Mark Does, Ph.D.

We are interested in developing and applying MRI methods to quantitatively characterize various properties and/or compositions of tissue. To this end we develop models of NMR relaxation and water diffusion in tissue, develop and optimize MRI pulse sequences and associated technology, and experimentally investigate in vivo and ex vivo tissue models.

Current projects include: i) characterizing myelin content and thickness in normal and injured neural tissues using multi-exponential transverse relaxation, magnetization transfer, water diffusion, and ultra-short T2 methods; ii) characterizing fracture properties of cortical bone through T2-discriminated measures of bone collagen, collagen-bound water, and porosity; iii) characterizing edema and muscle fiber condition in models of skeletal muscle injury and disease using T2 and water diffusion; iv) investigating the effects of inter-compartmental water exchange on MRI measures of neural tissue, muscle, and tumors using relaxation-based exchange spectroscopy and SPECT imaging.