Research Fellow Trainee

Current: Postdoctoral researcher

I'm interested in examining BOLD signals in white matter brain tissue using fMRI to validate its relationship to cortical neural activity.

Quantitative MRI, Mass Spectrometry Imaging,
Spinal Cord Injury Modeling, Machine Leaning and Computational Imaging. 

Quantitative MRI and MALDI MSI in spinal cord injury to understand injury progression, and recovery. 

I am a graduate student in the Biomedical Engineering Department, working under the mentorship of Dr. Does. Broadly I am interested in quantitative magnetic resonance imaging in the brain (qMRI), and using qMRI as a tool for investigating both preclinical and clinical questions.

My dissertation work is centered around elucidating the relationships between different qMRI metrics in white matter, as well as how changes in tissue microstructure influence each metric. 

Fatemeh Adelnia, Ph.D., is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science (VUIIS). She earned her Ph.D. in Physics with a focus on nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy at the University of Milan. Dr. Adelnia completed her postdoctoral training in VUIIS under the mentorship of John Gore, Ph.D. She was awarded a four-year K25 Mentored Research Scientist Career Development grant from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and an Alzheimer's Disease Administrative Supplements grant and was promoted to Research Assistant Professor in 2022. 

Dr. Adelnia's research interest focuses on developing and validating novel noninvasive in vivo MRI and MRS biomarkers and their application in clinical studies to quantify the progression of diseases and characterize their underlying pathophysiology. Her current projects are i) Development and application of R1ρ dispersion imaging and 31P MR spectroscopy to quantify degenerative changes in skeletal muscle with aging. ii) Identify and validate the biological correlates of extracted R1ρ dispersion MR biomarkers in AD and normal aging brains, using animal models.

I received my Oriental MD from China in 1985. I have performed medical research in the United States for more than 10 years. I joined the VUIIS research team in the Center for Small Animal Imaging in May 2007.

My research areas include:
1)Tumor cell culture.
2) Survival small animal surgery:  
a) arterial jugular vein catheterization allows investigator to sample blood as required for adequate glucose clamping or infusion of substrates, tracers into the systemic circulation . 
b) inoculated with tumore cell to rat brain to male brain tumor model. 
c) Nephrectomy, perfusion etc process.

I received my MSc from Jilin University from China in 1996. I have more than ten years work experience in imaging science.

I joined the VUIIS research team in the Center for Small Animal Imaging in November 2008. 

I work at VUIIS in the Cellular and Molecular Imaging research area.

I design and engineer novel report system for apoptosis drug screening.  I also develop aptamers or peptides against tumor markers and application of aptamers or peptides in guide imaging probe(s) in the application of monitoring tumor genesis and valuating therapeutic effectiveness.