Section on Quantitative Imaging and Tissue Sciences (SQITS)
NICHD
Mentor Name
Peter J. Basser, Ph.D.
Mentor Email
Mentor Telephone
301-221-5304

The Section on Quantitative Imaging and Tissue Sciences (SQITS) is dedicated to inventing and developing quantitative MRI biomarkers to follow key processes in normal and abnormal development, disease, degeneration, and trauma, motivated by fundamental research into the basis of functional properties of brain tissue and extracellular matrix (ECM).

Examples of possible summer projects for a BESIP intern depending on the intern’s interest and experience include:

  • Developing high-resolution MR methods for imaging cartilage and ECM organization and structure to predict their functional properties (e.g., see the link -   Fast, accurate 2D-MR relaxation exchange spectroscopy (REXSY): Beyond compressed sensing.

    -Chandran P, Dimitriadis E, Mertz E, Horkay F. 2018. Microscale mapping of extracellular matrix elasticity of mouse joint cartilage: an approach to extracting bulk elasticity of soft matter with surface roughness. Soft Matter 14:2879-2892

    -Horkay F, Basser P, Hecht A, Geissler E. 2017. Structure and Properties of Cartilage Proteoglycans. Macromolecular Symposia 372:43-50.
     
  • Developing and testing instruments to study the effects of induced electric and magnetic fields on cell growth and development.
     
  • Investigating water-ion-biopolymer interactions in model systems using computational, physical, and NMR methods (see Gels and Other Soft Amorphous Solids).

    -Mussel M, Horkay F. 2019. Experimental Evidence for Universal Behavior of Ion-Induced Volume Phase Transition in Sodium Polyacrylate Gels. The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 10, 7831-7835
     

To discuss any of these projects or others you see listed in our lab website, please contact Dr. Peter Basser.

BESIP Year