Speaker

Ass.-Prof. DI Dr. Christoph Birkl, Department of Neuroradiology, Medical University of Innsbruck

Date & Time

June 28, 2022, 9:00 AM Pacific / 11:00 AM Central / 12:00 PM Eastern / 18:00h MEZ

Abstract

Quantitative MRI is a vast growing field and allows to map and estimate biophysical properties of tissue. In the human brain quantitative MRI techniques to assess iron and myelin content are of special interest to study various neurological disorders or changes of the brain during aging. In this talk, the fundamental concept of quantitative MRI and the most common used methods to assess iron and myelin content will be presented. The major part of the talk will focus on the validation of new and existing quantitative MRI methods, highlighting potential limitations and new opportunities.

Short Bio

Christoph Birkl is an assistant professor for computational radiology at the Department of Neuroradiology at the Medical University of Innsbruck. In 2017, Dr. Birkl received the Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship of the Austrian Science Fund to work as a postdoctoral fellow at the MRI science lab of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Prior to that, he worked as PhD student and later on postdoctoral researcher in the Neuroimaging Research Group at the Medical University of Graz.

Dr. Birkl’s research focus is the development and validation of quantitative MRI techniques for measuring iron and myelin in the brain, with a strong focus on application in neurological disorders. In previous works he investigated the effect of temperature and fixation in post-mortem MRI and initiated several post-mortem studies for validation of new quantitative MRI techniques. In this context he performed superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry measurements on biological tissue to determine their biophysical properties and compared these with MRI data. Furthermore, Dr. Birkl closely collaborated with project partners on performing electron microscopy, mass spectroscopy and histological analysis on brain tissue subsequent to post-mortem MRI for his validation studies.

Organizer of Virtual ASciNA Talk: Christoph Birkl, Medizinische Universität Innsbruck

View Recording on YouTube

New insights into quantitative MRI of the brain