Staff Scientist
I received my B.E. in biomedical engineering from HuaZhong University of Science and Technology, China, and spent nine years in industry on x-ray imaging and MRI. In 1999, I started pursuing a PhD in the Biophysics Department, Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW), where I received training in MRI physics, imaging technologies (gradient coil design, RF coil design and pulse sequence design) and functional MRI mechanisms using animal models. After receiving my PhD in 2003, I spent one year as a senior research scientist in MCW, and joined NIDA in 2004 to help set up the animal MRI lab.
The general goal of my research is to understand the biophysical basis of the fMRI signal under normal physiological conditions as well as under drug challenges. Multiple modality studies seem to be necessary to address these questions. Research infrastructure in the animal MRI lab includes a 9.4 Tesla 30 cm horizontal bore MRI scanner, two-channel laser Doppler flowmetry, multi-channel electrophysiological recording equipment and optical imaging devices. In addition to functional MRI using the BOLD contrast, our lab has also developed CBV-weighted fMRI using the iron-oxide contrast agent, and perfusion imaging using continuous arterial spin labeling. One recent project involves mapping cocaine-induced brain activation using manganese-enhanced MRI, a technique that does not rely upon hemodynamic response; another project aims to understand the electrophysiological basis of the resting-state fMRI signal.
Research Interests:
- fMRI methodological and technological development
- fMRI using animal models
- fMRI mechanism studies using multiple modalities
- Drug abuse studies using animal MRI
Publications:
- Lu H, Zuo Y, Gu H, Waltz JA, Zhan W, Scholl CA, Rea W, Yang Y, & Stein EA. Synchronized delta oscillations correlate with the resting-state functional MRI signal. Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2007, 104(46):18265–9.
- Lu H, Scholl CA, Zuo Y, Stein EA, & Yang Y. Quantifying the blood oxygenation level dependent effect in cerebral blood volume-weighted functional MRI at 9.4T. Magn Reson Med. 2007, 58(3):616–21.
- Lu H, Xi ZX, Gitajn L, Rea W, Yang Y, & Stein EA. Cocaine-induced brain activation detected by dynamic manganese-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MEMRI). Proc Natl Acad Sci. 2007, 104(7):2489–94.
- Lu H, Soltysik DA, Ward BD, & Hyde JS. Temporal evolution of the CBV-fMRI signal to rat whisker stimulation of variable duration and intensity: a linearity analysis. Neuroimage. 2005, 26(2):432–40.
- Lu H, Patel S, Luo F, Li SJ, Hillard CJ, Ward BD, & Hyde JS. Spatial correlations of laminar BOLD and CBV responses to rat whisker stimulation with neuronal activity localized by Fos expression. Magn Reson Med. 2004, 52(5):1060–8.
- Lu H, Jesmanowicz A, Li SJ, & Hyde JS. Momentum-weighted conjugate gradient descent algorithm for gradient coil optimization. Magn Reson Med. 2004, 51(1):158–64.
- Lu H, Mazaheri Y, Zhang R, Jesmanowicz A, & Hyde JS. Multishot partial-k-space EPI for high-resolution fMRI demonstrated in a rat whisker barrel stimulation model at 3T. Magn Reson Med. 2003, 50(6):1215–22.
- Bennett KM, Schmainda KM, Bennett RT, Rowe DB, Lu H, & Hyde JS. Characterization of continuously distributed cortical water diffusion rates with a stretched-exponential model. Magn Reson Med. 2003, 50(4):727–34.