Rita G Nunes

Biography

Rita G Nunes is currently an Assistant Professor at the Instituto Superior Técnico, University of Lisbon in Portugal. Her research is focused on the development of acquisition and image reconstruction methodologies for quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging, particularly diffusion and relaxometry (T1, T2, T2*) mapping, and its applications.
She obtained her DPhil from the University of Oxford in 2006 working on the implementation and optimization of diffusion MRI pulse sequences. This was followed by a post-doctoral period at Imperial College London to work on Parallel MR Imaging, during which she proposed the first method for acquiring multiband Echo Planar Images. In 2009, she moved to Lisbon as a Research Fellow, before securing a position as Assistant Professor in 2016. 

Talk: "Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging: main applications and challenges"

Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) has become an essential tool both in research and in the clinic, taking advantage of the random motion of water molecules to probe tissue organization at a scale much finer than the achievable image spatial resolution. Although many clinic applications still rely on the basic quantification of the average diffusion coefficient or on mapping the main diffusion orientation with Diffusion Tensor Imaging, this research field has seen many developments since dMRI was first introduced. In this talk I will review some recent research efforts to address the limitations of basic dMRI, focusing on potential applications and ongoing challenges.