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Christin Sander, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor in Radiology
A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

I am an Assistant Professor at the A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging , Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
My research is funded through an NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Career Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. I completed my PhD in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2014.

My research focuses on multi-modal imaging with combined MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) and PET (positron emission tomography). My main interests are to advance multi-modal imaging techniques, develop new experimental approaches and devise quantitative models with the goal to map signaling pathways of the living brain, and link molecular dynamics to distributed brain function. I envision to bridge the gap between engineering and neuroscientific applications, transforming state-of-the-art imaging approaches into new clinical applications and diagnostic practices for brain disorders.

Research

I pursue an integrated approach to non-invasively image the brain. My goal is to develop in vivo molecular and functional imaging techniques in order to build a molecular-level understanding of whole-brain function, physiology and networks. While my research is driven by neuroscientific or clinical questions, my approach uses technical expertise and quantitative approaches.

Specifically, my research focuses on (i) creating novel multi-modal experimental imaging techniques for imaging neuroreceptors in the living brain (ii) developing biomarkers through quantitative biophysical and biochemical models and (iii) apply these methods to investigate the interplay between neurochemistry and neural circuit function, or dysfunction, in the living brain. Ultimately, my goal is to translate these non-invasive techniques into the clinic to advance diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders.

Some of my key research areas in multi-modal imaging with combined PET and functional MRI are:

Imaging neuroreceptor function

Neuroreceptors are the gateways to the transmission of information in the brain. They can be dynamically activated or inhibited by neurotransmitters as well as exogenous drugs. Using combined PET/fMRI, we observe dynamic changes in receptor occupancy and functional signaling in order to pursue answers the questions above.

Dynamic modeling of imaging signals

Dynamic imaging signals are 4D datasets that contain both physiological and instrumentation noise. In order to extract relevant biological parameters, we need to accurately analyze and model the acquired data. This involves not only simulations but also quantification and validation of experimental data signal through relevant biophysical models.

Advancing PET/MR imaging techniques

PET and MRI technology each have their strengths and limitations in image acquisition and reconstruction. Creating the best experimental setup, acquisition and reconstruction tailored to the scientific question can significantly improve your final image dataset.

Selected Publications

Journal Publications

  • Schoenberger M, Schroeder FA, Placzek MS, Carter RL, Rosen BR, Hooker JM, Sander CY. “In vivo [18F]GE-179 brain signal does not show NMDA-specific modulation with drug challenges in rodents and non-human primates,” ACS Chemical Neuroscience, Oct 2017 (online). pdf: doi: 10.1021/acschemneuro.7b00327
  • Sander CY, Mandeville JB, Wey HY, Catana C, Hooker JM and Rosen BR. “Effects of flow changes on radiotracer binding: Simultaneous measurement of neuroreceptor binding and cerebral blood flow modulation,” Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism, Aug 2017.
    pdf: doi: 10.1177/0271678X17725418
  • Sander CY and Hesse S. “News and views on in vivo imaging of neurotransmission using PET and MRI,” Q J Nucl Med Mol Imaging, July 2017. doi: 10.23736/S1824-4785.17.03019-9
  • Mandeville JB, Sander CY, Wey HY, Hooker JM, Hansen HD, Svarer C, Knudsen GM, Rosen BR. “A regularized full reference tissue model for PET neuroreceptor mapping,” NeuroImage 2016; 139:405-414. pdf: doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.06.044
  • Sander CY, Hooker JM, Catana C, Rosen BR, and Mandeville JB. “Imaging agonist-induced D2/D3 receptor desensitization and internalization in vivo with PET/fMRI,” Neuropsychopharmacology 2016; 41(5):1427-1436. pdf: doi: 10.1038/npp.2015.296
  • Villien M, Wey HY, Mandeville JB, Catana C, Polimeni JR, Sander CY, Zürcher NR, Chonde DB, Fowler JS, Rosen BR and Hooker JM, “Dynamic functional imaging of brain glucose utilization using fPET-FDG,” NeuroImage 2014; 100:192-199. pdf: doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.06.025
  • Sander CY, Keil B, Chonde DB, Rosen BR, Catana C and Wald LL, “A 31-channel MR brain array compatible with positron emission tomography,” Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 2015; 73(6):2363-2375. pdf: doi: 10.1002/mrm.25335
  • Mandeville JB, Sander CY, Jenkins BG, Hooker JM, Catana C, Vanduffel W, Alpert NM, Rosen BR, and Normandin MD, “A receptor-based model for dopamine-induced fMRI signal,” NeuroImage 2013; 75:46-57. pdf: doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.02.036
  • Sander CY, Hooker JM, Catana C, Normandin MD, Alpert NM, Knudsen GM, Vanduffel W, Rosen BR, and Mandeville JB, “Neurovascular coupling to D2/D3 dopamine receptor occupancy using simultaneous PET/functional MRI,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2013; 110(27):11169-11174. pdf: doi: 10.1073/pnas.1220512110

Conference Proceedings

  • C.Y. Sander, J. Arsenault, H.Y. Wey, J.M. Hooker, J.B. Mandeville, W. Vanduffel, B.R. Rosen. “Simultaneous PET and fMRI during deep brain stimulation of the ventral tegmental area”. Functional Neuroreceptor Mapping of the Living Brain, 11th International Symposium, Boston, MA, June 2016.
  • C.Y. Sander, J. Arsenault, B.R. Rosen, J.B. Mandeville, W. Vanduffel. “Concurrent fMRI, [11C]raclopride-PET and deep brain stimulation of the ventral tegmental area”. Proceedings of the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 24th Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Singapore, May 2016.
  • C.Y. Sander, J.M. Hooker, C. Catana, B.R. Rosen, J.B. Mandeville. “Basal dopamine occupancy estimation with simultaneous PET/fMRI”. World Molecular Imaging Congress, Honolulu, HI, USA, 2015.
  • C.Y. Sander, J.M. Hooker, C. Catana, B.R. Rosen, J.B. Mandeville. “Assessing receptor desensitization and internalization parameters with simultaneous PET/fMRI”. 12th International Conference on Quantification of Brain Function with PET, Intern. Symp. on Cerebral Blood Flow, Metabolism & Function, Vancouver, Canada, June 2015.
  • C.Y. Sander, J.M. Hooker, C. Catana, B.R. Rosen, J.B. Mandeville. “Classification of in vivo drug function through a coupling model and PET/fMRI”. Proceedings of the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 23rd Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Toronto, Canada, June 2015.
  • C.Y. Sander, J.M. Hooker, H.Y. Wey, C.M. Wilson, C. Catana, B.R. Rosen, J.B. Mandeville. “Effects of simultaneously measured flow changes on D2/D3 radiotracer dynamics”. Functional Neuroreceptor Mapping of the Living Brain, 10th International Symposium, Amsterdam, Netherlands, May 2014.
  • C.Y. Sander, J.M. Hooker, C. Catana, B.R. Rosen, J.B. Mandeville. “Internalization of dopamine receptors imaged in vivo by simultaneous PET/fMRI”. Proceedings of the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 22nd Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Milan, Italy, May 2014.
  • C.Y. Sander, C. Catana, A. Zhu, C. Poulsen, B.R. Rosen and G. Bonmassar. “Invisible dense-array EEG net for simultaneous EEG-PET/MR imaging”. Proceedings of the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 22nd Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Milan, Italy, May 2014.
  • M. Villien, J.B. Mandeville, H.Y. Wey, C. Catana, J.R. Polimeni, C.Y. Sander, N.R. Zürcher, D.B. Chonde, J.S. Fowler, B.R. Rosen, J.M. Hooker. “Dynamic fPET/fMRI of the human visual system”. Proc. of the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 22nd Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Milan, Italy, May 2014.
  • C.Y. Sander, J.M. Hooker, C. Catana, T. Witzel, D.B. Chonde, B.R. Rosen and J.B. Mandville. “Effects of dopamine D2 receptor agonist/antagonist challenges in simultaneous PET/fMRI,” 11th International Conference on Quantification of Brain Function with PET, International Symposium on Cerebral Blood Flow, Metabolism and Function, Shanghai, China, May 2013.
  • C.Y. Sander, J.M. Hooker, B.R. Rosen and J.B. Mandeville. “Evaluation of fMRI signal versus receptor occupancy using simultaneous PET/fMRI,” Proceedings of the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 21st Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, April 2013.
  • C.Y. Sander, A. Cramer, B. Keil, A. Mareyam, B.R. Rosen, and L.L. Wald. “Low 511keV-attenuation array coil setup for simultaneous PET/MR imaging of the monkey brain,” Proceedings of the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 21st Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA, April 2013.
  • M.D. Normandin, C.Y. Sander, C. Catana, J.M. Hooker, B.G. Jenkins, W. Vanduffel, G. El Fakhri, B.R. Rosen, N.M. Alpert, and J.B. Mandeville. “A kinetic model for mapping dopamine function with simultaneous PET/MR,” Functional Neuroreceptor Mapping of the Living Brain, 9th International Symposium, Baltimore, MD, August 2012.
  • C.Y. Sander, J.M. Hooker, C. Catana, M. Normandin, W. Vanduffel, B.R. Rosen, and J.B. Mandeville. “Coupling of neurovascular response and receptor occupancy with simultaneous PET/fMRI,” Functional Neuroreceptor Mapping of the Living Brain, 9th International Symposium, Baltimore, MD, August 2012.
  • H.D. Hansen, C. Sander, J. Mandeville, H.Y. Wey, W. Vanduffel, C. Catana, J. Hooker, B.R. Rosen, and G.M. Knudsen. “Simultaneous MR- and PET imaging in non-human primates under a serotonergic challenge,” Society of Nuclear Medicine, Annual Meeting, Miami, FL, June 2012.
  • J. Mandeville, C. Sander, B. Jenkins, B. Rosen, J. Hooker, C. Catana, W. Vanduffel, N. Alpert, and M. Normandin. “A model of dopamine-induced fMRI response informed by simultaneous PET/fMRI,” Proceedings of the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 20th Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Melbourne, May 2012.
  • C.Y. Sander, B. Keil, C. Catana, B.R. Rosen, and L.L. Wald. “Design criteria of an MR-PET array coil for highly parallel MR brain imaging,” Proceedings of the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 19th Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Montreal, May 2011.
  • B. Keil, C. Y. Sander, V. Tountcheva, J. McNab, K. Fujimoto, C. Triantafyllou, and L.L. Wald. “Lots of Loops: Constructing a Highly Parallel Brain Array Coil,” Proceedings of the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 19th Scientific Meeting & Exhibition, Montreal, May 2011.

Awards

2018
Early Career Investigator Travel Award, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
2017
NIH K99 Pathway to Independence Award (National Institute on Drug Abuse)
Grant title: Imaging dopamine receptor adaptations and signaling pathways with combined PET/fMRI
2016
CECI2 Early Career Investigator at the Academy of Radiology Research
Travel award to present at the Annual Medical Technology Showcase at Capitol Hill, Washington, D.C.
2015 - 2016
MGH ECOR Fund for Medical Discovery Postdoctoral Fellowship
2015
Finalist for the NIH Director’s Early Independence Award 2015 (DP5)
Women in Molecular Imaging Scholar Award at WMIC 2015, best scored abstract
Finalist for the Niels Lassen Award at BRAIN 2015: Outstanding scientific contribution by a scientist less than 35 old
ISMRM Junior Fellow for a young researcher of outstanding quality and promise
ISMRM Merit Award: magna cum laude (for abstract: “Classification of drug function in vivo”)
2014
ISMRM Merit Award: magna cum laude (for abstract: “Internalization of Dopamine Receptors”)
ISMRM Merit Award: summa cum laude (for abstract: “Invisible Dense-Array EEG Net”)
2013 - 2014
NIH Advanced Multimodal Neuroimaging Training Award: Tuition, stipend, travel, research support
2013
ISCBFM Young Investigator travel bursary: Brain 2013 (Travel stipend for conference presentation)
ISMRM Merit Award: summa cum laude (for abstract: “Evaluation of fMRI vs receptor occupancy”)
ISMRM Merit Award: summa cum laude (for abstract: “Low 511keV-attenuation array coil setup”)
2011 - 2013
MIT/CIMIT Medical Engineering Graduate Fellowship
2009 - 2011
ERP (European Recovery Program) Fellowship for PhD studies
Scholar in the German National Academic Foundation (Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes)
2009 - 2010
MIT Endowed Cronin Fellowship: Full fellowship for first year of graduate studies in the EECS department at MIT

Contact

Email: csander (at) mgh (dot) harvard (dot) edu

Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
149 Thirteenth Street, Suite 2301
Charlestown, MA 02129


Affiliations

Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School