Jessica Bastiaansen was awarded an SNSF project grant entitled
“Advanced lipid-insensitive MRI relaxometry for unbiased noninvasive characterization of the entire human liver”
Significant shortcomings exist in the current imaging technology for assessing biomarkers of liver disease such as fibrosis. Current methods are not designed for the liver. Hence, they face challenges due to the presence of an increasing amount of hepatic fat, magnetic susceptibility biases close to liver-lung interfaces, and breathing motion. A universal imaging solution to address these challenges does not exist. Furthermore, the increasing prevalence of liver disease, which currently affects 25-30% of the global population, underscores the need for a reliable and noninvasive imaging of the entire human liver.
This project will develop novel imaging tools that disentangles the different contributors to liver disease, specifically removing the confounders that currently plague existing methods. By the development of novel RF excitation schemes, efficient data sub-sampling trajectories, and model-based image reconstructions, quantitative biomarker maps of the liver will be obtained that provide new insights which enable a more accurate and earlier diagnosis of liver disease.
The project will be performed with collaboration partners within the Bern University Hospital (Inselspital) and the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV).
Two MRI research positions open up as part of this SNSF funded project.
