Dr. Ravi Menon's current research program is focused on the development, validation and application of novel optical, electrophysiological and magnetic resonance imaging techniques to visualize human and non-human primate brain function and metabolism in-vivo. As a biophysicist with a strong foundation in neuroscience, his motivation in integrating these imaging technologies has been to try to unravel the physiological and biophysical mechanisms that govern the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) effect.

This effect is the basis of the revolutionary functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique. The relationship between neural activity, cerebral blood flow (CBF) regulation, oxygen utilization and the MRI acquisition technique determines the ultimate spatial and temporal resolution achievable with fMRI. These links are poorly understood, but they determine the smallest unit of cortical organization that might be imaged with fMRI or the fastest signaling between brain regions that might be detected with fMRI.

For many years, Dr. Menon's laboratory has been a leader in both high spatial and high temporal resolution fMRI in humans, relying on very high field MRI (4 Tesla), innovative hardware developments (primarily radiofrequency (RF) coils) and novel pulse sequence physics. Because of their potential to shed light on the BOLD signal sources, the development of several different approaches to optical "imaging" has become a major thrust in the lab in the past three years. Optical techniques being developed or used in his lab can detect a range of events from sub-cellular signaling to vascular dynamics. The possibility of using optical methods in conjunction with ideas being developed at CFMM for new MRI approaches to visualizing cell signaling, is guiding an evolving research focus in the lab, namely the development of technologies and reagents designed to bridge the gap between microscopic molecular imaging and in-vivo MRI.

Contact Info:

Dr. Ravi S. Menon
c/o Jan Challis, Administrative Assistant
Phone: (519) 931-5261
Fax: (519) 931-5260
jchallis@imaging.robarts.ca