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Very experienced fellow

Foto

Juan Miguel Parra Robles

Doctorate from:
Carleton University, Canada

Department at UC3M:
Bioengineering and Aerospace Engineering

E-mail: juparrar@ing.uc3m.es

CONEX Fellow from 16/01/15 to 15/01/18

Project

"MN-MR/PET: Development of a Hybrid MultiNuclear-MRI/PET System for Preclinical Imaging"

Hybrid imaging systems that combine Positron Emission Tomography (PET) with Magnetic Resonance (MR) hold great promise in biomedical research, particularly in preclinical applications due to the significant role that molecular imaging can play in drug discovery and therapy monitoring. Existing PET/MR imaging systems have been restricted to conventional techniques, which are only sensitive to hydrogen nuclei naturally occurring in biological tissues. However, MR spectroscopy and imaging of other nuclei (e.g. 129Xe, 3He, 13C) can also provide functional information and allow imaging of organs not accessible with conventional MRI (e.g. lungs).  The objective of this project is the development of a  hybrid imaging system that integrates functional PET imaging with multi-nuclear MRI imaging, in particular with hyperpolarized 129Xe. The results of this project will have a significant impact beyond biomedical research in fields such as RF coil engineering and gas hyperpolarization technology.

CV

Juan Miguel Parra Robles received a BSc in Physics (Universidad de Oriente, Cuba, 1995), a MSc in Electrical Engineering in Cuba (ISPJAM, Cuba, 1998) and a PhD in Medical Physics from Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada, 2004). He then joined Robarts Research Institute (London, Canada) as a postdoctoral fellow (2004-2007). In 2007, he received a Marie Curie Fellowship to work at the University of Sheffield, UK, where he later continued working as a Senior Research Fellow until January 2015. His research expertise focuses on the development of novel Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging technology and its applications in biomedicine, with particular interest in lung MR imaging using hyperpolarized gases. He has over 150 scientific publications including peer-reviewed journal articles and conference proceedings. Since 2011, he has served in the Executive Committee of the Hyperpolarized Media Study Group of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.

Journal Articles

  • IEEE Transactions in Medical Imaging, ‘Incorporation of prior knowledge of the signal behavior into the reconstruction to accelerate the acquisition of MR diffusion data’ Juan F P J Abascal,  Manuel Desco,  Juan Parra-Robles. Paper submitted, under review (Manuscript ID: TMI-2017-0140). Preprint uploaded for Open Access to https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01462812
  • Journal of Magnetic Resonance 271, 21-33, 2016. ‘Finite element modeling of 129 Xe diffusive gas exchange NMR in the human alveoli’, NJ Stewart, J Parra-Robles, JM Wild. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmr.2016.07.016

Proceedings

  • J Abascal, Manuel Desco, Juan Parra-Robles, ‘Incorporation of prior knowledge of the signal behavior into the reconstruction to accelerate the acquisition of MR diffusion data’ Proc. Int. Soc. Magn. Reson. Med. 14: 2927, 2016.
  • HF Chang, N Stewart, J Parra-Robles, G. Collier, J. Wild, ‘Whole lung morphometry with hyperpolarized 3He gas diffusion MRI- 3D Multiple b-value acquisition and compressed sensing. Proc. Int. Soc. Magn. Reson. Med. 14: 2925, 2016.

Seminars

  • LIM Seminar, Hospital Gregorio Marañón: ‘Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting’, September 2016
  • LIM Seminar, Hospital Gregorio Marañón: ‘In vivo lung morphometry using hyperpolarized gas diffusion MRI: an update’, January 2017

Conferences

  • 39th European Cystic Fibrosis Conference, Basel, Switzerland, 08-11 June 2016. Multiple breath washout and imaging with 3He MRI and CT scans to monitor early-stage lung disease in patients with cystic fibrosis (oral presentation)
  • 24th Annual Meeting of the International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM), Singapore May 2016:
  1. Whole lung morphometry with hyperpolarized 3He gas diffusion MRI- 3D Multiple b-value acquisition and compressed sensing (poster)
  2. Incorporation of prior knowledge of the signal behavior into the reconstruction to accelerate the acquisition of MR diffusion data (poster)
  • 25th Meeting of ISMRM, April 2017, abstracts accepted:
  1. 3D Mapping of Whole Lung Morphometry with 129Xe DW-MRI and Compressed Sensing: Comparison with 3He
  2. Exploring lung inflation mechanisms with 3D 3He and 129Xe whole lung morphometry mapping

Invited lectures

  • Department of Physics, Universidad de Navarra 19/02/2015, ‘Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Lungs using Hyperpolarized Gases’

Outreach activities

  • Interview about CONEX program and my research project, Revista i-3, 63 (abril 2016), pp. 4-15. http://e-archivo.uc3m.es/handle/10016/23862 or http://hosting01.uc3m.es/semanal3/digital3/N63_abril_2016/#/1/