Joseph Ackerman
Courses
Freshman Seminar in Chemistry, Instrumental Methods: Physical Chemistry; Chemistry Freshman Seminar
Research
The Biomedical Magnetic Resonance Laboratory (BMRL) and its collaborators
are focused on the development and application of magnetic resonance
spectroscopy (MRS) and imaging (MRI) for study of intact biological
systems. A major area of BMRL research is the development of MR techniques
that will provide a more complete understanding of the complex
microstructure and governing biophysical and physiologic determinants of
mammalian tissues in the intact, functioning state.
One primary focus is the use of water diffusion sensitive MR methods to
probe tissue architecture and microstructure at the micron length scale,
far less than the actual voxel resolution of the image itself. Tissue
microstructure at the micron scale is extraordinarily sensitive to
physiologic change and challenge, either normal or pathologic. We seek to
elucidate the biophysical phenomena behind the striking changes of water
diffusion associated with a variety of normal and pathologic states, with
specific focus on cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and developmental
neurobiology. Experiments exploit carefully-chosen model systems ranging
from single cells (Xenopus oocytes), to populations of cultured cells
(HeLa cells), to small animals (mice, rats), to non-human primates, to
humans. In addition, a concerted effort is underway to develop the
theoretical means by which to quantitatively describe the effect on the MR
diffusion signal of various structural barriers that hinder/restrict the
incoherent displacement motion of water.
A second focus exploits biologically compatible agents that affect the MR
relaxation properties of tissue water. Relaxation agents can be employed
to monitor water exchange between compartments, to probe tissue vascular
properties (architecture, permeability, blood flow), and to target and
identify cell and tissue types. An emphasis is on cancer,
neurodegenerative and cardiovascular disease, and quantitative
compartmental modeling of the MR signal in terms tissue-specific water
properties.
Selected Publications
Jespersen SN, Kroenke CD, Ostergaard L, Ackerman JJH, Yablonskiy DA.
Modeling dendrite density from magnetic resonance diffusion measurements.
NeuroImage 2006 in press.
Zhao L, Kroenke CD, Song J, Piwnica-Worms D, Ackerman JJH, Neil JJ.
Intracellular water specific MR of microbead-adherent cells: the HeLa cell
intracellular water exchange lifetime. NMR Biomed 2006 in press.
Zhu M, Ackerman JJH, Sukstanskii AL, Yablonskiy DA. How the body controls
brain temperature: the temperature shielding effect of cerebral blood
flow. J App Physiol 2006 101:1481-1488.
Goodman J, Ackerman JJH, Neil JJ. The sodium ion apparent diffusion
coefficient in living rat brain. Magn Reson Med 2005 53:1040-1045.
Kroenke CD, Ackerman JJH, Yablonskiy DA. On the nature of the NAA
diffusion attenuated MR Signal in the central nervous system. Magn Reson
Med 2004 52:1052-1059.
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