Projects
Flemish interuniversity simultaneous time-of-flight PET-MR scanner for research. KU Leuven
Both PET and MRI are regarded as the most advanced and sensitive non-invasive in vivo imaging technologies. PET enables quantitative imaging of dynamic biochemical processes while MRI allows functional and structural characterization of nearly all body tissues.
Currently all Flemish PET and MRI images are acquired sequentially by stand-alone PET or MRI systems as there are no simultaneous PET-MRI systems installed in Flanders. Yet, ...
High field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scanner for pre-clinical research (7.0 Tesla, 30 cm bore) KU Leuven
In vivo validation of experimental disease and therapy models is essential for biomedical research and the development of novel treatments. Non-invasively acquired anatomical, functional and molecular information contributes to understand the basic biological, biophysical and biochemical mechanisms of diseases as they often precede symptoms. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is one of the most frequently used methods in pre-clinical research ...
Cancer and pregnancy: effects of prenatal exposure to cancer treatment on neurocognitive development: an MRI and ERP study KU Leuven
The objective of this project is to investigate the long-term neurocognitive effects of prenatal exposure to cancer and cancer treatment (surgery, radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy). Advanced MRI techniques (multishell Diffusion-weighted Imaging (DWI), resting-state functional MRI and high-resolution structural MRI) and Event Related Potentials (ERP) are applied in order to have an as accurate and complete assessment as possible.
In this ...
Taking ovarian cancer diagnosis to the next level: differential diagnosis of malignancy type, and added value of advanced data sources such as MRI, proteomics, circulating tumour DNA and circulating tumour cells KU Leuven
Excellent tools to predict whether a detected ovarian tumour is benign or malignant prior to surgery are pivotal for several reasons: (1) currently a minority of ovarian cancers is treated by experienced gynaecological oncologists, (2) the value of screening for ovarian cancer has not been established, and (3) ovarian cancer is largely asymptomatic in its early stages such that accurate diagnosis is paramount to optimize survival. The ...
Data-driven microstructure imaging with multi-dimensional diffusion MRI in early brain development KU Leuven
Understanding how human brain structure develops and grows before and around the time of birth is a grand challenge in neuroscience, with far reaching implications for our understanding of neuropsychiatric disorders. Diffusion MRI (dMRI) and other quantitative MRI relaxometry modalities offer a unique means to characterize neural tissue microstructure in vivo. However, analysis of multi-dimensional dMRI in neonatal and foetal data brings ...
In2U – Inter-University Ultra-High-Field MRI Centre Flanders KU Leuven
The research infrastructure of In2U consists of a very powerful MRI scanner with a magnetic field strength of 7 tesla (T) to improve management of diseases of different organ (e.g. brain, breast, liver, bone marrow, kidney and prostate). Such a 7T system has a number of advantages over standard MRI scanners used in clinical routine: e.g. higher signal, better tissue contrast and superior metabolite differentiation. The advantages also allow ...
White matter characterization using diffusion MRI. University of Antwerp
An integrated multimodal platform for brain mapping at high spatiotemporal resolution: 3 Tesla MRI infrastructure. KU Leuven
Understanding the link between neural activity and human behavior is a central endeavor in neuroscience. Neuroscience research from animal models to human patients has direct translational applications: understanding normal brain function is critical for unraveling disease and paving the path to treatment. At our institution the number of competent imaging researchers is steadily increasing and this requires an expansion of the current ...
Subject-specific MRI passive shims and receive coils through 3D printing KU Leuven
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive medical imaging technique that is widely used in both clinical practice and research. Unfortunately, MRI data acquisition is inherently slow and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) starved. Therefore, scanner access is limited and scans are relatively long, costly, and susceptible to motion artefacts. One of the most efficient ways to improve the SNR is by making the receive coils, which are used to ...