Research

While conventional MRS is capable of measuring metabolites in vivo, applications have been limited by low sensitivity. The advent of hyperpolarized MRS methods, by which MR signal enhancements of in the order of 10,000~100,000-fold are achievable using carbon (13C)- and nitrogen (15N)-labeled substrates, now provides tremendous new opportunities to noninvasively image both the injected substrate and downstream metabolic products, providing unprecedented in vivo assessments of flux and label exchange through critical pathways. Our group develops the metabolic imaging tools and investigate cellular metabolism in vivo. In particular, we focus on establishing concepts and developing methods for assessing in vivo mitochondrial metabolism and imaging metabolic fluxes in enzyme-catalyzed reactions by developing a network of ideas in MR pulse sequence, image reconstruction, physiology, chemistry, and clinical translation. Current projects include:

  • MRI/MRS technique: MR spectroscopic imaging & reconstruction methods
  • Cerebral metabolism: neurobioenergetics, TBI, intracranial malignancies
  • Myocardial metabolism: OXPHOS, myocarditis, cardiomyopathies, cardiotoxicity, arterial hypertension, muscular dystrophy
  • Hepatic/renal metabolism: gluconeogenic metabolism, hepatocellular carcinomas, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease, renal cell carcinomas
  • Clinical translation of hyperpolarized 13C MR spectroscopic imaging

 

Active Funding Support

  • NIH/NINDS R01NS107409 Pyruvate and acetate metabolism after TBI: implications for cerebral energy metabolism (9/2020-8/2025, PI: Park)
  • NIH/NHLBI R01HL170039 Development of early metabolic imaging biomarkers for muscular dystrophy and cardiomyopathy in patients (6/2024-4/2028, PI: Park, Mammen)
  • NIH/NCI R15CA277814 Hyperpolarized 13C metabolic imaging of tumorigenesis in the liver (9/2024-8/2026, Site PI: Park), Subaward from Loyola University Chicago (PI: Billingsley)
  • NIH/NIBIB R21EB034413 Hyperpolarized 13C probes for the one carbon metabolism (8/2023-7/2025, PI: Kovacs)
  • NIH/NIDDK P30DK127984 UT Southwestern NORC (7/2022-5/2027, PI: Horton)
  • DOD W81XWH-22-1-0485 Development of non-Invasive imaging probes for assessing altered mitochondrial metabolism of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (6/2022-6/2026, PI: Park)
  • DOD HT9425-25-1-0616 Imaging strategies and biomarkers for detecting the metabolic interplay of glutamine and aspartate in RCC (8/2025-7/2029, PI:Park)