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 metabolism: gluconeogenic metabolism, hepatocellular carcinomas, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease
- Clinical translation of hyperpolarized 13C MR spectroscopic imaging