Biography

My research at UT has culminated in the establishment of the Diffusion Tensor Imaging Lab (MSB 6.532, (713-500-7683), which currently provides support to more than 10 research-active groups. The DTI lab is part of the MRI research wing of the department, and its major role is promote and support the department’s main research. The DTI lab provides computational support, training, processing, and consultation on data acquisition, management, detailed and professional quality control measures for researchers, clinical center trials, and complete processing of data acquired from many scanners, at different scales that span the mouse, rat, and human CNS.

My main research focuses on developing specialized acquisition and computational techniques to enhance contrast and increase the specificity of DTI. The fusion of DTI and MEG, fMRI, perfusion, conventional MRI and MRSI will be important to identify noninvasive markers for quantifying and localizing human neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis (collaborative work with Drs Jerry Wolinsky, Ponnada A. Narayana and Flavia Nelson), neurodevelopmental disorders such as Spina Bifida and Dyslexia (collaborative work with Drs Jack Fletcher, Maureen Dennis, Andrew Papanicolaou, Larry Kramer, Susan Blaser), pediatric traumatic brain injury (collaborative work with Dr Linda Ewing-Cobbs), neurotoxins such as cocaine and MDM (collaborative work with Drs Gerry Moeller and Joel L Steinberg).

Many other applications of DTI such as fetal brain maturation and development and clinical applications (stroke, tumors, epilepsy, Hypoxic injury) are also ongoing (collaborative work with Dr Rakesh K Gupta, Andrew Papanicolaou, Corwin Boake), modeling of spinal cord injury recovery and therapy (collaborative work with Dr Ponnada A. Narayana) and modeling of animal disease such as Parkinson’s, ALS, HIV (collaborative work with Drs Michael Boska and Howard Gillerman).

Other collaborative DTI and quantitative MRI applications to human CNS conditions such as Stroke (Sean Savitz), Stem Cell Therapy post Trauma (Charles Cox), Schizophrenia (Joel Steinberg), ADHD (Manzar Ashtari), Epilepsy (Eduardo Castillo) and Autism (Richard E. Frye).

Education

Graduate School
Physics, University of Birzeit, Palestine, 1989
Graduate School
Medical Physics, University of Utah, 2000

Areas of Interest

Research Interests

**Faculty profiles will only highlight current information (the last three years). Please see the faculty’s CV for more information.

Past Grant Support
Venous Congestion Countermeasure Study. 12/05/2018-3/05/2020 NASA Subcontract, University of Texas at Houston via subcontract with UCSD. #80NSSC19K1668.
PI: Alan Hargens, MD
Role: Larry A. Kramer M.D. – Co-Investigator/Site PI. ($62,132).

Image Analysis Center (PI: Narayana/Savitz) 11/9/15 – 11/8/19 calendar
Sunovion/SanBio, Inc.
Major Goals: Provide MRI analysis on the Stroke patients treated with stem cells as a part of phase 2 clinical trials.
Role: Investigator

Image Analysis Center (PI: Narayana/Savitz) 9/1/15 – 9/1/18 calendar
SanBio, Inc.
Major Goals: Provide MRI analysis on the traumatic brain injured patients treated with stem cells as a part of phase 2 clinical trials.
Role: Investigator

Publications

**Faculty profiles will only highlight current information (the last three years). Please see the faculty’s CV for more information.

ABSTRACTS:

  1. Kramer, L.A, Hirzallah, M. I., Hasan, K. Younes, U. Menon, U. Macias, B, Stenger, M. and Narayana, P.: QUANTITATIVE MAGNETIC RESONANCE OF CEREBRAL BLOOD FLOW HEMODYNAMICS IN ACUTE HEAD DOWN TILT. NASA Human Research Program Investigators’ Workshop Galveston Island Convention Center, Galveston, TX, January 22-24, 2018
  2. Younes, K., Hasan, K.M., Mcgough, C.E., Kamali, A., Keser, Z., Melicher, T., Kramer, L.A., Schulz P.E.: Quantitative diffusion tensor tractography of the superior thalamic radiation and the corticospinal tract in relation to ventricular and sulcal CSF Volumes in patients with ventriculomegaly diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus. American Academy of Neurology 70th Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA. April 21-27, 2018
  3. Keser, Z., Hasan, K.M., Mwangi, B., Younes, K., Lincoln, J.A., Nelson, F.M. Micro and Macrostructural Limbic System Correlates of Comprehensive Cognitive Symptomatology in Multiple Sclerosis using Quantitative MRI and DTI. AAN 70th Annual Meeting. Los Angeles, CA. Apr 21-27, 2018

REFEREED ORIGINAL ARTICLES IN JOURNALS:

  1. Vahidy, F.S., Haque, M.E., Rahbar, M.H, Zhu, H., Rowan, P., Aisiku, I.P., Lee, D.A., Juneja, H.S., Alderman, S., Barreto AB, Suarez, J.I., Bambhroliya, A., Hasan, K.M., Kassam, M.R., Aronowski, J., Gee, A., Cox Jr, C.S., Grotta, J.C., and Savitz, S.I.: Intravenous Bone Marrow Mononuclear Cells for Acute Ischemic Stroke: Safety, Feasibility, and Effect Size from a Phase I Clinical Trial Stem Cells 37(11):1481-1491, 2019
  2. Keser, Z., Sebastian, R., Hasan, K.M., and Hillis, A.E.: Right Hemispheric Homologous Language Pathways Negatively Predicts Poststroke Naming Recovery. Stroke. doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.119.028293, 2020
  3. Kamali, A., Rabieie P., Riascos-Castaneda, Roy F, and Hasan, K.M.: Uncovering the dorsal thalamo-hypothalamic tract of the human limbic system. Neuroscience, 2020 (in press)
  4. Kramer L.A., Hasan K.M., Riascos-Castaneda, Roy F… Intracranial Effects of Microgravity: A Prospective Longitudinal MRI Study, Radiology, 2020 (in press)