Dr. David Saloner Elected to the Elite AIMBE College of Fellows
February 8, 2012
David Saloner, PhD, Professor in Residence in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, and Director of the Vascular Imaging Research Center at UCSF, has been elected to the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) College of Fellows, Class of 2012. The AIMBE College of Fellows is comprised of the top two percent of medical and biological engineers in the country. Dr. Saloner was nominated by his peers for his outstanding contributions to advancing the quantitative imaging of vascular and cardiac biomechanics and function. A formal induction ceremony will be held during AIMBE’s 21st Annual Event in Washington, D.C. on February 20th, 2012. For further information on AIMBE please visit http://www.aimbe.org/
Dr. Saloner’s research career has focused on the evaluation of cardiovascular disease. He works together with collaborators from multiple disciplines and across most of the UCSF sites. He has had long-term extramural support from the NIH and other agencies to pursue multi-modality imaging in the evaluation of atherosclerosis and aneurysmal disease. A major theme of Dr. Saloner’s research is to investigate the links between underlying biomechanical and biochemical factors, principally hemodynamic forces, and disease progression as monitored by non-invasive longitudinal imaging. For further information on Dr. Saloner’s research go to http://profiles.ucsf.edu/ProfileDetails.aspx?Person=5296515
At UCSF, radiologists understand the importance of minimizing patient exposure to radiation, while obtaining the highest quality of results from CT scans. For this reason, UCSF places an emphasis on performing low-dose CT scans whenever possible. UCSF radiologists are combining new scanning protocols and imaging software to ensure maximum information with minimum radiation dosage for each scan.
State of the art imaging technology software, like GE Healthcare’s new Adaptive Statistical Iterative Reconstruction (ASIR) combined with new low-dose imaging protocols, guarantee that UCSF is leading the way in low-dose procedures, including neonatal imaging and CT-guided spinal injections for back and neck pain. UCSF radiologists put low-dose CT as a top priority, as evident through extensive research by Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman and her team of colleagues, as well as the establishment of the Radiation Oversight Committee by the UCSF Department of Radiology, chaired by Dr. Fergus Coakley.
In light of a recent study from the National Lung Screening Trial, which showed a 20 percent reduction in lung cancer-related deaths in heavy smokers screened annually with low-dose CT as compared to standard chest X-rays, UCSF Radiology and UCSF Pulmonary have come together to establish the UCSF Lung Cancer Screening Program (LCSP). This program, which includes a low-dose CT scan and a consultation with a UCSF pulmonologist, is being offered at a discounted self-pay price. For appropriate candidates, those aged 55-74 years old who currently smoke or have quit smoking within the last 15 years, the LCSP is a cost effective way to potentially prolong life through early detection.
To learn more information or to schedule an appointment for the Lung Cancer Screening Program, please visit our webpage or call (415) 514-8787.
Joint UCSF/UC Davis $6.3M Osteoarthritis Research Center
October 6, 2011
How people walk, jump and run and how their knees look in an MRI scanner may hold the secret to predicting years or even decades in advance whether they will develop osteoarthritis, the common degenerative joint disease that strikes half of all Americans by the time they reach the age of 70.
Doctors today cannot look at a person’s gait, leap, stride or scan and tell you definitively whether or not they will develop osteoarthritis, but a new translational research center at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center and the University of California, Davis seeks to change this.
Funded by a $6.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the center will bring together radiologists, orthopedic surgeons, rheumatologists, laboratory scientists, mathematicians and physical therapists under one umbrella with a single purpose: finding new tools for predicting and preventing osteoarthritis in young people and improving care and outcomes for the tens of millions of American adults already suffering from the disease.
“Osteoarthritis is one of the major age-related illnesses of our times, and there’s no way to slow or reverse it once it starts,” said Sharmila Majumdar, PhD, UCSF Professor in Residence and Vice-Chair of Research in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging. “The diverse group of experts at the center will all be seeking to address this problem, but from different perspectives, integrating imaging, biomechanics and the symptoms of the individual.”
Specifically, these experts will combine advanced MRI imaging with sophisticated analyses of movement, clinical medicine, countrywide statistics and all the latest laboratory research on cartilage composition. They will seek to translate this research into clinical tools that can predict, prevent, and possibly slow damage to soft tissue in the joints.
“We’re very excited about this research because it will allow us to assess the progressive degeneration and risk factors in osteoarthritis of the knee, identify its association with hip osteoarthritis, and determine how changes in cartilage may be a predictor for the disease,” said professor Nancy E. Lane, MD, who leads the UC Davis Musculoskeletal Diseases of Aging Research Group, is co-principal investigator of the project and will direct one of the four major projects funded by the new grant.
The Appeal of Biomarkers to Medicine An unfortunate reality of osteoarthritis is that the changes happening to the joints can go unnoticed for years. People in the early stages of the disease may not have any visible health problems, and much of the damage occurs long before someone develops soreness in their knees.
“By the time a patient sees a physician for walking knee pain, the disease is often very advanced,” said Lane.
Part of the problem is that there is no effective way to screen for the earliest signs of osteoarthritis. X-rays taken of the knees and other joints are often inconclusive. While they may show the bones of a patient, they do not necessarily reveal the subtle changes to the soft tissue, where some of the earliest signs of disease may be hidden.
With some of the most advanced MRI imaging techniques now available, doctors can identify these subtle changes. Motivation for the new center stems from the fact that tools for identifying the early signs of osteoarthritis may already exist in laboratory, but more work needs to be done to push them into the clinic.
The new grant will fund several projects aimed at pushing the science forward by defining and standardizing biomarkers of the disease. These definitive, measurable quantities collected from something like a MRI scan would signal early joint degeneration.
According to Majumdar, the new center is uniquely positioned to define these biomarkers because developing them will require many experts from many different fields – from experts in imaging to researchers who study patient movement and clinicians who see patients and recognize physical signs of disease.
Other center projects will utilize a treasure trove of osteoarthritis data gathered through a large national study, the Osteoarthritis Initiative sponsored by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculo-Skeletal Disease (NIAMS).
Developing these biomarkers, Majumdar said, would be a boon for patients because, by giving pharmaceutical companies a useful way to test how effective the drugs are, it would speed up development of new drugs to fight osteoarthritis.
Dr. Pratik Mukherjee Featured on KQED - Sports Concussion Program
September 7, 2011
A recent special featuring UCSF Associate Professor of Radiology, Dr. Pratik Mukherjee, M.D., Ph.D., explored the difficulties in using medical imaging technologies to research the effects of concussions on the human brain. According to the feature, concussions affect 2 million people in the US annually, an overwhelming majority of those sustained through contact sports. Because, both, the injury and the organ affected are so complex, with new research showing that concussions are more harmful than previous research assumed, new, advanced imaging techniques are being introduced.
A novel, state of the art form of MRI, called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI), is able to spot damage to the brain that has thus far been invisible with CT, the medical imaging technique that has been previously considered the go- to tool for concussions. The DTI measures the rate of water movement along the brain’s bundle of white matter fiber, which Dr. Mukherjee states is “essentially the wiring of the brain.”
Dr. Mukherjee goes on to explain, "The evidence is that the concussions, especially the ones causing rotational injury to the head, cause microscopic damage to these white matter fibers. And that causes a disconnection of brain regions that should be in communication. And that we believe is the cause of the altered thinking, the altered memory, the altered attention that many concussion patients suffer from.”
Further, advanced new radiology imaging tools are drawing attention to other regions of the brain that are susceptible to damage from concussions, including those sustained from athletic injuries. For example, Dr. Mukherjee’s research at UCSF shows that the hippocampus, which plays a critical role in learning and memory formation, may physically shrink post- concussion.
However, Mukherjee stresses the importance of further research being done before the widespread adoption of these new imaging techniques. This will require comprehensive analysis and dedicated funding, but, hopefully, these advanced MRI technologies will assist in more aptly diagnosing and treating the millions of concussions resulting from contact sports and other blows to the head.
For eight years now the UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging has showcased its discoveries, its hard work and its hopes for the future at an event called the Imaging Research Symposium.
“Every year it expands, it excels and it goes beyond what it was the year before,” said Sharmila Majumdar, PhD, professor and vice chair for research in the department, during her opening remarks at the Aug. 31 symposium on the Parnassus campus.
The symposium highlighted UCSF's breadth, depth and diversity of research across multiple disciplines, organs and diseases, from neurology and musculoskeletal degeneration to cardiac ailments and osteoarthritis.
“Today you’ll see the entire spectrum of the research,” Majumdar said in an interview before the 15 oral presentations, which drew more than 180 people to Cole Hall. “This is a fairly significant symposium, not only for the institution but for the general public. It represents what we do best at UCSF, which is translating state-of-the-art techniques directly into clinical applications. The time lag that you see in other places you will not see here.”
Subjects of the presentations included brain atrophy acceleration, tumor stromal boundaries, hemodialysis fistulas, mild traumatic brain injury, molecular breast composition, and chronic cigarette smoking in alcohol dependence.
Xiaojuan Li, PhD, an associate professor in radiology and in UC Berkeley-UCSF bioengineering, said the symposium allows people in the radiology department to attract collaborators and to see what their colleagues have been doing, which could be relevant to their own research.
“These days society is so specialized,” she said.
Majumdar said the research was conducted at all levels — doctors, fellows, medical students, PhDs, postdocs and high school students — and provided extensive training at each of those levels. UCSF’s radiology department is second in the nation in terms of funding from the National Institutes of Health, behind Massachusetts General Hospital.
“Research in radiology has become much more structured and gained more recognition than I’ve ever seen before,” said Majumdar, who has worked at UCSF for 22 years. “When I came here it was important to do research, but the infrastructure was not organized. Now it’s a central entity, and each of our researchers is internationally known.”
Continuing the Vision
After more than three hours of oral presentations, everyone migrated across the street to Millberry Union for a poster session and presentation of the annual Bruce Hasegawa Award, honoring the beloved UCSF radiology professor and director of the Physics Research Laboratory, who died of a stroke in 2008.
Ronald Arenson, MD, professor and chair of radiology and biomedical imaging, presented the award to Simon Hu, PhD, who said the work he is doing with his colleagues continues Hasegawa’s vision, combining MR anatomic imaging and hyperpolarized carbon-13 metabolic imaging, which he described as an exciting new modality.
“It’s a tremendous honor because Bruce was such a pro in the field,” said Hu, who applied for UCSF’s bioengineering program six years ago and was interviewed by Hasegawa.
Majumdar said the project is a good example of work that will have a deep effect on people. As another example, she cited research that looks at individuals with osteoarthritis and relates quantitative imaging measures to functions, such as walking or jumping, and changes in the biochemistry of their tissues.
“So, in terms of what you should be doing for physical exercise, what’s good for you, it’s going to have tremendous impact,” she said. “And we might be able to guide surgeons better.”
The research was presented by 23-year-old staff research associate Samuel Wu. In his conclusion, he said that motion analysis testing in combination with quantitative MRI can be useful tools to identify patients at high risk for developing osteoarthritis.
“I have all these people who are very knowledgeable and friendly,” Wu, who is applying to medical schools, said afterward. “The mentorship is very good.”
Awards for Best Presentation went to Jason Talbott for “Diffusion Weighted-MRI of White Matter Injury Produced by Ethidium Bromide and Cervical Spinal Cord Contusion Injuries in the Rat,” and to Olga Tymofiyeva for “Mapping the Structural Connectivity Network in the Baby Brain Using Diffusion MRI.”
Awards for “Best Poster” among the 54 entries were given to Janine Lupo for “The Effects of Anti-Angiogenic Therapy on the Formation of Radiation-Induced Microbleeds in Normal Brain Tissue of Patients with Glioma” and to Lllewellyn Jalbert for “Magnetic Resonance of 2-Hydroxyglutarate (2HG) in IDH1-mutant low-grade Gliomas.”
“It’s cool,” said Jalbert, a first-year PhD student in bioengineering. “This is a new prognostic marker for brain tumors. It’s the first project I’ve had that’s easily translatable. The radiology department is so diverse in what it’s doing. It’s incredible. It’s way more diverse than what you’d think a radiology department would be.”
This declaration — something we at the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at UCSF already advocated — is the conclusive result of a landmark (29-year-long!) study of mammography screening.
Researchers found that “screening women with mammography provides a highly significant reduction in breast cancer-specific mortality, with the initial 30 percent mortality reduction among 40- to 74-year-old women invited to screening sustained over the long term,” according to Health Imaging.
The University of California-Historically Black Colleges and Universities Initiative (UC-HBCU) has awarded funding to Dr. Tracy Richmond McKnight for the UCSF-Tuskegee Summer Internship in Bioengineering. The grant of $22K will provide support for two students from Tuskegee University's School of Engineering and Physical Sciences to perform a summer of research in a UCSF Bioengineering laboratory. The grant will be administered through the Graduate Division and the interns will be incorporated into the highly-successful Summer Research Training Program (SRTP). This funding is significant in that of the ted highly competitive grants awarded, this is one of only two grants geared towards science.
Tracy Richmond McKnight, PhD, is an Associate Professor In-Residence at the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at UCSF. The McKnight Lab investigates the metabolic mechanisms associated with the malignant progression of brain tumors using biomedical imaging techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS). Dr. McKnight received her undergraduate training in Physics at Spelman College, an HBCU located in Atlanta, Georgia. After completing a Master's degree in Physics at Polytechnic University, Dr. McKnight worked as a Research Associate at another HBCU, Howard University in Washington, DC. It was at Howard that she had her first experience with laboratory research and was exposed to the then-fledgling field of Bioengineering. With the support of her Howard University mentor, Dr. Ernest Carter, Dr. McKnight entered a doctoral program in Bioengineering at the University of California, Davis. Her thesis work in the laboratory of Dr. Fitz-Roy Curry utilized confocal fluorescence microscopy to study the microcirculation in situ. Upon completing her PhD, she continued her research in biomedical imaging as a postdoctoral fellow at UCSF in the laboratory of Dr. Sarah Nelson, shifting her focus from microscopy to MRI. The strong mentorship, research experience, and exposure to biomedical applications of physics and engineering disciplines that Dr. McKnight received at the HBCU and UC institutions had a profound impact on her career path and provided the impetus for this grant. It is her expectation that the UCSF-Tuskegee Summer Internship in Bioengineering will have a similar impact on the interns and will forge an on-going relationship between UCSF and Tuskegee University.
Dr. Christopher Hess receives press about his talk on the 7-telsa MRI
May 23, 2011
Dr. Christopher Hess spoke recently at the 2011 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), held in Montreal Canada. He discussed the challenges and progress being made toward the use of 7-tesla MRI in the clinical setting and the initial experience with this technology by investigators at the Surbeck Laboratory for Advanced Imaging. ISMRM is a nonprofit association "that promotes innovation, development, and application of magnetic resonance techniques in medicine and biology".
The Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at UCSF will welcome its new class for the Master's Degree Program in Biomedical Imaging (MBI) in the Fall 2011. This unique, new program will blend quantitative imaging techniques incorporating theories in physics, engineering and mathematics linked to physiology and disease. Leading this MBI program are the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging faculties and co-chairs, Sharmila Majumdar, PhD, David Saloner, PhD, and Alastair Martin, PhD.
Dr. Mukherjee goes on to explain, "The evidence is that the concussions, especially the ones causing rotational injury to the head, cause microscopic damage to these white matter fibers. And that causes a disconnection of brain regions that should be in communication. And that we believe is the cause of the altered thinking, the altered memory, the altered attention that many concussion patients suffer from.” 
Tracy Richmond McKnight, PhD, is an Associate Professor In-Residence at the 
Christopher Hess, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the 
