Xiaoliang Zhang

Research Interests

Parallel imaging, Parallel Excitation/transmit SENSE, new strategies for fast MR imaging, ultrahigh field MR technology, innovative RF coils and coil arrays for ultrahigh field MRI, computational electromagnetics in in-vivo MR, MRI compatibility and safety for implanted devices.

Research Summary

Magnetic resonance (MR) has been proven to be a robust noninvasive, nonionic imaging modality in biomedical investigations and clinical diagnosis. The major problem of MRI is its long acquisition time and low sensitivity, consequently resulting in limited temporal resolution and spatial resolution. Parallel imaging and ultrahigh field MR (7T and above) are two promising MR methodologies emerged recently which are capable of improving conventional MR performance in temporal resolution and spatial resolution in vivo. My research focuses on development of the parallel imaging technique, ultrahigh field MR, and also integration of the two promising techniques, providing a fast, highly sensitive MR for in vivo biomedical research. The research endeavor involves parallel imaging algorithm, transmit SENSE, parallel excitation, new strategies for high frequency RF coils and coil  arrays, electromagnetic problems and computational electromagnetism in in-vivo MR at high fields by using FDTD method and other finite element methods, and applications of the developed techniques to in vivo MR Imaging and spectroscopy. One of such applications is related to the use of the hyperpolarized C-13 MR spectroscopic imaging to study metabolism and pathology in normal and cancerous conditions in humans and experimental animals. With increased capability of temporal resolution and spatial resolution, exploration of DTI with SENSE technique at 7T is also an important research field in our group. Another research component in our group is MRI compatibility and safety of implanted medical devices, making MRI examinations possible to numerous patients with implanted medical devices, such as the pacemaker.

Selected Publications

Robitaille P, Abduljalil A, Kangarlu A, Zhang X, Yu Y, Burgess R, Bair S, Noa P, Yang L, Zhu H, Palmer B, Jiang Z, Chakeres D and Spigos D. Human magnetic resonance imaging at 8 T. NMR Biomed, 11, 263-5. (1998).

Zhang X, Ugurbil K and Chen W. Microstrip RF surface coil design for extremely high-field MRI and spectroscopy. Magn Reson Med, 46, 443-50. (2001).

Zhu X, Zhang Y, Tian R, Lei H, Zhang N, Zhang X, Merkle H, Ugurbil K and Chen W. Development of 17O NMR approach for fast imaging of cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen in rat brain at high field. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 99, 13194-9 (2002).
 
Zhang X, Tian R, Zhu X, Zhang Y, Merkle H and Chen W. Measurement of arterial input function of 17O water tracer in rat carotid artery by using a region-defined (REDE) implanted vascular RF Coil. MAGMA, 16:77-85 (2003). 

Zhang X, Ugurbil K and Chen W. A Novel RF volume coil using microstrip transmission line for MR imaging and spectroscopy at 4 Tesla. J Magn Reson, 161: 242-251 (2003).

Adriany G, Moortele P, Wiesinger F, Moeller S, Strupp J, Andersen P, Snyder C, Zhang X, Chen W, Pruessmann K, Boesiger P, Vaughan T, Ugurbil K. Transmit and receive transmission line arrays for 7 Tesla parallel imaging. Magn Reson Med 53:434-445 (2005).

Zhang X, Zhu X and Chen W. RF coil design using the high-order harmonic resonance for MR imaging. Magn Reson Med, 53:1234-1239 (2005).

Zhang X, Ugurbil K, Chen W. A 300-MHz Volume RF Coil Using Inverted Microstrip Transmission Line (iMTL) for Human Head Imaging at 7T. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng, 52(3): 495-504 (2005).

Du F, Zhu X, Qiao H, Zhang X, Chen W. Efficient in vivo 31P Magnetization Transfer Approach for Noninvasively Determining Multiple Kinetic Parameters and Metabolic Fluxes of ATP Metabolism in the Human Brain. Magn Reson Med 57:103-114 (2007).

Aranguren XL, McCue J, Hendrickx B, Zhu X, Du F, Chen E, Pelacho B, Peñuelas I, Abizanda G, Uriz M, Frommer S, Ross J, Schroeder B, Seaborn M, Adney J, Hagenbrock J, Harris N, Zhang Y, Zhang X, Nelson-Holte M, Jiang Y, Billiau A, Chen W, Prósper F, Verfaillie C, and Luttun A. Multipotent Adult Progenitor Cells Sustain Function of Ischemic Limbs in Mice. J Clinical Investigation, 2008, Jan 2 (Epub ahead of print).