Technical Challenges and Opportunities in Studying Brain Function with Magnetic Resonance

Dr. Richard Briggs

Professor of Radiology and Director of Neuroimaging research

University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Thursday, October 28, 2004, 2:00-3:00pm

110 Jerry Junkins Building

Abstract

In the past decade, rapid advances in the instrumentation and methodology of magnetic resonance have led to an explosion of new applications of the technique to the noninvasive study of brain function. Higher field strengths, faster computers, larger data storage capacity, more sensitive radiofrequency coils, and increasingly sophisticated data acquisition and analysis methods have been introduced. Many new researchers from a wide array of backgrounds have been attracted by the possibilities. Nonetheless, these advances have also led to new and more difficult technical problems and challenges which must be overcome before full advantage can be taken of the new opportunities presented by these new technologies. Some examples of the potential applications to studying the brain will also be given.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Richard Briggs is Professor of Radiology and Biomedical Engineering and Director of Neuroimaging Research at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Adjunct Professor of Brain and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Texas at Dallas. He has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed articles, 130 abstracts, and 5 book chapters in various areas of magnetic resonance.

He has served as an editorial board member on the two premier magnetic resonance journals, and has reviewed for over 20 journals and served on numerous grant review panels for NIH, NSF, and other agencies.

Currently he is a Deputy Editor of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. He obtained a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Arkansas in 1978, did postdoctoral research at Yale and Oxford, and held faculty positions for 5 years at Penn State's Hershey Medical Center and for 16 years at the University of Florida before coming to UT Southwestern in July of 2003. His research area is biomedical applications of magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy, with recent focus on investigating brain function with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and emphasis on studying pain perception, language and motor recovery after stroke, and reducing motion and susceptibility artifacts. Other interests include relaxation mechanisms, techniques development, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and integrated multimodality imaging.

At UTSW, he is heading the neuroimaging component of Dr. Robert Haley's research on the Gulf War Syndrome.

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