Maryam Afzali

Quantifying Tissue Microstructure using Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging 

Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging is a non-invasive tool to investigate brain microstructure. It provides the information to estimate the compartmental diffusion parameters. Biophysical modeling in diffusion MRI tries to relate the diffusion signal to the underlying tissue microstructure. Selecting the appropriate model for the tissue microstructure and deciding about the acquisition parameters are the essential steps in extracting the features of the tissue. Robust fitting of the parameters should be validated using numerical or phantom studies. It is necessary to check the validity of the model in pathological conditions. Translating the results of research to clinical applications is one of the main parts. Each of these steps needs an appropriate strategy and has its challenges.