Quantitative Imaging and Analysis Lab

Our QIAL lab member Rohan Nadkarni brought the heat at the BME retreat—taking 2nd place in the rapid-fire challenge with original rap lyrics

Congratulations! Dr. Hae Sol Moon has successfully defended his PhD on “Integrative Modeling of Alzheimer’s Disease Risk”.

Huge congratulations to Dr. Alex Allphin on a successful PhD defense! A key member of our QIAL lab, Alex’s work has pushed the boundaries of imaging science.

Voluntary & enforced exercise drive distinct brain changes in Alzheimer’s models.
MRI reveals how emotion, memory, & motor circuits adapt—showing exercise’s neuroprotective power.

Badea A, Mahzarnia A, Reddy D, et al. Neuroimaging biomarkers of neuroprotection: Impact of voluntary vs. enforced exercise in Alzheimer’s disease models. Magn Reson Imaging. 2025;110406. doi: 10.1016/j.mri.2025.110406

This study investigates the impact of exercise on cardiac function across different APOE genotypes in mice using low-dose cardiac photon-counting micro-CT and deep learning-based segmentation. Results show significant, genotype-dependent improvements in cardiac performance, with the largest effects observed in APOE3 and APOE4 mice.

Allphin AJ, Nadkarni R, Han ZY, Clark DP, Ghaghada KB, Badea A, Badea CT. Assessing the cardioprotective effects of exercise in APOE mouse models using deep learning and photon-counting micro-CT. PLOS ONE. 2025 Apr 10; https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0320892.

Advancing Preclinical and AI-Driven Imaging  with our Work presented at SPIE Medical Imaging 2025:

• Deve​lopment of a virtual photon-counting micro-CT imaging platform for preclinical cancer studies
  Nadkarni R, Clark D, Allphin A, Qi Y, Mowery Y, Segars W, Badea CT.
  Presented on April 8, 2025.
  https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3047047

• A deep-learning reconstruction framework for low-dose, dynamic x-ray CT
  Clark D, Badea CT.
  Presented on April 8, 2025.
  https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3047120

• Deep-learning micro-CT perfusion quantification
  Allphin A, Nadkarni R, Clark D, Badea CT.
  Presented on April 8, 2025.
  https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3047483

• A perfusion phantom for dynamic micro-CT imaging
  Allphin A, Badea A, Clark D, Badea CT.
  Presented on April 8, 2025.
  https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3047282

• High-resolution micro-CT imaging protocols for studies of intracranial aneurysms in murine models
  Badea CT, Chaparro E, Mace B, Allphin A, Nadkarni R, Han Z, Qi Y, Clark D, Hasan D.
  Presented on April 2, 2025.
  https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3046744

• Quantitative comparison of femurs in apolipoprotein E mouse models using high-resolution photon-counting micro-CT
  Nadkarni R, Han Z, Allphin A, Clark D, Badea A, Badea CT.
  Presented on April 2, 2025.
  https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3047137

• Exploring VivoVist™ for ex vivo micro-CT imaging of mouse vasculature
  Badea CT, Nadkarni R, Allphin A, Qi Y, Clark D, Hainfeld J.
  Presented on April 2, 2025.
  https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3046768

Our  review article is published:
Devkota L, Bhavane R, Badea CT, Tanifum EA, Annapragada AV, Ghaghada KB. Nanoparticle Contrast Agents for Photon-Counting Computed Tomography: Recent Developments and Future Opportunities. Wiley Interdiscip Rev Nanomed Nanobiotechnol. 2025 Jan-Feb;17(1):e70004. doi: 10.1002/wnan.70004. PMID: 39948059. https://wires.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/wnan.70004