This event also will be offered virtually. Please click here to join via Zoom.
 

“Imaging Inflammation and Metabolic Abnormalities in the Diseased Brain using PET and MRI”

Caroline Guglielmetti, Ph.D.
Assistant Professional Researcher,
Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science &
Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging
University of California, San Francisco
 

ABSTRACT
Metabolic alterations are central to many neurological disorders, where they relate to neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation, or other components of disease manifestation. Yet, despite this prominent involvement and potentially high therapeutic relevance, a lot remains unknown regarding the temporal dynamics and cellular substrates of metabolic changes during disease pathogenesis. Studying metabolic alterations in the in vivo brain can thus importantly help us gain novel insights into disease onset and progression, develop novel biomarkers, and aid with the evaluation and development of disease-modifying therapies.

In this talk, I will present the use of hyperpolarized 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopic (MRS) imaging to detect neuroinflammatory processes and metabolic alterations in preclinical models of multiple sclerosis (MS) and traumatic brain injury (TBI), as well as its ability to monitor immunomodulatory therapy responses. Hyperpolarized 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging is an emerging method that can be used to image metabolic fluxes in real-time with high sensitivity. It has seen application to a variety of disorders and organs, with proven utility in both rodent and human subjects, highlighting its strong translational relevance. I will further discuss our most recent work using novel positron emission tomography (PET) tracers to detect activated T-cells in preclinical models of MS. Importantly, across these studies, I used conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approaches together with molecular biology methods to relate the novel hyperpolarized 13C MRS and PET imaging phenotypes to their metabolic and cellular substrates.

Altogether, I show that with these novel brain imaging tools we can now specifically track metabolic alterations in innate immune cells as well as infiltration of activated T-cells, throughout disease progression and in response to therapy. Through these innovations, we have gained fundamental new insight into MS and TBI in rodent models, and have contributed importantly to validate new imaging strategies that can now be translated into the clinical setting.
 

BIOGRAPHY
I am an Assistant Professional Researcher in the departments of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science, and Radiology and Biomedical Imaging at the University of California San Francisco. My research primarily focuses on developing and validating novel imaging tools to detect neuroinflammation using preclinical metabolic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. My goal is to determine the role of the immune system in the progression of cerebral diseases, particularly multiple sclerosis, and identify clinically relevant MR and PET biomarkers of progression and therapeutic response.

I obtained a BS and MS in Biology/Neurosciences from the University of Toulouse-III (France) and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Antwerp (Belgium). As a PhD candidate, I used optical imaging and MRI to untangle inflammatory and demyelination processes, while testing new ways to modulate inflammation in multiple sclerosis models. In my postdoctoral studies, I demonstrated the ability of metabolic hyperpolarized (HP) 13C MR spectroscopy to detect pro-inflammatory macrophages in the brain of multiple sclerosis models. I also have a strong interest in promoting these methodological advances to other neurological diseases, including traumatic brain injury and cognitive impairment.