Amy Howard

This talk will introduce the basic concepts behind diffusion encoding and how, by mapping the microscopic motion of water molecules through tissue, we can infer microstructural information in vivo. Specifically, we will discuss how diffusion weighting is achieved through the use of time-varying magnetic field gradients, and how we can manipulate the encoding to provide sensitivity to different aspects of the microstructure (e.g. the size and shape of cells, or fibre orientations in the white matter). Here we will focus on three methods: single diffusion encoding, double diffusion encoding and the use of oscillating gradients.

Filip Szczepankiewicz

This lecture will explore and illustrate how additional measurement dimensions can be added to conventional diffusion MRI. We motivate the effort to use 'multidimensional' MRI and describe the principles of tensor-valued as well as diffusion time dependent encoding. We also overview how dMRI can be combined with T1 and T2-weighting. Finally, we will briefly survey the 'uninvited' effects that may confound the measurement.

Rafael Neto Henriques

As any other MRI modality, diffusion MRI can be corrupted by artifacts. In this lecture, we will introduce the common artifacts that compromise diffusion MRI, discuss how these can affect different diffusion MRI estimates, and which state-of-the-art pre-processing strategies can be used to minimize their effects.

J. Donald Tournier

Diffusion MRI (dMRI) is unique in its ability to probe tissue microstructure, and is clearly relevant in many neuroscientific investigations. Group studies are particularly powerful here given the typically small effect sizes. However, dMRI data come in various forms, leading to a multitude of different approaches for group studies, ranging from relatively traditional voxel-based analyses of microstructural features through to graph-theoretical analyses of connectomics, with many different variations in between, each requiring bespoke statistical handling to make the most of the data. In this talk, we will review the most common approaches used for group studies.

Ileana Jelescu

In this lecture, we will (i) clarify the distinction between signal representations and biophysical tissue models and provide an overview of relevant model features in white and gray matter, respectively, (ii) review the challenges and most recent developments in model parameter estimation, and (iii) discuss the potential for clinical translation of biophysical models.

Francesco Grussu

Diffusion MRI (dMRI) sensitises the MRI signal to the underlying patterns of water diffusion, enabling the inference of salient characteristics of tissue microstructure (e.g., density and size of cells) from multiple signal measurements. Promising dMRI finds an increasing number of applications in several anatomical regions and diseases. This talk will provide an overview of popular approaches for dMRI signal modelling in oncological body imaging. Examples of techniques that will be covered are: multi-compartment models for prostate, liver and breast MRI (e.g., VERDICT, IMPULSED, POMACE); b-tensor encoding in prostate and kidney; apparent exchange rate measurement in the breast.

Simona Schiavi

Microstructure-informed tractography is a relatively new area of research that aims at combining tractography with tissue microstructural information in the pursuit of more quantitative and biologically oriented estimation of brain connectivity. This lecture introduces key concepts and motivations behind microstructure informed tractography and motivates why they are relevant in the context of quantifying structural connectivity. Following this lecture, researchers and clinicians who are interested in structural connectivity will learn how to build more veridical and quantitative connectomes using diffusion MRI and multimodal acquisitions.

Luis Concha

The ability to infer tissue characteristics from diffusion MRI allows for non-invasive study of disorders of the brain and other organs. Being an indirect method, diffusion MRI warrants proof that the true nature of tissue architecture is faithfully reflected on the derived metrics. This presentation will summarize the approaches that have been used to validate diffusion MRI with histology, which range from qualitative descriptions of classic stains, to advanced analyses of three-dimensional high-resolution histological preparations.