Visitors Talk: Francesco Grussu, Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology of Barcelona

Abstract

Diffusion Magnetic Resonace Imaging (dMRI) enables the non-invasive estimation of tissue properties at the micrometric scale, providing novel, biologic-specific biomarkers, promising in several conditions. This is achieved by fitting biophysical mathematical models to sets of dMRI images, obtaining per-voxel estimates of properties such as cell size or density. While modelling efforts have traditionally focussed on brain imaging, recently, innovative signal models tailored for body tissues have also gained momentum. This talk will provide an overview of the latest modelling approaches used to image organs such as the liver, the breast or the prostate, with an emphasis on their application to cancer. Moreover, it will share the initial experience on dMRI tumour microstructure assessment at the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology of Barcelona, where histologically-realistic diffusion and perfusion simulations are being used to inform new dMRI signal models.

About the speaker

Francesco Grussu is a biomedical engineer with a PhD in Magnetic Resonance (MR) Physics, obtained at University College London (UCL, UK) in 2016, with a thesis on spinal cord diffusion MR imaging (MRI). After his PhD, he continued to work at UCL on quantitative MRI development in multiple sclerosis and prostate cancer until 2020, when he moved to the Vall d’Hebron Institute of Oncology (VHIO) of Barcelona (Spain), as a Senior Research Fellow. Francesco is a member of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), and in the past he served as elected trainee representative of the ISMRM White Matter Study Group, a post held from 2018 to 2020. At VHIO, he works on innovative diffusion MRI techniques for tumour microstructure quantification, informing their development through histologically-realistic computer simulations. He is co-supervisor of 3 PhD students, and his work his funded by a “la Caixa” Foundation Junior Leader Fellowship, which he was awarded in 2022.