Current Research Interests/Projects:

Clinical and basic applications of functional MRI (fMRI):
1. Sensorimotor brain mapping with fMRI
Sensorimotor cortex representation of voluntary vs involuntary movements:
Identify elemental patterns of activation related to a simple movement task and sensory stimulation in normal subjects; may be of value in interpreting patterns of activation in complex movements. Functional Mapping of Human Cranial Nerve Nuclei with fMRI: Our Lab has identified sites of activation on fMRI corresponding to the putative anatomical location of several cranial nerve nuclei in the brainstem. Our Lab is also involved in several investigations of fMRI in acupuncture.

2. FMRI-aided neurosurgical applications
FMRI-Guided Neurosurgical Navigation: fMRI data is directly integrated into a neurosurgical navigation station in the operative suite. We study reorganization of activation in response to brain tumors, surgery, etc. FMRI-Aided Radiosurgery: Assess feasibility of integrating fMRI information on various eloquent cortices directly into standard radiation treatment planning.

3. Clinical applications of diffusion imaging
Localization of Epileptogenic Foci with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: attempt to identify seizure foci in subjects with medically refractory partial complex seizures via early post-ictal diffusion abnormalities as predicted by animal models.

Representative Publications:

Holodny AI, Schulder M, Liu W-C, Maldjian JA, Kalnin AJ. Decreased BOLD Functional MR Activation of the Motor and Sensory Cortices Adjacent to a Glioblastoma Multiforme: Implications for Image Guided Neurosurgery. Amer J. of Neuroradiology 1999; 20:609-612.

Liu W-C, Schulder M, Narra V, Kalnin AJ, Cathcart C, Jacobs A, Lange G, Holodny AI. Functional MRI Aided Treatment Planning. Medical Physics 2000; 27:7.

Maldjian JA, Schulder M, Liu W-C, Mun In-Ki, Hirschorn D, Murthy R, Carmel P, and Kalnin A. Intraoperative Functional MRI using Real-Time Neurosurgical Navigation System. J. Computer Assisted Tomography 1997; 21(6): 910-912