My name is Jiacheng Li, and this summer, I worked with Dr. Alan Chu and Dr. Dylan Tisdall to optimize phase mapping images to increase MRI resonance frequency contrast.

Iron deposition in the brain is one of the important clinical features associated with frontotemporal degeneration and related neurodegenerative diseases. This means that maps that can locate and quantify iron deposition in the brain can significantly contribute to the studies of neurodegenerative diseases. One of the ways to obtain such a map is by acquiring a resonance frequency image from MRI scans, where the intracortical contrast observed in the image are a result of varying iron concentration in the brain. Currently, we can acquire high-quality resonance frequency images by conducting additional, specific MRI scans that takes around 7 minutes and costs around 3000 dollars. We are interested in extracting a lower-quality resonance frequency image from a canonical MRI scan called the MPRAGE scan and conducting signal processing on the extracted lower-quality resonance frequency image to increase subcortical contrast and reveal locations of iron deposition. As my summer research project, I worked on creating a software template for this novel acquisition method that removes the necessity of spending extra time and money to obtain a resonance frequency image, yet still achieves the same goal of locating iron in the brain to help study frontotemporal degeneration and neurodegenerative diseases.