Muscle imaging

NMR Imaging and Spectroscopy Laboratory

Co-heads: Benjamin Marty & Harmen Reyngoudt 

NMR imaging and spectroscopy are powerful techniques for studying muscle anatomy, physiology and biochemistry in vivoDans le vivant, à l’intérieur de l’organisme. within a single examination session.

In addition, the intrinsic NMR contrast of muscle is extremely rich, and tailored radiofrequency pulse sequences make it possible to specifically quantify a range of variables such as the intramuscular fat fraction, muscle water T1 and T2 relaxation times, and muscle perfusion or oxygenation, which may be altered in individuals with neuromuscular diseases.

The laboratory focuses most of its efforts on developing these quantitative NMR methods, validating them, promoting them and using them as part of single-centre and multicentre clinical trials in neuromuscular diseases. These trials aim to study the natural history of these diseases or to assess the effect of innovative therapies.

More specifically, our research projects focus on:

• Developing new NMR contrasts, both preclinically and clinically, to detect and quantify various pathological processes involved in the onset and progression of myopathies, such as inflammationRéaction non spécifique suscitée par un agent pathogène., necrosis and muscle fibrosis.
• Determining the predictive value of new NMR contrasts for the progression of certain diseases.
• Developing tools to study muscle during exercise (non-magnetic ergometers, radiofrequency coils, interleaved NMR sequences, etc.).
• Speeding up NMR acquisitions by implementing new signal encoding schemes (undersampled radial acquisitions) and by quantifying several variables simultaneously (MR fingerprinting, deep learning methods, etc.).