Current research programs comprise:

 

• quantitative muscle imaging at 3T, with compensation for RF field inhogeneities, dB/dm non-linearities, improved intrinsic contrast quality, co-registration of successive examinations,
tissue segmentation, development of user-friendly processing tools;

• to take the adequates measures in order to ensure proper functioning of the 10-year old Bruker Biospec spectrometer;

• to set up protocols for perfusion quantitation with ASL at 3T ;

• to set up metabolic imaging protocols at 3T;

• to set up diffusion imaging protocols and their adaptations to the investigation of muscle architecture;

• to study muscle energetics and regulation of muscle perfusion during aging;

• to study the coupling between perfusion and energy metabolism, local heterogeneities of this coupling in healthy subjects and in diseases;

• to participate to clinical research protocols and to contribute with the production of NMR imaging and/or spectroscopy: Pompe disease : natural history and enzymatic therapy ; Type III glycogenosis: natural history;  microangiopathy in type-2 diabetic patients; growth hormone therapy in a pediatric population under chronic steroid therapy ; benzofibrate treatment of carnityl-palmitoyl transferase deficiency ; AAV-based treatment of gamma sarcoglycanopathy; myoblast transplantation in FSH and OP dystrophies;

• to investigate the abnormalities of vascular reactivity in cardiomyopathic hamster, model of gammasarcoglycanopathy ;

• to characterize the natural history of the golden retriever muscular dystrophy (GRMD) dog;

• to perform a pre-clinical evaluation of new therapeutics in the GRMD dog;

• to design and build an new amagnetic ergometer with extended capacities of monitoring exercise in the magnet;

• to develop an electro stimulation protocol of the anterior group of the leg  combined with multi-parametric functional NMR acquisitions;

• to develop a truly non-invasive set up to measure vascular conductance in muscle of rodents, by interleaving measurement of blood pressure by dynamic angiography and tissue perfusion quantitation by arterial spin labelling;

• to set up a protocol of cardiac imaging without ECG triggering in the rodent;

• to design and develop NMR probes for interleaved acquisitions of perfusion and energy metabolism during muscle contractions in the small animal ;

• to develop imaging protocols for non-invasive monitoring cell therapy;

• to refine the theory of perfusion measurement by arterial spin labelling;

• to maintain an out-patient consultation for the diagnosis of metabolic myopathies using dynamic phosporus spectroscopy ;

• to develop imaging protocols and an out-patient consultation for the diagnosis of muscular disorders;

• to propose to the scientific community routine imaging protocols for rodent musculature ;

• to propose to the scientific community routine imaging protocols for cardiac anatomy and function in rodents;

• in collaboration with an industrial partner, to participate to a phase II clinical trial aiming at the demonstration of muscle metabolic action of a new class of anti-diabetic agent;

• in collaboration with an industrial partner, to demonstrate the protective properties on microcirculation of a new class of anti-diabetic agent.