Research

Many veterans with Gulf War illness report losing their sense of smell. Because anosmia is recognized as a potential early symptom of diseases like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, Linda Chao, PhD, of the UCSF Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, has sought to identify if anosmia in GW veterans could be predictive of impaired cognitive function.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), plays a pivotal role in healthcare, determining treatment paths and eligibility for procedures like hip or knee replacements. Yet, approximately 90% of the global population lacks access to this vital technology. The prospect of a more compact, affordable, and easily installable MRI machine raises an intriguing question: How many lives could be saved, and how much suffering could be alleviated with improved access to this transformative technology?

People are living longer, and as a result, we’re seeing more patients experiencing chronic pain conditions associated with implant/joint replacement pain. At UCSF, we have the opportunity to develop an optimal MRI strategy to diagnose and treat pain sources for these patients.

Models trained on other pathologies can be adapted to identify MS lesions with smaller datasets.

“What I find most meaningful about my work as a researcher is fulfilling my search for knowledge and curiousity,” said Celine Taglang, PhD, a researcher in the Cancer Metabolic Imaging and Therapy Lab in UCSF’s Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging.

The complex process of drifting from wakefulness to sleep is governed by the brain’s cortex, and new research from UCSF imaging scientists advances our understanding of this important phenomenon.

In 2003, the Center for Molecular and Functional Imaging (CMFI) at China Basin Landing opened its doors with San Francisco’s first 3T MRI and two 1.5T clinical scanners, followed a few years later by a cyclotron which launched our in-house radiopharmaceutical program. Since then, the CMFI has been at the forefront of 3T research and major advances in theranostics and precision medicine. 

Researchers from UCSF’s Department of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging were recently awarded a $3.93 million Translational Team Science Award.

A team of investigators from the Abuabara Lab at UC San Francisco, UCSF Radiology and the University of Arizona reviewed available literature on skin sodium to investigate its connection to total body sodium and to immunity.

There have been growing national efforts to diversify the radiology workforce, but are those efforts having an impact? Xiao Wu, MD, a resident at the UC San Francisco Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, investigated the question and shared her findings in a journal article and a podcast.