Matthew C. Murphy, Ph.D.

Location

Contact

SUMMARY

Matthew C. Murphy, Ph.D., researches the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to study structure and function of the brain, with particular emphasis on the modalities of magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) and functional MRI (fMRI). In the area of MRE, his work has related to neurosurgical applications as well as technology development and its application in the brain to study neurodegenerative disease. With respect to fMRI, he investigates the relationship of noninvasive mapping techniques to underlying neural activity.

Focus areas

• Mechanical biomarkers of neurological disease. Dr. Murphy develops MRE technology to detect disease-related alterations in the mechanical properties of the brain and evaluates the clinical utility of these biomarkers.
• Machine learning for image processing. Dr. Murphy trains artificial neural networks to perform advanced analysis of MRI data.
• Functional neuroimaging. fMRI is among the most valuable tools available for noninvasive detection of human neural activity. However, fMRI techniques offer only indirect measures of that activity. Dr. Murphy investigates different contrast mechanisms for performing fMRI experiments and how these signals relate to the true underlying activity.

Significance to patient care

The overall goal of Dr. Murphy's research is to develop advanced imaging technology that helps in the accurate diagnosis of neurological diseases, prediction of clinical outcomes and treatment planning.