Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging techniques for diagnosis of cerebral microvascular dysfunction

The brain uses lots of energy (sugar) and oxygen, but has no storage system, so depends on a complex network of small blood vessels in the brain for continual energy supply and removal of waste products. Many cases of dementia and stroke are due to the tiny brain blood vessels not working properly, but the cause is not known due to difficulty in studying the small blood vessel function in people in life. Magnetic resonance (MR) scanning offers some promising new ways to measure small vessel function and its effects on the brain repeatedly in life. However, these scans can take a long time, have only been used individually, or not been tested in a wide range of people to see if they can detect important subtle differences in brain blood vessel function. This PhD will work on combining new MR methods to understand how the small vessels are working to deliver sugar and oxygen and to remove waste, to see if the scans can be speeded up, if the analyses can be improved so that all aspects of brain blood vessel function can be assessed in an integrated way, and tested in a typical wide range of patients with stroke or cognitive problems.