Summary
I am Senior Physicist at the Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Unit and Cardiovascular Research Centre at the Royal Brompton Hospital. I am a researcher with a background in MRI physics with a specialism in cardiac MRI.
Since 2012 I have been developing an MRI method to investigate the structure and function of healthy beating human hearts on a microscopic scale. This diffusion tensor cardiovascular magnetic resonance (DT-CMR) technique is completely unique in being able to provide this information non-invasively.
Using these techniques, our group has recently shown that groups of heart muscle cells (cardiomyocyte), known as sheetlets, rotate between the relaxed and contracted state of the heart. However, in patients with diseases known as cardiomyopathies, the rotation of the sheetlets may be impaired.
We have also shown that contrary to common wisdom, patients with situs inversus totalis, where the location and orientation of the heart is a mirror image, the heart muscle cells have a mirror image arrangement at the top of the heart (the base), but revert to a more normal arrangement at the bottom of the heart (the apex).
Aside from the DT-CMR project, I have developed techniques to shorten the breath holds required for MRI assessment of strain in the heart. This is of particular use in patients who may otherwise struggle to hold their breath for long enough.
In a previous post, I developed new MR imaging techniques for use in assessing patients with cleft palates. To publicise this work and that of the funding charities, we imaged a singer performing in the scanner in real-time for his music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_964dqQxQwY
Prior to this I completed my PhD at the Royal Brompton Hospital and Imperial College, supervised by Dr Jennifer Keegan and Professor David Firmin. It was entitled "Magnetic resonance coronary vessel wall imaging with highly efficient respiratory motion correction".
I supervise an Imperial PhD student developing high resolution DT-CMR methods using a novel spiral technique and another in the Aeronautics department developing computational simulations of DT-CMR. I also co-supervise a clinical MD student at the University of Cambridge
Publications
Journals
Huo Z, Wen K, Luo Y, et al., 2024, Referenceless Nyquist ghost correction outperforms standard navigator-based method and improves efficiency of in vivo diffusion tensor cardiovascular magnetic resonance, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Vol:91, ISSN:0740-3194, Pages:2403-2416
Mao H, Garza-Villarreal EA, Moy L, et al., 2024, Ethical considerations for MRI research in human subjects in the era of precision medicine, Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Vol:59, ISSN:1053-1807, Pages:1864-1866
Roehl M, Conway M, Ghonim S, et al., 2024, STEAM-SASHA: a novel approach for blood- and fat-suppressed native T1 measurement in the right ventricular myocardium, Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine, Vol:37, ISSN:0968-5243, Pages:295-305
Huang J, Ferreira P, Wang L, et al., 2024, Deep learning-based diffusion tensor cardiac magnetic resonance reconstruction: a comparison study, Scientific Reports, Vol:14, ISSN:2045-2322
Garza-Villarreal E, Moy L, Mao H, et al., 2024, Ethical considerations of preclinical models in imaging research, Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Vol:91, ISSN:0740-3194, Pages:858-859