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SUMMARY:Looking into the Lungs: Quantify Pulmonary Structure and Gas Transp
 ort in vivo with NMR and MRI
LOCATION:Chemistry A101
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20180101T000000
UID:2026-05-06-18-51-59@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260506T185159
Description:About the Seminar:\n\nPulmonary diseases (e.g.\, emphysema and 
 fibrosis) are leading causes of mortality worldwide\, and the incidence th
 ese disorders is thought to be rising. While strides have been made in elu
 cidating the molecular events underlying lung disease\, the pathological c
 hanges in respiratory physiology responsible for disease progression remai
 n poorly characterized. This poor understanding can be attributed to the c
 omplex fractal structure of the lungs and complicated dynamics of pulmonar
 y gas transport. However\, at its most basic level proper pulmonary functi
 on involves carefully matching fluid flow (gas via ventilation and blood v
 ia perfusion) to facilitate mass transport by diffusion and ultimately the
  reaction of metabolic gases (CO2 and O2) with hemoglobin. As such\, the v
 arious aspects of lung function and lung dysfunction are intrinsically qua
 ntifiable\, provided appropriate\, non-invasive tools can be developed. To
  this end\, research in the Cleveland lab focuses on developing techniques
  to assess lung structure and gas transport in animal models and human sub
 jects using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and MR imaging (
 MRI).\nThe structural imaging tools being developed are based on ultra-sho
 rt echo-time (UTE) MRI\, which allows MR signal to be encoded in microseco
 nds (i.e.\, much faster than the intrinsically short T2* relaxation time o
 f 0.8 ms in lung tissue). To assess gas transport processes\, we use an at
 omic physics technique called alkali metal vapor spin exchange optical pum
 ping to generate highly non-equilibrium nuclear magnetization in a noble g
 as—typically the nuclear spin I = ½ isotope 129Xe. The MR signal of the
 se “hyperpolarized” gases yield MR signal that is enhanced ~10\,000-fo
 ld over that of gases with equilibrium nuclear polarization. With this enh
 anced signal\, we are able to directly visualize and quantify regional ven
 tilation within the lungs. Using diffusion encoding MRI sequences (akin to
  the pulsed-field gradient techniques used in conventional NMR)\, it is po
 ssible to measure restricted diffusion within the lungs. The restriction a
 llows us to directly quantity the dimensions of the pulmonary microstructu
 re\, and thus measure alveolar growth during normal development and assess
  early emphysematous alveolar destruction. Additionally\, 129Xe is moderat
 ely soluble in tissues (Oswald solubility ~10%) and possesses and enormous
  chemical shift range of &gt\;200 ppm in vivo\, allowing regional gas exch
 ange to be measured regionally used spectral resolved imaging. Together\, 
 these techniques will provide a comprehensive set of tools to assess of ph
 ysiology in animal models of lung disease and in human patients ranging in
  from neonates to the elderly.\n\nAbout the Speaker:\n\nZack Cleveland is 
 an Assistant Professor in the Division of Pulmonary Medicine and the Depar
 tment of Radiology at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and 
 in the Departments of Pediatrics and Biomedical Engineering at the Univers
 ity of Cincinnati. He received his B.S. in chemistry from The University o
 f Montana and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Colorado State Universi
 ty in 2008\, working with Prof. Thomas Meersmann in the area of NMR and hy
 perpolarization. He then accepted a postdoctoral fellowship in the Departm
 ent of Radiology at Duke University Medical Center\, working with Professo
 r Bastiaan Driehuys where he developed preclinical lung MRI techniques and
  helped conduct a Phase I Clinical Trial for hyperpolarized 129Xe MRI. Aft
 er receiving a NIH K99/R00 “Pathway to Independence” Award from the NI
 H\, he was promoted to Research Scientist at Duke. In 2014\, he recruited 
 to help build the newly formed Center for Pulmonary Imaging Research (CPIR
 ) at CCHMC. In 2017 he and other members of the CPIR were received the “
 Team Research Award” from the Cincinnati Children’s Research Foundatio
 n\, and in 2018 he received the “Rising Star of Research Award” from t
 he American Thoracic Society. He currently receives funding from the Cinci
 nnati Children’s Research Foundation\, the NIH (R00\, R01 and R44 mechan
 isms)\, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. 4:00 pm
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