctoral training grants and first prize in the student poster competition of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Cancer Workshop. At Stanford, his research interests focus on developing applications of emerging functional and molecular imaging techniques in the radiation therapy of cancer. Dr. Graves' current research projects include the development and application of techniques for imaging radiobiology, focusing on tumor hypoxia; the engineering of methods for applying clinically-relevant conformal irradiation to small animal models of disease; and the creation of software for multimodality image analysis and quantitation. In his time away from Stanford, Dr. Graves enjoys playing video games and with his dog, Tara, as well as supporting the Chelsea Football Club.

Shin Kamaya, BSE, grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He is currently a third-year medical student at the University of Colorado-Denver.

Awards and Honors: April 17, 2008

Brian Hargreaves, PhD, assistant professor of radiology; Neal Bangerter, PhD, research associate; Ernesto Staroswiecki, PhD; Paul Gurney, PhD; Thomas Grafendorfer, scientific staff; Anderson Nnewihe, MS; Bruce Daniel, MD, associate professor of radiology; and Garry Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and, by courtesy, of bioengineering and orthopaedic surgery, were awarded the Lauterbur Award by the Society of Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR) for their outstanding research project "Co-Registered Sodium and Proton MRI of Osteoarthritis and Breast Cancer." The Lauterbur Award in MR was named in honor of Paul Lauterbur, PhD, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2003 for his work in MRI. Please find photos and brief biographies of some of our award winners below.

Neal Bangerter, PhD, received his doctoral degree from the Department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. He has held positions in both industry and academia. His academic work has focused on the development of new, fast imaging techniques for MRI and the development of sodium imaging methods for musculoskeletal and other applications. Dr. Bangerter is currently working in industry, developing product strategy for a Silicon Valley start-up.

Garry E. Gold, MD, associate professor of radiology and (by courtesy) bioengineering and orthopedics at Stanford University, received a master's degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in 1988 and his MD from Stanford in 1992. Dr. Gold has authored over 60 journal articles, 170 abstracts, and 5 patents in MRI. He has been the principal investigator or a co-investigator on over 30 funded research projects, and he is the principal investigator on two NIH-funded projects to improve MR imaging of osteoarthritis and the use of real-time MRI for the study of biomechanics. The International Skeletal Society recently awarded Dr. Gold the President's Medal. He is also a five-time winner of the Lauterbur Award for the best MRI paper from the Society for Computed Body Tomography and Magnetic Resonance (SCBT/MR). Dr. Gold reviews manuscripts for ten peer-reviewed journals, including the Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (JMRI) and the journal of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (MRM), and he is on the editorial board of several publications. At Stanford, Dr. Gold practices clinical musculoskeletal radiology, teaching medical students, residents, and fellows. He teaches two courses in imaging physics and human anatomy for medical students and graduate students, and he was recently awarded the Kaiser Award for outstanding and innovative contributions to education. He also serves as an advisor and co-advisor for many engineering graduate students and postdoctoral fellows.

Paul Gurney, PhD, received his doctoral degree in electrical engineering from Stanford in June of 2007. His research includes work in rapid 3-dimensional MRI and coronary angiography.

Brian Hargreaves, PhD, assistant professor of radiology, completed his doctoral degree in electrical engineering at Stanford University. In 2001, he joined the Stanford Radiology Department faculty. Dr. Hargreaves' research focuses on body magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) applications (including abdominal, vascular, breast, and musculoskeletal imaging) and the development of novel excitation schemes, efficient imaging methods, and reconstruction tools that provide improved diagnostic contrast compared with current methods. Aside from work, he plays ice hockey and soccer, and he is on the volunteer ski patrol at Sugar Bowl ski resort.


Anderson Nnewihe, MS, is working on hardware design for the multinuclear imaging of the breast and the knee. In 2005, he graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with a BS degree in electrical engineering; in 2007, he received an MS degree in bioengineering at Stanford, where he is currently a PhD candidate in the Department of Bioengineering. His goals are to translate his research on multinuclear imaging to the clinical setting to expedite scans, improve image resolution, and facilitate diagnosis. He also has a marked interest in health care for his home country, Nigeria.

Awards and Honors: April 3, 2008

William T. Kuo, MD, assistant professor of vascular and interventional radiology, has been elected to Fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians (FCCP). Dr. Kuo will be inducted into Fellowship at the convocation ceremony of the American College of Chest Physicians (ACCP) during their annual CHEST meeting in October 2008. To be elected to Fellowship in the ACCP, a physician must be board certified in his or her respective subspecialty and devote a significant amount of clinical and research time to treating and studying cardiopulmonary disease. Dr. Kuo's election to Fellow is a significant achievement in his professional career that also recognizes his expertise in the endovascular treatment of acute pulmonary embolism, as a specialist in vascular and interventional radiology. Following his election to Fellow of the ACCP, Dr. Kuo was also invited to deliver a lecture at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding the safety and efficacy of catheter-directed therapy for acute pulmonary embolism. For Dr. Kuo's biography, please access an earlier award posting at http://radiology.stanford.edu/blog/archives/2007/02/new_faculty_hir_1.html.

Announcements: March 13, 2008

**Special Guest Speaker**: Friday, March 14, 2008, from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM in Lucas RLC P083. Dr. Michael Federle, professor of radiology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, will deliver a talk entitled "Evaluation of the Incidental or Benign Focal Liver Mass."

Announcements: March 6, 2008

Bruce R. Rosen, MD, PhD, to Speak on Bio-X Frontiers in Interdisciplinary Biosciences: March 13th at 4:15 PM in the Clark Center Auditorium. Bruce R. Rosen, MD, PhD, will deliver a seminar entitled "Frontiers in Multimodal Brain Imaging"; please see his abstract below. Dr. Rosen is the director of the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School.

Abstract:
The last decade has witnessed an explosion in the growth of our ability to study the workings of the brain. While the tools of molecular biology, neurochemistry, and electrophysiology continue to provide insights into neuronal events at the molecular, synaptic, and cellular levels, a new generation of non-invasive imaging tools has allowed us to extend this understanding from the cellular to the systems level, and from animal models to humans. One technology of particular note was the development of several means to image hemodynamic and metabolic events non-invasively using magnetic resonance. Coupled with advanced methods to quantify the morphological characteristics of cortical and subcortical structures, these "functional magnetic resonance imaging" (fMRI) studies have enabled investigators throughout the world to have an unprecedented view into the workings of the human brain and mind. Systems neuroscientists have applied these methods to map in detail the organization of human vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and motor control, and to directly address how our brains are both similar to and different from animal ancestors. Cognitive scientists have extended our understanding to higher order processing of functions like memory and attention, and they have begun detailed studies of distinctly human functions such as language. Scientists in fields as diverse as education and economics now use the tools of functional neuroimaging, and such studies have become powerful cultural icons in connecting the brain with behavior.

Though technological innovation was rapid during the last decade, it is certain to continue at an even more accelerated pace during the next. PET technology will continue to be the dominant means to obtain molecular imaging data, and will provide a direct neurochemical view into the synapse, with and without pharmacological interventions. MRI technology will also advance, and include ever-higher field strength magnets already approaching 12 Tesla. Such systems will allow us to study the building blocks of cortical organization, and permit us to directly map connections between functional regions. New technologies will also emerge, including direct tomographic imaging with light (Diffuse Optical Tomography--DOT) and novel means to combine MRI with electromagnetic recordings acquired with EEG and its magnetic cousin, MEG (magnetoencepholography). These technologies will extend our ability to capture views of brain function in "real time" in all patient populations, including small children, and they will ultimately allow us to test directly new computational and physical models of how the brain works, grows, and is perturbed in disease.

For more information, please contact Fiona Sincock.

Announcements I: March 5, 2008

Professor Lucio Frydman to Give Talk Entitled: "NMR and MRI Applications of Spatially Encoded Ultrafast Spectroscopy": Friday, March 7th, from 11:15 AM to Noon in the Lucas Learning Center. Dr. Frydman is from the Weizman Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel.

Pizza will be served after Dr. Frydman's presentation. For more information, please contact Betsy Sowder.

Announcements: March 3, 2008

Dr. Alexej Jerschow to Deliver Talk Entitled "23Na and 1H CEST MRI: Contrast in Cartilage and Intervertebral Disc": Friday, March 7th, at 10:00 AM in the Clark Center Auditorium. Associate Professor Alexej Jerschow, from the Department of Chemistry at New York University (NYU), will be visiting Stanford on March 7th to give a talk on his novel work at high field. He will be visiting the Lucas Center afterwards to see our facilities and to meet our scientists over lunch. For more information, please see his abstract below and/or contact Dr. Garry Gold.

ABSTRACT:
Glycosaminogycan (GAG) plays numerous vital functions in the human body. GAG concentration [GAG] in vivo is a sensitive biomarker indicative of both osteoarthritis (OA) and intervertebral disc (IVD) degenerative diseases. By exploiting the exchangeable protons of GAG, we demonstrate that one can directly map the localized GAG concentration in vivo using a chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) method. This gagCEST approach is presented on both human cartilage and animal discs. We also show the observation of the Nuclear Overhauser Effect (NOE) from macromolecules in tissue, which contributes significantly to the CEST/MT contrast mechanism in MRI and may lead to further diagnostic abilities. GAG contrast may also be enhanced by employing intermolecular multiple-quantum coherences.

Monitoring the bound sodium pool can be an important tool for assessing the onset of tissue disorders. Practical clinical 23Na MRI methods, furthermore, often do not allow one to use sufficiently small voxel sizes such that only the tissue of interest is seen, and a large signal contamination can arise from sodium in synovial fluid. Methods are presented for the clean separation between the signal from bound or ordered 23Na over that of free 23Na, which is particularly important and can greatly enhance the potential of 23Na-MRI as a diagnostic tool. 23Na MRI also offers the possibility of monitoring local anisotropic motion. 3T and 7T in vivo volumetric 23Na images are presented. Monitoring GAGs via 23Na or CEST can also be important for assessing heart valves or corneae.

References:
W. Ling, R. R. Regatte, G. Navon, A. Jerschow, Assessment of Glycosaminoglycan Concentration in Vivo by Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (gagCEST). Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, in press 2008, http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0707666105v1.

W. Ling, R. R. Regatte, M. E. Schweitzer, A. Jerschow. Characterization of Bovine Patellar Cartilage by NMR. NMR Biomed., in press 2008, http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/114294661/ABSTRACT.

Awards and Honors: March 3, 2008

(Drs. Ganguly and Pelc)

Arundhuti (Arun) Ganguly, PhD, research associate, received an Honorable Mention Award for her poster entitled "On the Angular Distribution of Bremsstrahlung" at the 2008 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) "Physics of Medical Imaging" Conference in San Diego in February of 2008. She co-authored this poster and an associated conference paper with Professor Norbert Pelc. Only five candidates were selected for this award out of 120 submissions. Working with Professors Rebecca Fahrig, PhD, and Norbert Pelc, PhD, Dr. Ganguly has been a research associate in Radiology since 2004. She has also received the Sylvia Sorkin Greenfield Co-Author Award for the Best Paper in Medical Physics (2005), and she was a co-recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the Association for Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) in 2004. Prior to becoming a research associate, Dr. Ganguly was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford working with Professors Fahrig and Pelc. Dr. Ganguly received her doctoral degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo, New York, in physics. While at Stanford, she has participated in the development of a truly hybrid X-ray/MR system at Stanford. Her primary interest is in the development of image-guidance technologies for minimally invasive procedures. Her current research includes the development of imaging protocols using a C-arm CT system, the synthesis of novel targeted imaging contrast agents, and X-ray detector development work.