Research Groups > Experimental and Clinical NeurosciencePerinatal Imaging

A textbook by Mary Rutherford, MRI of the Neonatal Brain, is available online here, free to access.

We are currently developing foetal imaging and spectroscopy acquisition and post-acquisition processing methods to produce high-resolution, high-signal-to-noise datasets of the developing brain from 17–40 weeks gestation. In parallel with these projects we are optimising computational software to allow objective quantification of neural pathways in the developing brain. This will give us unprecedented insights into human brain development in vivo and provide a unique template against which disorders of brain development, both genetic and acquired, can be objectively measured. Optimisation of post-mortem scanning techniques, including diffusion tensor imaging, allow superb resolution of brain tissue and should enable precise histological comparisons of cellular features of the normal and abnormal brain. A major aim of the Group is to establish imaging correlates for normal and abnormal histological processes in the brain, in particular the sites of resident and activated microglia in the normal brain, in the brains of preterm infants and following an injurious process.

Figure 1. Diffusion tensor imaging acquired with dynamic approach in the foetal brain. Map showing apparent diffusion coefficients (top row) and fractional anisotropy (bottom row). Images show good signal-to-noise and resolution sufficient to support regional analysis.

Inherent in this work is our plan to improve our phenotypic description of perinatal brain injury, investigate the subsequent compensatory neural mechanisms and relate these to neurodevelopmental abilities of the child. This is a multidisciplinary group involving collaborations with the Fetal Care Unit, Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, the Department of Perinatal Pathology, Imperial College London, the Imaging Physics and Engineering Group, the Neonatal Medicine Group and the Department of Computing at Imperial College London.