Dr. Michael Aref

Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering

Quantitative biomedical imaging
Spectroscopic detection of physiological changes caused by molecular and cellular factors in cancer, cardiovascular, and functional imaging
Improved diagnostic tumor physiology parameter estimation obtained from dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by developing a general mass transport theory model for tumor contrast agent extravasation that incorporates contrast agent-water exchange effects and show its relation to multi-compartment models
Improved glioma staging by testing high-resolution physiological MRI, specifically contrast agent permeability, perfusion, diffusion, oxygenation, and metabolic activity as compared with histology, specifically angiogenesis, cellularity, capillary density, tumor growth factors, and metabolite expression. The goal is to detect microphysiological changes of glioma progression caused by molecular and histological changes that occur below the resolution of the magnetic resonance image.

Visiting Clinical Associate, Department of Internal Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, 2006 -
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, 2007 - present
Faculty Fellow, National Center for Supercomputing Applications, 2007 - 2008

Aref, M., Handbury, J.D., Ji J..X., Aref S., Weinger E.C., "Spatial and temporal resolution effects on hynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance mammography," Magn Reson Imaging, 2007 Jan; 25(1): 14-34.
Aref, M., Brechbiel, M., Wiener, E.C.," Identifying tumor vascular permeability heterogeneity with magnetic resonance imaging contract agents," Invest Radiol. 2002 Apr; 37(4):178-92.
Konda, S.D., Aref, M., Wang, S.J., Brechbiel, M., Wiener, E.C., "Specific targeting of folate-dendrimer MRI contrast agents to the high affinity folate receptor expressed in ovarian tumor xenografts, "MAGMA, 2001 May; 12(2-3):104-113.
Konda, S.D., Aref, M., Brechbiel, M., Wiener, E.C., "Development of a tumor targeting magnetic resonance contrast agent utilizing the high affinity folate receptor--work in progress," Invest Radiol. 2000 Jan; 35(1):50-7.

Xu, D., Wiener, E.C., Aref, M., Ying, L., Ji, J.X., Liang Z. P, " Integrating parallel imaging with generalized series for accelerated dynamic imaging," Proc. 27th Ann. Intl. Conf. IEEE Engr. in Med. and Biol. Soc. Shanghai, China, 2005. p. 1423.
Aref, M, Handbury, J.D., Ji, J.X., Bailey, K. L., Liang Z. P., Wiener, E. C. " Effect of reduced encoding kynamic data size on permeability-surface area estimation," Proc. ISMR 12th Annual Meeting. Kyoto, Japan. 2004. p. 2378.

Member, Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering Alumni Board, 2006 - present
Faculty Advisor, Goshin Jitsu: Combat Sports and Self-Defense, Registered Student Organization, Division of Campus Recreation Tier B Sports Club, 2007 - present