Noninvasive metabolic imaging

Dr. Charles Cunningham, a senior scientist in Physical Sciences at SRI, has shown in NeuroImage that the brain produces lactate—a byproduct of metabolism—the same way among healthy people. This contributes to a new understanding of brain function. He is also leading clinical trials of metabolic MRI in people with bipolar disorder, certain cancers and enlarged hearts. In the first two, he and his colleagues are looking at whether using MRI to measure lactate is helpful in evaluating response to therapy and guiding disease management.