Scientist Envoys

As translational scientist envoys, our investigators periodically travel to distant collaboration sites for extended research and educational visits.

During these visits, scientist envoys pursue specific projects, share latest imaging advances, train colleagues in implementation of technologies developed at our Center, and educate peers on the model of multidisciplinary translational teamwork that underpins CAI²R.

Our translational scientist envoys have been dispatched to Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Switzerland. Here is more information about their visits:

Martijn Cloos, PhD

Institution: Kyoto University, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan
Collaborators: Koji Fujimoto, MD, PhD and Tomohisa Okada, MD, PhD
Period of stay: August 2017 (six weeks), April 2018 (four days)
Research project: Adaptation and validation of plug-and-play magnetic resonance fingerprinting for single-transmit 7T MRI systems; Lectures and workshops on development of MR hardware and software.

Bei Zhang, PhD

Institution: Siemens RF Research and Development Core, Erlangen, Germany
Collaborators: Robert Rehner, PhD and Markus Vester, PhD
Period of stay: October 2017 (one week), March 2018 (one week)
Research project: Ultra-flexible RF coil arrays.

Ricardo Otazo, PhD

Institution: Pontificia Univesidade Catolica de Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil
Collaborators: Alexandre Franco, PhD and Matteo Baldiserrotto, MD
Period of stay: December 2014, March 2015, December 2015, March 2016, and December 2016 (two weeks each)
Research project: Development and validation of free-breathing, compressed-sensing MRI techniques of lung and liver imaging for improved diagnosis and treatment of cystic fibrosis in pediatric patients; Lectures on compressed-sensing MRI in clinical studies.

Riccardo Lattanzi, PhD

Institution: Imago7 Foundation, Italy
Collaborators: Michela Tosetti, PhD and Gianluigi Tiberi, PhD
Period of stay: September 2016 (one week)
Research project: The use of ultimate intrinsic signal-to-noise ratio (UISNR) as absolute reference for evaluation of a 7T RF coil array; Presentations of latest CAI²R research in rational coil design and assessment, as well as in magnetic resonance fingerprinting (some of the presentations were given at the University of Pisa).

Fernando Boada, PhD

Institution: KU Leuven, Belgium
Collaborators: Johan Nuyts, PhD
Period of stay: August 2015, April 2016, August 2016, March 2017 (one week each)
Research project: Training in the use of development features of a PET-MR system, in procedural steps for retrieval of raw data, and in image reconstruction; Research updates on PET-MR image reconstruction.

Florian Knoll, PhD

Institution: University of Graz, Austria
Collaborators: Kristian Bredies, PhD and Martin Holler, PhD
Period of stay: February 2015 (one week), December 2015 (one week), April 2016 (two days)
Research project: Development of new mathematical methods for joint reconstruction of multi-modality imaging data, with special focus on PET-MRI; Educational talks about MR and PET image reconstruction.

Tobias Block, PhD

Institution: Universitätsspital Basel, Switzerland
Collaborators: Elmar Merkle, MD; Tobias Heye, MD; Daniel Boll, MD; Jens Bremerich, MD; and Oliver Bieri, PhD
Period of stay: October 2014 and April 2015 (one month each)
Research project: Installation of the Yarra Framework; Training in use and configuration of the Yarra Framework; Development of exam protocols for a multi-modality insulinoma study that includes dynamic imaging of the pancreas with the GRASP technique; Development of Yarra online graphical user interface.

Timothy Shepherd, MD, PhD

Institution: Siemens headquarters, Erlangen, Germany
Collaborators: Heiko Meyer, PhD; Josef Pfeuffer, PhD; Christina Triantafylou, PhD; Michael Schaaf; and Michael Zenge, PhD
Period of stay: March, 2015 (five days), September 2015
Research project: Clinical implementation of advanced 3T MRI sequences; Development of clinically viable 7T MRI sequences for neuroradiology studies of multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, and dementia.