Ileana Jelescu, PhD: “ADC-fMRI: a functional contrast complementary to BOLD”

Functional MRI contrasts (be it BOLD, VASO or ASL) traditionally rely on the vascular response to neural activity - the so-called neurovascular coupling. While these fMRI contrasts come with several key advantages, their reliance on an indirect vascular response limits them in terms of spatial and temporal resolution, and of sensitivity to weakly vascularized areas such as white matter. ADC-fMRI, on the other hand, relies on transient microstructural deformations that accompany the transmission of action potentials - the so-called neuromorphological coupling. In this talk, we will present a brief history of diffusion fMRI, lessons learned to make ADC-fMRI immune to vascular confounds, and how this contrast can be used in a complementary way to BOLD. Ileana Jelescu is an Assistant Professor of Radiology at the Lausanne University Hospital, in Switzerland. Her vision is to turn the MRI scanner into a quantitative in vivo microscope, able to map tissue microstructure and brain activity in humans using diffusion MRI. Her research spans theoretical biophysical modeling, experimental design and validation, and clinical translation.