Diffusion Weighted Imaging

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the diffusion process of water molecules in biological tissue can be observed. Since the diffusional motion is restricted by barriers such as cell membranes, the measured diffusion coefficients are indirectly related to the cellular structure. Therefore, diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) is extensively used to gain insights into the structure of biological tissues, especially in the area of tumor and stroke diagnosis or to reconstruct white matter tracts in the human brain.

The DWI research group is concerned with the development of new diffusion-based imaging contrasts to improve insight into cellular structure for enhanced lesion detection and classification.