Medical imaging is routine in the diagnosis and staging of a wide range of medical conditions.
In particular, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is critical for visualizing soft tissue and …

Magnetic nanoparticles are robust contrast agents for MRI and often produce particularly
strong signal changes per particle. Leveraging these effects to probe cellular- and molecular-…

The ability to monitor molecules volumetrically throughout the body could provide valuable
biomarkers for studies of healthy function and disease, but noninvasive detection of …

Molecular imaging could have great utility for detecting, classifying, and guiding treatment of
brain disorders, but existing probes offer limited capability for assessing relevant …

Molten salt is a promising coolant candidate for Advanced High Temperature Reactor (AHTR)
Gen-IV designs. The low neutron absorption, high thermal capacity, chemical inertness, …

The purpose of this study is to assess the difference between 4D liver dose calculations
versus standard 3D treatment planning and to investigate the dosimetric gain of gating on …

An intricate interplay of signaling molecules underlies brain activity, yet studying these
molecular events in living whole organisms remains a challenge. Magnetic resonance imaging (…

In the Focused Ion Beam (FIB) technique, a beam of ions is reduced to nanometer dimensions
using dedicated optics and directed to a substrate for patterning. This technique is widely …

… My thanks go out to Mitul Desai, for all the challenging and intricate in vivo work in Chapters
2 and 3; to Mariya Barch for her help in getting started with CGRP; to Agata Wisniowska for …

Defining the neural mechanisms that coordinate behavior requires characterizing the activity
dynamics of diverse brain regions and neural circuit elements. My thesis explores such …