Differential developmental trajectories of magnetic susceptibility in human brain gray and white matter over the lifespan.

Research in my lab is focused on brain changes associated with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), and other neuropsychiatric disorders. We apply several advanced methods for understanding brain function including functional MRI, structural MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and genetic effects.

Undiagnosed and rare diseases cause significant emotional and financial distress to patients who suffer from these and their families. Duke is one of seven clinical sites to be part of the NIH Undiagnosed Diseases Network (UDN). As a principal investigator for the Duke UDN site, I am involved in arranging detailed clinical evaluation for children and adults with undiagnosed diseases and in the interpretation of the genome sequencing that is performed as part of the initiative to obtain a diagnosis in these individuals. I also currently serve as the Co-Chair of the UDN steering committee. 

Chromosome 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (also known as velocardiofacial or DiGeorge syndrome: particular interests are in understanding the learning disabilities and the high risk of mental illness in these children as they get older, for which a research study is ongoing. As a clinician and researcher in this area, I run a clinic for children and adults with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and am an investigator within the International Brain and Behavior Consortium for 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. The goal of the consortium is to conduct research to understand the genetic underpinnings of the serious mental illnesses such as schizophrenia that occur in ~25% of adolescents and adults with the condition.

The research in our lab is concerned with advancing structural and functional MRI methodologies (e.g. fast and high-resolution imaging techniques) for human brain imaging. We also aim to improve our understanding of functional brain signals, including spatiotemporal characterizations of the blood oxygenation level dependent contrast and alternative contrast mechanisms that are more directly linked to the neuronal activities. Additional effort is invested in applying and validating the developed methods to study human functional neuroanatomy.