Research Focus:  One of the greatest strengths of MRI lies in its capability in studying exchange effect. For in vivo applications, the intercompartmental water exchange effect is of the most interest.  We are primarily focusing on using different MRI techniques, including dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), in studying equilibrium water exchange effect.

Biography:  Dr. Li received his Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Science & Technology of China,  Hefei, Anhui, PRC in 1989.  He pursued his graduate studies in New York where he received a Doctoral degree from the State University of New York, Stony Brook in 1999.  Dr. Li was an Assistant Professor at the AIRC through 2018. He currently holds a position as Associate Professor at the center.  Since 2007, he also served as a Collaborative Scientist in the Division of Reproductive Sciences at the Oregon National Primate Research Center (ONPRC) in Beaverton, Oregon.

Key Publications:

Li X, Cai Y, Moloney B, Chen Y, Huang W, Woods M, Coakley FV, Rooney WD, Garzotto MG, Springer CS, Jr. Relative sensitivities of DCE-MRI pharmacokinetic parameters to arterial input function (AIF) scaling. Journal of Magnetic Resonance. 269:104-12, 2016.

Li X, Varallyay CG, Gahramanov S, Fu R, Rooney WD, Neuwelt EA. Pseudo-extravasation rate constant of dynamic susceptibility contrast-MRI determined from pharmacokinetic first principles. NMR Biomed. 30:e3797, 2017. 

Li X, Mangia S, Lee JH, Bai R, Springer CS. NMR shutter-speed elucidates apparent population inversion of 1H2O signals due to active transmembrane water cycling. Magn. Reson. Med. 82: 411-424, 2019.