Hyperoxic MRI of Perivascular Spaces

ended

HERMES aims to develop more effective strategies that increase our understanding of the brain in health and disease. The ability of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study brain fluids noninvasively offers a unique opportunity for revealing how cerebrospinal fluid promotes waste clearance from the brain. Perivascular spaces are key structures involved in this process. They are gaps surrounding small blood vessels along which cerebrospinal fluid can move. A comprehensive understanding of the anatomy and function of perivascular spaces is lacking, but it could ultimately uncover important mechanisms of brain disease and lead to novel treatments harnessing cerebrospinal fluid movement for drug delivery to the brain. Building on my expertise in structural MRI and my proposed supervisor’s expertise in functional MRI coupled with supplemental gas inhalation, I will use MRI to track oxygen movements in brain fluids, thus developing inhaled oxygen as an image contrast agent for perivascular spaces. I will characterise the anatomy and function of perivascular spaces in a healthy population from 20 to 60 years old. Then, leveraging my proposed clinical co-supervisor’s expertise in neuroinflammation, I will investigate the role of impaired perivascular space function in multiple sclerosis, the leading cause of neurological disability among young and middle-aged adults, affecting more than 700,000 people in Europe. During this fellowship, I will deepen my scientific expertise by learning how to conduct MRI experiments with multiple image contrasts and supplemental oxygen. The training provided by my supervisors, the scientific and transferable skills provided by the fellowship and the excellence of the host institution will all be essential to deliver the goals of this project. Ultimately, HERMES will help me to establish my own research group and create a long-term impact by sharing my expertise with academic and industrial partners.