As a physicist specializing in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), I am developing a non-invasive empirical method to diagnose Alzheimer's Disease and other nervous system disorders earlier in the progression of the disease.  I am also using MRI to follow the effectiveness of treatment regimes over the course of time.  (The image at right shows the sort of imaging the group does.)

Dr. Melanie Martin

Beta-Amyloid Plaques Visualized In Vivo Without the Use of Contrast Agents. An axial section from a 3D T2*-weighted image of a transgenic mouse is shown in Figure a. Plaques are shown with arrows. The histological section is shown in Figure b. Figures c and d show a magnified version of a portion of the MRI and histological section respectively. Figure e shows a magnified version of the raw, unsmoothed MRI showing the location of the two punctate hypointense areas seen in Figure c.