My research interests all relate to magnetic resonance imaging development and application to oncologic imaging and can be divided into three arenas:

1. The application of novel, blood pool contrast agents, in particular nanoparticulate iron oxide agents, that have been developed at the Center for Molecular Imaging Research (CMIR), for the specific purpose of imaging neovascularity (angiogenesis) within humans suffering from various malignancies including breast, pancreatic, and prostate cancer. In particular, one of my major aims is to design and implement clinical trials that both assess the validity of neovascular mapping of tumor angiogenesis, as well as evaluating novel therapeutic regimens.

2. The design and implementation of clinical trials of novel, molecular imaging, developed at CMIR.

3. The development of novel pulse sequences, and analytic strategies including magnetic resonance spectroscopy and spectroscopic imaging for the specific purpose of mapping tumor physiology both in humans and in animal models.

Current projects that are underway include:

1. Study to correlate steady state MR measurements and 3D tumoral vascular volume maps to histologically determined microvascular density (MVD) measurements and or serum markers of angiogenesis (VEGF, FGF, PDGF) in patients with breast cancer.

2. Study to correlate MR measurements of vascular volume fraction with serum markers of angiogenesis, and assess efficacy of anti-angiogenesis therapies in patients with renal cell cancer.

3. Study to explore the ability of MRI scans using nanoparticulate iron oxide agents to detect vascular changes associated with insulitis in patients with Type 1 diabetes.

Clinical:
My clinical interests are generally involved in gastrointestinal and genitourinary imaging, in specific magnetic resonance applications in the abomen and pelvis, and ectovascular interventional radiology.