Date: May 7, 2025,, at noon
Location: 227 E 30TH ST FL 1 RM 120
Department of Brain Sciences
Weizmann Institute of Science
Motivated by the increased SNR in ultra-high field, my lab projects include development of new MR pulse sequences for fast and high-resolution MRI and fMRI; quantitative MRI methods; and new materials for tailoring the RF field. In this talk, I will focus on two projects – (i) a new approach to control the RF transmit and receive signals, and (ii) an approach of adapting the EPI sequence timing to control the ghost/sound-levels. In the first project, we established a new framework of MRI-beneficent artificial materials, combining an artificial dielectric with a set of electric and/or magnetic dipoles. This combination provides high flexibility to plan the possible enhancement, as well as a higher efficiency and a very compact structure. The second project aims to deal with the restrictions due to the gradient’s hardware. A well-known challenge in EPI comes from mechanical vibrations, which produce the well-known MRI sounds and can also cause ghosting artifacts (which are exacerbated at ultra-high field). Our new approach includes modeling and prediction of the acoustic frequencies in EPI, enabling us to control the acoustic spectrum in the sequence. We show that we can affect both the sound level and the ghosting by making subtle timing changes to the TEs (in case of multi-echo acquisitions), to the slices, and to the navigator. This way, we adapt the sequence to the gradient hardware, accounting for the mechanical resonances.
Dr. Rita Schmidt is a Senior Scientist in the Department of Brain Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Science. Her unique carrier path has included a career in the industry, developing MRI guided Focused Ultrasound device for non-invasive treatments, followed by a carrier in academy. Her PhD research focused on a novel ultrafast spatiotemporal encoding (SPEN) acquisition scheme, introducing approaches with high robustness to B0 inhomogeneity. Her post-doctoral research, in the Leiden University Medical Center, focused on characterization of methods to tailor the RF field at 7T MRI, including dielectric resonators and metamaterial designs. In 2019, Rita Schmidt established her own lab at the Weizmann Institute, where she develops new tools for human brain MRI and fMRI at ultra-high field. Recent studies include characterization of the effective temporal resolution in functional MRI, methods to reduce artifacts due to physiological fluctuations designing a novel semi-randomized ordering acquisition scheme, fast quantitative (T2) mapping MRI at 7T. Our two recent projects are a new metamaterial design with that offers a flexible control of the RF transmit and receive signals, and an approach of adapting the EPI sequence timing to control the ghost/sound-levels. Publications’ list: Google Scholar
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