Summer Undergraduate Internship Project Options

For those students who are interested in applying for the Summer Internship at SKKU-BME, the following projects were what was carried out in the past.
2016.
(1) Using 3 Tesla human MRI, investigate the appearance of human deep brain structure (in particular, habenula) with magnetic susceptibility contrast.
(2) Make an "L" shaped phantom to measure the magnetic susceptibility of unknown liquid using magnetic resonance frequency shift.
2017.
(1) Apply susceptibility weighted imaging (SWI) to visualize human habenula at 3T.
(2) Use Sim4Life simulation software to calculate electric and magnetic fields in a numerical phantom, for the purpose of testing Nachman's formula in MR-based electrical properties tomography.
Options for 2018.
(1) Continue with the "L" phantom experiment, with a custom-made, inductively coupled RF coil and investigate the temperature dependence of susceptibility.
=> Can make a journal paper
(2) Continue the Sim4Life simulation for an actual experimental phantom, to be compared with experimental determination of E- and B- vector field using MRI.
(3) Continuation of nuclear susceptibility shift, to apply it to phase-based T1 measurement.
=> "Feasibility of phase-based rapid T1 measurement using NSS"
(4) Extension of susceptibility-to-B0 forward calculation code for anisotropic susceptibility

Seminars and visits in April

Among many things that have happened in the month of April, here are the more notable ones:

• 2018 Fall semester graduate school admission fair was held on April 4-5. A few students expressed interest in GBME graduate school for research in MRI. The department-wide introduction session in the N Center was attended by about 20 prospective students.
• Dr. Lee gave a lecture on 7T MRI to medical doctors at SMC, in what was called RGR: Radiology Grand Round, on April 10th.
• Dr. Sukhoon Oh from KBSI visited the N Center on April 19th, to give a seminar to the GBME undergraduate students on 7T MRI.
• Dr. Lee visited Seoul National University on April 20th, to deliver a lecture on gradient coil technologies, invited by Prof. Jongho Lee at SNU Electrical engineering. There was a discussion with Prof. Han S-R on possibly building a new MRI machine using new high Tc superconductor technologies.
• Midterm exam for the BME Electromagnetics was held on April 25th.

ISMRM Workshop and KSMRM/icMRI in Seoul

This past week was a busy one for the Korean MRI community. The first 3 days were for a specially organized ISMRM-sponsored workshop in advance neuroimaging, held in Yeoksam-dong, Seoul. Then the next 3 days were for the annual meeting of KSMRM, also known as the International Congress on MRI (ICMRI), at a usual venue of Grand Hilton Hotel in Hongeun-dong, Seoul. Both research conferences were a success, with good turnout of registered audience and top-notch presentations from accomplished researchers. The SKKU MRI lab, MRI-CIEL, was well represented in the MR engineering sessions of ICMRI. Seon-ha Hwang made her debut! in an academic conference by smoothly delivering a 2 min pitch in the MR engineering power pitch session.

New-comers and new generation of researchers in the Korean MRI society are now being more visible in their various roles in the society. This seems to promise a continued, healthy growth of the Korean MRI community.

Matlab code for free download

The lab's in-house developed Matlab code for susceptibility-induced B0 perturbation was uploaded to the public website for Matlab file exchange. This short code, which was verified in many numerical and phantom experiments over the past year, is the first publicized MRI research tool developed from the lab. For those who are knowledgeable in this subject, most researchers are using k-space-discretized dipolar field convolution for 3D B0 calculation. The proposed method, called generalized susceptibility voxel convolution (gSVC), takes advantage of an analytical formula for the dipolar field from a magnetized rectangular block, and is inherently free from k-space discretization artifacts. Also, its computational speed does not depend on the relative distance between the susceptibility source and the B0 target grids, allowing fast computation for e.g. breathing-induced B0 inhomogeneity in the head. We will see how users out there will respond to the code!

MRM conferences in 2018

Abstract review results were announced on Friday 2/2 for the upcoming Annual Meeting of ISMRM, in Paris. A quick count of the list shows slightly over 6000 abstracts were accepted for presentation. Judging from the submission serial numbers, it appears that possibly as many as 9000 abstracts were submitted (this number likely counts incomplete submissions so the actual number is likely smaller). It seems that this year, the location's popularity has appealed to and attracted more people than in some other years. In Dr. Lee's lab, two abstracts submitted (one on multi-orientation B1 mapping and the other on susceptibility of habenula) were all accepted for poster presentations, which is what was planned. Separately, the Korean Society for MRM is going to hold its annual conference, icMRI, on March 29-31. The conference has just extended its abstract deadline to the 21st of Feb. The lab is submitting 4 student abstracts, all related to B0 inhomogeneity.

2017 wrap up

The year is winding down and an unmistakable winter weather is gripping the Suwon area. The Center this year has decided on a 7T human MRI purchase, and there was a significant increase in the research personnel in the human fMRI research area. In Dr. Lee's lab, the undergraduate research interns did an excellent job in their research presentations for undergraduate project contests (C-School) to grab a Grand prize for two semesters in a row. There was a significant progress in  collaborative research with MDs at SMC, led by Ms. Yoo, on QSM of neurological disease patients. Multiple international invited talks were delivered by Dr. Lee. For research publication, currently one paper is under revision at MRM, and another at Sci Rep (led by Prof. Park JY). Multi-orientation B0 and B1 research has taken off to a promising start in collaboration with Prof. Shim's lab (B0) and KBSI (Dr. Oh S-H, B1). Finally, a brand-new, lab-dedicated research/office space was secured in 2017 and is now being furnished for full use starting January.

Happy new year!

KSMRM PhD meeting

PhDs in the Korean Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine met at Korea Basic Science Institute (KBSI) in Ochang, about 100 km south of Seoul, on December 1st~2nd. The meeting featured short presentations from many of the principal investigators in the Society, making this a good opportunity for everyone to learn current MR-related projects that are on-going in Korea. The Society is relatively small, but is growing, and one thing that was easy to see in the meeting was that there are a healthy group of young researchers in MR physics and engineering, taking over from an older generation of scientists who pioneered MRI research in Korea from the very early days of MRI. The hosting institute is home of the 2nd 7 Tesla human MRI scanner in Korea. So there was a short tour of the 7T facility in the evening of Dec 1st. The scanner, from Phillips, appeared to be in good shape and well taken care of. It was said that the team wanted to expand research more in the direction of fMRI-based human brain disorder studies.