Research

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. We actively utilize hyperpolarized imaging agents, NMR isotopomer analysis, and MALDI mass spectrometry imaging. 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, acute kidney injury
  • Clinical translation of hyperpolarized 13C MR spectroscopic imaging

 

Active Funding Support

  • NIH R01 NS107409 Pyruvate and acetate metabolism after TBI: implications for cerebral energy metabolism (9/2020-8/2025, PI: Park)
  • NIH R01 HL170039 Development of early metabolic imaging biomarkers for muscular dystrophy and cardiomyopathy in patients (6/2024-4/2028, PI: Park, Mammen)
  • NIH R21 EB036580 Developing hyperpolarized nitrogen-15 MRI agents for probing glutamine metabolism (7/2025-6/2027, Site PI: Park), Subaward from Duke University (PI: Wang)
  • NIH R15 CA277814 Hyperpolarized 13C metabolic imaging of tumorigenesis in the liver (9/2024-8/2026, Site PI: Park), Subaward from Loyola University Chicago (PI: Billingsley)
  • NIH R21 EB034413 Hyperpolarized 13C probes for the one carbon metabolism (8/2023-7/2025, PI: Kovacs)
  • NIH P30 DK127984 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)