Fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a cutting-edge, noninvasive medical diagnostic procedure that is used to diagnose abnormalities before birth. Recent advancements in imaging technology enabled the adaptation of the so-called diffusion-MRI approach to developing fetuses. Our team has successfully used diffusion tensor MRI (DT-MRI) for fetuses during clinical practice and develops the necessary image analysis and image processing software. This method allows us to visualize the 3D structure of the developing fiber connectivity of the fetal brain in pathologies but also in normally developing fetal brains.
We are interested in how this novel technology can support clinical decision making and how the in vivo – in utero approach can extend our current knowledge of human brain development.
Semester and master thesis topics
We offer thesis supervision in the following clinical and basic research topics:
- Development of the fetal brain connectome (background: MD, biology)
- Effect of open fetal surgery on brain morphology (background: MD, biology)
- Motion correction for fetal diffusion tensor imaging (background: engineering)
If you are interested, feel free to contact us!
Collaborations
Prof. Daniela Prayer, Prof. Georg Langs, Computational Imaging Research Lab (CIR), Medical University of Vienna
Personal website of Dr. Jakab at the CIR Lab
Project duration
2016 - ongoing
Selected Publications
Jakab A, Tuura-O’Gorman R, Kellenberger C, Scheer I. In utero diffusion tensor imaging of : a reproducibility study. (Manuscript under review)
Jakab A, Werner B, Piccirelli M, Kovacs K, Martin E, Thornton S J, Yousry T, Szekely G, Tuura-O’Gorman R (2016) Feasibility of diffusion tractography for the reconstruction of intra-thalamic and cerebello-thalamic targets for functional neurosurgery: a multi-vendor pilot study in four subjects. Frontiers in Neuroanatomy 10.
Jakab A, Kasprian G, Schwartz E, Gruber GM, Mitter C, Prayer D, Schöpf V, Langs G. (2015) Disrupted developmental organization of the structural connectome in fetuses with corpus callosum agenesis. Neuroimage. 111:277-288.
Jakab A, Pogledic I, Schwartz E, Gruber GM, Mitter C, Brugger PC, Langs G, Schöpf V, Kasprian G, Prayer D. (2015) Fetal cerebral magnetic resonance imaging beyond morphology. Seminars in Ultrasound, CT, and MRI 36(6): 465-475.
Jakab A, Schwartz E, Kasprian G, Gruber GM, Prayer D, Schöpf V, Langs G. (2014) Fetal functional imaging portrays heterogeneous development of emerging human brain networks. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 8:852.
Schwartz E, Kasprian G, Jakab A, Prayer D, Schöpf V, Langs G (2016) Modeling Fetal Cortical Expansion using Graph-Regularized Gompertz Models. Published in Proceedings of MICCAI 2016.
Schwartz E, Jakab A, Langs G. (2014) A locally linear method for enforcing temporal smoothness in serial image registration. Spatio-temporal Image Analysis for Longitudinal and Time-Series Image Data, 2014, 13-24, doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-14905-9_2.
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