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Department of Neurology
MSC10 5620
Health Sciences Center
1 University of New Mexico
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
Phone: (505) 272-3342
Fax: (505) 272-6692
Department of Neurology
Posse MR Lab
MR Research Group
Professor/Principal Investigator
Stefan Posse, PhD Dr. Posse obtained his
undergraduate degree in Physics at the University of Cologne, Germany
and pursued his PhD in Magnetic Resonance in vivo at the University of
Florida and the University of Berne in Switzerland. During his postdoctoral
training at the National Institutes of Health he developed MR methodology
to investigate brain metabolism and function at high magnetic field, and
introduced one of the first high-speed MR metabolic imaging methods in
human brain. He subsequently moved to Germany to build an MR research
laboratory at the Research Center Juelich and pioneered
real-time
functional MRI in human brain. In 2000 he joined Wayne State University School of
Medicine in Detroit, MI, where he built a high-field MR research laboratory
with one of the first clinical 4 Tesla whole body MR scanners. Since 2003
he is with the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. He is Professor
in the Department of Neurology with secondary appointments in the Departments
of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Physics and Astronomy.
His federally funded research program is aimed at advancing functional and metabolic MRI for applications in Neuroscience and Clinical Research. He trains students, fellows, residents, faculty and staff to prepare them for successful careers in academia and industry. He serves frequently on NIH study sections and collaborates with national and international research centers in the United States, Europe, Australia and Taiwan.
His federally funded research program is aimed at advancing functional and metabolic MRI for applications in Neuroscience and Clinical Research. He trains students, fellows, residents, faculty and staff to prepare them for successful careers in academia and industry. He serves frequently on NIH study sections and collaborates with national and international research centers in the United States, Europe, Australia and Taiwan.
Research Faculty
Tongsheng Zhang, PhD Tongsheng Zhang is a
Research Associate Professor in the Magnetophysiology lab at the
University of New Mexico, and a member of the Department of Neurology
since October 2000. Dr. Zhang is also working in the MR Lab
concentrating primarily on the
Breast Cancer project.
Postdoctoral Fellows
Vacant.
Graduate Students
Vacant.
Programmers/Analysts
Elena Ackley, MS Elena Ackley received
her Masters in Computer Science from the University of New Mexico in
2000. Before joining the MR Lab in 2008, she programmed the 'Negative Database'
for UNM CS research. Currently, she maintains the TurboFIRE real-time fMRI
analysis pipeline, including real-time pattern
classification and echo volumar reconstruction software development.
Former Group Members
Acknowledging those colleagues who have been part of our group, and
continue to collaborate with us from time to time:
Weili Zheng, PhD Weili Zheng received her Ph.D in 2007 from the University of Singapore. Her research interests include signal and image processing and medical image analysis. Dr. Zheng has worked on vascular segmentation of MRA in strokes, MR brain image analysis of Alzheimer's disease, as well as pattern classification methods for real-time fMRI and outer volume suppression in high-speed MR spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI). She is now at Wayne State University.
Chenguang Zhao, PhD Since completing his PhD study in medical image processing in 2005, Chenguang Zhao has been working on MR imaging and spectroscopy (MRI/S). Dr. Zhao's background spans from Mathematics, MR physics, to signal processing. He worked on high-speed MR spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI) for the human breast to map total Choline, a metabolic marker of breast cancer. He implemented online reconstruction of PEPSI data on the Siemens 3T scanner which permits viewing of reconstructed spectra on the scanner. He is currently an MR Systems Engineer for Philips Healthcare in Suzhou, China.
Kaung-Ti Yung, PhD After receiving his PhD in 1999 from Dr. Paul C. Lauterbur at U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kaung-Ti Yung was on the faculty of Geneva College near Pittsburgh, PA and continued MR research at Carneige Mellon University and U. of Pittsburgh from 2003-2008. While there Dr. Yung constructed RF coils, implemented sequences, and calculated diffusion tensor anisotropy maps for murine models. Here, he optimized saturation band placement [32] for high-speed MR spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI), and compared short TE and TE-averaged PEPSI data for mapping Glutamate.
Ernesto Akio Yoshimoto Ernesto Akio Yoshimoto studied Electrical Engineering at the University of New Mexico, specializing in digital image processing applied to magnetic resonance imaging. Since 2007, he has been working on high-speed MR spectroscopic imaging with parallel reconstruction techniques using large scale array coils. He also worked on spectral quantification in high-spatial resolution MR spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI) to obtain detailed metabolite maps of the brain. He is now at NYU pursuing his doctorate.
Kwaku Akrofi, PhD After receiving his PhD in electrical engineering in late 2008 at Texas Tech University, Kwaku Akrofi continued his worked there doing EEG pattern classification of Alzheimer's Disease. He joined Posse's lab at the end of 2009, and developed a method of reducing fMRI activations attributable to residual head motion and distortions in the static magnetic field. He explored methods of reducing physiological noise in fMRI. Kwaku is currently a post-doc at the University of Illinois.
Weili Zheng, PhD Weili Zheng received her Ph.D in 2007 from the University of Singapore. Her research interests include signal and image processing and medical image analysis. Dr. Zheng has worked on vascular segmentation of MRA in strokes, MR brain image analysis of Alzheimer's disease, as well as pattern classification methods for real-time fMRI and outer volume suppression in high-speed MR spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI). She is now at Wayne State University.
Chenguang Zhao, PhD Since completing his PhD study in medical image processing in 2005, Chenguang Zhao has been working on MR imaging and spectroscopy (MRI/S). Dr. Zhao's background spans from Mathematics, MR physics, to signal processing. He worked on high-speed MR spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI) for the human breast to map total Choline, a metabolic marker of breast cancer. He implemented online reconstruction of PEPSI data on the Siemens 3T scanner which permits viewing of reconstructed spectra on the scanner. He is currently an MR Systems Engineer for Philips Healthcare in Suzhou, China.
Kaung-Ti Yung, PhD After receiving his PhD in 1999 from Dr. Paul C. Lauterbur at U. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kaung-Ti Yung was on the faculty of Geneva College near Pittsburgh, PA and continued MR research at Carneige Mellon University and U. of Pittsburgh from 2003-2008. While there Dr. Yung constructed RF coils, implemented sequences, and calculated diffusion tensor anisotropy maps for murine models. Here, he optimized saturation band placement [32] for high-speed MR spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI), and compared short TE and TE-averaged PEPSI data for mapping Glutamate.
Ernesto Akio Yoshimoto Ernesto Akio Yoshimoto studied Electrical Engineering at the University of New Mexico, specializing in digital image processing applied to magnetic resonance imaging. Since 2007, he has been working on high-speed MR spectroscopic imaging with parallel reconstruction techniques using large scale array coils. He also worked on spectral quantification in high-spatial resolution MR spectroscopic imaging (PEPSI) to obtain detailed metabolite maps of the brain. He is now at NYU pursuing his doctorate.
Vineeth Yeruva, BTech. Vineeth came to us from India.
He joined the MR Lab in early 2011, while persuing his Masters in Computer
Science at the University of New Mexico. In six months he contributed primarily
to the Breast Cancer project, and fMRI
TServer software. He is currently concentrating on his studies.
Radu Mutihac, PhD Dr. Mutihac, a visiting Fulbright
senior scholar to UNM (Aug 2010 - Feb 2011), is professor in the Dept. of Electricity
and Biophysics at the University of Bucharest, Romania. His work in the MR Lab
focused primarily on the application of Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to
echo volumar
images, and comparing the fMRI results of EVI with conventional echo planar images
(EPI). He continues to collaborate with us on this comparison.
Robbie Martin. Robbie is working towards undergraduate degrees in
Pre-Medical Chemistry and Spanish at the University of New Mexico. During the summer of 2011,
as part of the Undergraduate Pipeline Network, he worked closely with Dr. Posse on a case study
involving the integration of multi-modal imaging in a patient with a brain tumor. He hopes to graduate and continue on to medical school in 2012.
Kunxiu Gao, MS Kunxiu Gao received his
Master's degree in Computer Science from Wayne State University in May
2001, and started working with Dr. Posse on the real-time fMRI project
in August 2001 at the Brain Imaging Research Division, Department of
Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurosciences, at Wayne State University
School of Medicine. He was lead developer of the TurboFIRE
real-time fMRI software package, and resides in Massachusetts.
Kwaku Akrofi, PhD After receiving his PhD in electrical engineering in late 2008 at Texas Tech University, Kwaku Akrofi continued his worked there doing EEG pattern classification of Alzheimer's Disease. He joined Posse's lab at the end of 2009, and developed a method of reducing fMRI activations attributable to residual head motion and distortions in the static magnetic field. He explored methods of reducing physiological noise in fMRI. Kwaku is currently a post-doc at the University of Illinois.
Our Collaborators
Acknowledging the many talented people we work with here at home, and
around the globe:
University of New Mexico: S. Eberhardt MD, C. Ford MD PhD, P. Heintz PhD, L. Lomo MD, R. Rosenberg MD, M. Royce MD, L. Sillerud PhD
MIND Research Network: Vincent Calhoun PhD, Matt Shane PhD
MGH/Harvard University: B. Jenkins PhD, A. van der Kouwe PhD, Fa-Hsuan Lin PhD, Lawrence Wald PhD
CMRR/University of Minnesota: Patrick Bolan PhD, Pierre-Gilles Henry PhD, Malgorzata Marjanska PhD
UCLA/University California Los Angeles: Jeffry R. Alger PhD, J. Michele Zhang, MS
University of Madrid, Spain: Manel Martínez-Ramón PhD
New York University Medical Center: Ricardo Otazo PhD, Daniel Sodickson PhD
University of Washington: Stephen R. Dager MD
Seattle Children's Hospital: Denis Shaw MD
University of Montreal, Canada Gary Duncan PhD, Emma Duerden M.Sc., Ph.D. candidate
McGill University, Canada Bruce Pike PhD
National Taiwan University and Chang Gung University, Taiwan: Fa-Hsuan Lin PhD, Shang-Yueh Tsai PhD
University of Magdeburg, Germany: Oliver Speck PhD
University of Freiburg, Germany: Maxim Zaitsev PhD
Radboud University, The Netherlands: Tom Scheenen PhD
Georgetown University: John van Meter PhD
McLean Hospital: Eric Jensen, PhD
Purdue/Indiana University: U. Dydak PhD
Siemens Medical Solutions, Inc.