Prof. Gore is the Director of NMR Research Center

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging and spectroscopy have developed into a major modality for medical diagnosis and for the study of materials and transport processes. Our research focuses on developing new and improved NMR methods, on a better understanding of the various types of information that can be derived by NMR techniques, and on exploring new applications for imaging in the biomedical sciences, clinical diagnosis, and other areas.

We have established a major program in functional brain imaging that involves extensive collaboration with other neuroscientists at Yale. Using FMRI we study brain activation patterns produced by different stimuli or cognitive tasks. These methods are being applied to questions in basic neurobiology as well as to the study of neurological and psychiatric diseases, including the study of memory, attention, language, vision, and other cognitive processes. We have also undertaken the development of improved methods for detecting the small signal changes involved, of signal processing techniques for removing many sources of artifact, and of improved methods for image analysis for quantitative interpretaion. 

In related projects, we are correlating the information on brain function provided by other techniques, such as surface electrophysiology and new forms of near infrared imaging, with that obtained from FMRI. 

At a molecular level, we are studying proton NMR relaxation mechanisms in tissues and other heterogeneous media and, in particular, are interested in the factors that affect magnetic cross-relaxation and magnetization transfer in macromolecules and tissue models. Relaxation mechanisms account for the different intrinsic NMR properties of different tissues that give rise to the contrast in MR images. We are also evaluating the design factors and mechanisms of action of extrinsic NMR contrast agents. 

We are using NMR to study diffusion of tissue water. In tissues, differences in water diffusion rates may reflect membrane permeability and compartment sizes, and water diffusion properties provide a new type of structural information that changes in disease. There are applications of NMR techniques to the study of transport in other types of media, such as porous solids.  Blood flow and perfusion may be quantified by special NMR methods: we are also studying the factors that affect the NMR signal from flowing blood to validate quantitative measurements of large vessel and of capillary flow.

A special area of study is the characterisation of turbulent and complex flows, such as produced by a stenosis, and the possible relationships between NMR signal characteristics and measures of the nature of the turbulence.  We are also developing methods for assessing tissue perfusion by using ultrafast imaging techniques, novel NMR contrast materials, and appropriate mathematical models of their transient distribution and susceptibility effects arising from blood oxygenation changes.

Although most of the work pursued is biomedical, we are also interested in non-biomedical applications of MRI, including in the study of material properties, such as porosity and thermal diffusivity, and in using MRI for novel material measurements, such as acoustic strain or radiation dose in "NMR sensitive" materials.

Continuing improvements in instrumentation, methods, and data analyses result in ever better information obtainable by NMR imaging. The development of "Snapshot" imaging for dynamic studies and the development of spin tagging and phase contrast methods for motion analyses are examples of how NMR imaging is used for the quantitation of cardiac wall motion and thickening.

MRI can be performed at human and very small scales. With the development of NMR microscopy on small samples at very high fields, images with a resolution of about 10 microns can be reached in reasonable imaging times in three dimensions. We are developing a better understanding of the performance limits of microscopic imaging and of its applications in biomedical research.

There are also developments in methods of quantitative image analysis, for example, for quantitative morphometry and tissue characterization as well as for NMR spectral analysis.

Consult our MRI homepage which is kept up to date with publications and other activities of the NMR research group.

Selected Publications

"Asymmetric Spin Echo Imaging of Magnetically Inhomogeneous Systems: Theory, Experiment, and Numerical Studies," L.A. Stables, R.P. Kennan, and J.C. Gore, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 40 (3), 432-442 (1998).

"The Role of Specific Side Groups and pH in Magnetization Transfer in Polymers," D.F. Gochberg, R.P. Kennan, and J.C. Gore, J. Magnetic Resonance, 131, 191-198 (1998).

"Measurements of the Temporal fMRI Response of the Human Auditory Cortex to Trains of Tones," M. Robson, J.L. Dorosz, and J.C. Gore, NeuroImage, 7, 185-198 (1998).

"Functional Disruption in the Organization of the Brain for Reading in Dyslexia," S.E. Shaywitz, B.A. Shaywitz, K.R. Pugh, R.K. Fulbright, and J.C. Gore, Proc. Nat. Acad. Science, 95, 2636-2641 (1998).