Molecular & Cellular Imaging Study Group Virtual Meeting

Molecular MRI aims to improve biological specificity by generating imaging signals that report on defined molecular and cellular events. This virtual meeting will present two emerging molecular MRI approaches for studying brain function. Yi Zhang, Ph.D., will describe CEST MRI combined with a dynamic signal model that accounts for BOLD contributions to generate glutamate-weighted activation maps during stimulation. Robert Ohlendorf, Ph.D., will describe photosensitized vasculature that acts as a biological transducer, converting bioluminescent reporter emission into localized hemodynamic signals detectable by MRI. Together, the metabolite-sensitive imaging and engineered vascular reporter approaches demonstrate how molecular MRI can link neurochemistry and cellular events to brain-scale imaging. The speakers will discuss the underlying principles, technical challenges, validation requirements, and future applications of these methods.