Principal Investigator: Jonathan R. Polimeni
Dr. Polimeni
is an Assistant Professor in Radiology at Harvard Medical School and Assistant in Biomedical Engineering at
Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Polimeni is a biomedical engineer with expertise in developing and applying data acquisition and analysis methods for high-resolution, high-accuracy functional and physiological MRI and on applying these data to modeling and characterizing the organization of the human brain. He is the Director of Ultra-high Field (7T) Imaging at the Martinos Center.
Postdoctoral Investigators
Daniel Gomez
works at the intersection of science and engineering. He is an MR physicist by training, and loves to fine tune MR protocols and sequences to optimize image contrast and resolution for functional MRI. Some of his current work includes testing the temporal limits of our vascular physiology – what is the fastest that it can respond to challenges within a short time scale? For that he used high spatial and temporal resolution BOLD fMRI and high frequency visual stimuli to tap into fast neurovascular responses in the brain and examine their behavior in both large veins and closer to the capillary bed. He also collaborates on the development of sequences for imaging brain perfusion at high temporal and spatial resolution, and on tools to improve the preprocessing and analysis of data acquired with high field MRI.
Zijing Dong
is interested in researching centers on developing novel MRI technologies to improve imaging efficiency and information content, and applying these technologies to advance the study of the structural and functional organization of the human brain. He received his Ph.D. from MIT EECS where he received in-depth training in neuroimaging, MR physics, and computer science. His ongoing research focuses on CSF flow imaging of the human brain with the goal of understanding brain’s waste clearance system and glymphatic physiology. He also works on developing novel acquisition and reconstruction methods for high-resolution diffusion MRI to map fine-scale brain connectivity.
Grant Hartung
is formally trained as a bioengineer with a focus on mechanical engineering, computer science, and chemical engineering which aide in his current work creating/developing biomechanical simulations of the brain. He is currently investigating how the capillary architecture imparts a bias on functional MRI images independent of cognitive activity using new, massive simulations of blood flow, oxygen, and the MRI signal. This type of investigation lends itself simultaneously to improving the biological interpretation of fMRI images and investigating how blood vessel degradation, as accompanies many neurodegenerative diseases, may be measurable in the MRI suite.
Sebastien Proulx
is working to bridge measurable biological signals with healthy human behavior and cognitive phenomena. He received a Master and PhD at Université de Montréal with Dr Julien Doyon, where he used MR spectroscopy to quantify regional neurotransmitter concentration changes in human brains undergoing short term—minutes to hours—motor and visual plasticity. He has applied a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) protocol to the visual cortex to better understand local neural processes assessed with visual psychophysical methods. He has also explored the link between temporal features of the BOLD fMRI signal and computationally relevant aspects of neural activity.
He is currently working to deepen our understanding of vascular dynamics, and ultimately to unwrap them to better reveal neurally relevant signals.
Zhangxuan Hu
received a PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Tsinghua University.
His research focuses on developing neuroimaging methods using magnetic resonance imaging, particularly diffusion imaging for detecting tissue microstructure information, and functional MRI methods. He is interested in the applications of these methods for understanding of the biophysical basis of brain in health and diseases.
Student Investigators
Amelia Strom
is a PhD student in the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. She will be measuring brain tissue motion in human participants using 7T MRI with the goal of assessing relationships between tissue mechanics and CSF flow, glymphatic waste clearance, and the vasculature.
Administrative Staff
Estee Perelgut
received a Master of Engineering Science in Biomedical Engineering at Western University. Estee joined our team in early March 2022 as a Senior Research Technologist.
Sarah Richter
received a Master of Arts in Psychology from the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences at Boston University in May 2022. Sarah joined our team shortly after as a Clinical Research Coordinator II.
Kyle Droppa
received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the College of Arts & Sciences at New York University in May 2018. Kyle joined our team as a Clinical Research Coordinator I.