Risto Kauppinen

I am an imaging scientist primarily interested in biophysical basis for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals in living systems. NMR- based (or for brevity MR) imaging techniques, i.e. MR imaging (MRI) and MR spectroscopy (MRS), have become an inseparable part of the tool kit for basic and clinical neurosciences. The fact, that MR techniques provide nearly an unlimited number of tissue parameters to be revealed for quantification from the CNS, has driven their ever increasing applications in neurosciences. I have taken a technique driven approach to examine the brain. We have developed functional MRI (fMRI) techniques based on blood volume changes and at the same time used these techniques, together with BOLD fMRI, to understand physiological mechanisms behind neurovascular coupling. Second line of research has been directed towards ‘imaging biomarker search’ for brain diseases, including tumours, dementia and ischemic stroke. To these ends, we use both quantitative MRI and MRS to probe tissue biophysical and metabolic caharteristcs to assign imaging biomarkers for disease diagnosis, prognosis and treatment monitoring. Imaging biomarkers are expected to transform patient management by reducing need for invasive involvements and making individualised therapies feasible.