Andrew Mao Defends PhD in Biomedical Imaging and Technology

Andrew Mao has successfully defended his PhD thesis in biomedical imaging and technology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. The defense was held on June 19 at NYU Langone Health.

Dr. Mao’s dissertation advances quantitative magnetic resonance imaging, also known as qMRI, with particular focus on quantitative magnetization transfer and its applications to the study of Alzheimer’s disease.

Unlike traditional MRI, which produces images intended for qualitative evaluation, qMRI aims at providing measurements of physical parameters, such as relaxation times, magnetic susceptibility, proton density, and magnetization transfer. The approach has the potential to deliver more, richer, and objectively comparable information about tissues and health conditions but has been challenged by the variability of scanners and imaging protocols. To mitigate these challenges, scientists are searching for models that reliably relate qMRI parameters to tissue properties and for efficient ways of fitting the rich qMRI data to such models.

Dr. Mao’s dissertation proposes novel techniques of mapping quantitative magnetization transfer (qMT), which can be used to detect abnormalities in brain structures. In work performed with colleagues at the Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research, Dr. Mao has developed low-rank reconstruction methods and machine learning MRI parameter estimators that, as he writes, “significantly reduce the computational burden of the qMRI pipeline while also improving the parameter mapping accuracy.”

The research team recently used these techniques to evaluate a qMT biomarker currently under investigation at NYU Langone and found it to be sensitive to amyloid concentration, an established factor in Alzheimer’s disease. In a preprint detailing this study, Dr. Mao and coauthors write that “qMT may be a promising surrogate marker of amyloid beta without the need for contrast agents or radiotracers.” The technique has the potential to detect early amyloid accumulation with “a minimal addition to routinely used conventional MRI.”

Dr. Mao is in NYU Grossman’s joint MD/PhD program and is set to continue medical training after earning the doctorate. His dissertation was advised by Jakob Asslaender, PhD, assistant professor or radiology at NYU Langone Health and scientist at the Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research.

A version of this post first appeared on the CAI²R LinkedIn.