Fraunhofer Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions – AICOSEvery year, the Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica (ITQB/UNL), in collaboration with BRUKER and Dias de Sousa, promote the “Prémio António Xavier”, an award intended to distinguish the best PhD Thesis published during the previous school year.
In the 2014 edition, the prize was awarded to the PhD Thesis developed by Inês Sousa, senior researcher at Fraunhofer Portugal.
The distinguished research is entitled “Development of quantitative methods for functional magnetic resonance imaging” and was presented publicly in September 2013. With this Thesis, Inês Sousa passed with merit for the degree of PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Technical University of Lisbon.
The research work aimed to develop techniques for Quantitative functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) based on Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) and Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL)) to obtain more robust measurements that reflect physiological or pathological brain processes over time. The main results were published in two articles: Sousa et al. Reproducibility of the quantification of arterial and tissue contributions in multiple postlabeling delay arterial spin labeling, Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 2013 (DOI: 10.1002/jmri.24493) and Sousa et al. Reproducibility of hypocapnic cerebrovascular reactivity measurements using BOLD fMRI in combination with a paced deep breathing task, NeuroImage, 2014 (DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.04.049).
The work contributed significantly to the scientific advances in the area of Quantitative functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) through non-invasive robust and reproducible protocols for measurement of cerebral perfusion using ASL and development of cerebrovascular reactivity using ASL and BOLD.
The “Prémio António Xavier 2014” distinguishes the best PhD Thesis published in 2013, reporting research work conducted in Portugal, in the area of NMR, EPR or MRI. The prize was instituted by BRUKER to acknowledge the tireless commitment of Professor António Xavier to Portuguese scientific development.