Warwick in Biomedicine (WEB) and Warwick Medical Imaging Network (W-MIN)
Seminar Announcement
‘Magnetic Resonance Imaging Developments at the
University of Florida and NF/SG VA Medical Center’
Dr Keith White
Department of Psychology, University of Florida;
Associate Coordinator, Brain Function Measurement Core,
Brain Rehabilitation Research Center, NF/SG VA Medical Center
Friday 25th July, 3 pm, IDL auditorium
There will be refreshments available in the foyer from 2.30 pm – 4.45 pm, and a chance to
network before and after the seminar. All are welcome.
Abstract: This talk will span several areas of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology that I am
currently involved in developing. These include an optical method for capturing small motions of the head,
where the information is used to improve the signal-to-noise ratio in the reconstructed images. This has led
to patented technology, and the next step is to implement online and real-time correction during image
acquisition. I will also discuss a method for "calibrating" fMRI activations. For the most part fMRI activations
are measured in statistical figures of merit (like t-tests or F-tests) without a corresponding physical unit for
magnitude. My approach is to generate a micro-Tesla field in the subject's brain at the region of interest,
which field-varies in time to simulate the endogenously generated response. I have demonstrated the
approach with fMRI data obtained while performing a motor task, and the aim is to enable comparisons
between subjects and across platforms when the background noise in the statistical measures may be
different. Further work includes analytical algorithms with potential application to the analysis of mineral
deposits in tissue, with emphasis on classifying ‘outlier’ voxels of interest, rather than finding statistical
norms.
Biography: Keith White earned a PhD in Experimental Psychology from Brown University, specializing in
visual psychophysics, in 1976. Having subsequently joined the University of Florida (UF) faculty, he learned
about functional MRI in 1999, and developed interests in post-stroke aphasia and its rehabilitation, using
fMRI to monitor brain plasticity. In the same year he joined the newly established Brain Rehabilitation
Research Center of Excellence at the Malcom Randall Veterans' Affairs Medical Center and continues to work
in the Center's Brain Function measurement Core. In addition to fMRI he now uses MRI modalities such as
diffusion weighted imaging and tractography, relaxometry, and susceptibility weighted imaging, to study
rehabilitation of stroke and traumatic brain injury patients. He is also a member of the UF Center for
Movement Disorders and Neuro-Rehabilitation, which specializes in neurodegenerative disorders like
Parkinson's disease, and collaborates with the UF Memory Disorders clinic on studies of Alzheimer's disease,
fronto-temporal lobar degeneration, and related disorders.