My research portfolio combines theoretical work on statistical shape characterization using a symmetry-based representation of shape with applied and translational research in multiple areas of biomedical image analysis. I am particularly interested in analysis techniques that are tailored to specific anatomical structures. My key work in this area involves automatic segmentation and morphometry of the hippocampal formation (HF) in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The HF plays a central role in memory function and is a site of early neurodegeneration in Alzheimer’s disease. In a broad effort to develop more detailed imaging-based biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease, my team has developed a first of its kind detailed computational atlas of the HF from postmortem MRI microscopy. With NIH R01 funding, we are now integrating this atlas with histology, leveraging it for the analysis of the HF and its subfields in in vivo MRI, and evaluating MRI-derived subfield-specific as alternative imaging biomarkers in dementia. We recently published a pioneering technique for automatic segmentation of HF subfields in high-resolution, HF-focused T2-weighted in vivo MRI, showing excellent agreement with manual segmentation. Concurrently, we developed and evaluated a strategy for improving the accuracy of general-purpose segmentation techniques using machine learning as a corrective wrapper method. Other recent publications include a surface-based tract-specific strategy for diffusion MRI analysis, for which open-source software is currently being developed, and an automatic cardiac MRI segmentation method with an explicit prior on heart wall thickness.
Selected Publications
Lyu X, Duong MT, Xie L, de Flores R, Richardson H, Hwang G, Wisse LEM, DiCalogero M, McMillan CT, Robinson JL, Xie SX, Grossman M, Lee EB, Irwin DJ, Dickerson BC, Davatzikos C, Nasrallah IM, Yushkevich PA, Wolk DA, Das SR; Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.: Tau-Neurodegeneration mismatch reveals vulnerability and resilience to comorbidities in Alzheimer's continuum. medRxiv Feb 2023.
Hrybouski S, Das SR, Xie L, Wisse LEM, Kelley M, Lane J, Sherin M, DiCalogero M, Nasrallah I, Detre JA, Yushkevich PA, Wolk DA.: Aging and Alzheimer's Disease Have Dissociable Effects on Medial Temporal Lobe Connectivity. medRxiv Jan 2023.
Xie L, Wisse LEM, Wang J, Ravikumar S, Khandelwal P, Glenn T, Luther A, Lim S, Wolk DA, Yushkevich PA.: Deep label fusion: A generalizable hybrid multi-atlas and deep convolutional neural network for medical image segmentation. Med Image Anal 2023.
Sadaghiani S, Trotman W, Lim SA, Chung E, Ittyerah R, Ravikumar S, Khandelwal P, Prabhakaran K, Lavery ML, Ohm DT, Gabrielyan M, Das SR, Schuck T, Capp N, Peterson CS, Migdal E, Artacho-Pérula E, Jiménez MDMA, Rabal MDPM, Sánchez SC, Prieto CR, Parada MC, Insausti R, Robinson JL, McMillan C, Grossman M, Lee EB, Detre JA, Xie SX, Trojanowski JQ, Tisdall MD, Wisse LEM, Irwin DJ, Wolk DA, Yushkevich PA.: Associations of phosphorylated tau pathology with whole-hemisphere ex vivo morphometry in 7 tesla MRI. Alzheimers Dement Dec 2022.
Perez SD, Phillips JS, Norise C, Kinney NG, Vaddi P, Halpin A, Rascovsky K, Irwin DJ, McMillan CT, Xie L, Wisse LEM, Yushkevich PA, Kallogjeri D, Grossman M, Cousins KAQ.: Neuropsychological and Neuroanatomical Features of Patients with Behavioral/Dysexecutive Variant Alzheimer's disease (AD): A Comparison to Behavioral Variant Frontotemporal Dementia and Amnestic AD Groups. J Alzheimers Dis Aug 2022.
Arezoumandan S, Xie SX, Cousins KAQ, Mechanic-Hamilton DJ, Peterson CS, Huang CY, Ohm DT, Ittyerah R, McMillan CT, Wolk DA, Yushkevich P, Trojanowski JQ, Lee EB, Grossman M, Phillips JS, Irwin DJ.: Regional distribution and maturation of tau pathology among phenotypic variants of Alzheimer's disease. Acta Neuropathol Jul 2022.
Tu D, Goyal MS, Dworkin JD, Kampondeni S, Vidal L, Biondo-Savin E, Juvvadi S, Raghavan P, Nicholas J, Chetcuti K, Clark K, Robert-Fitzgerald T, Satterthwaite TD, Yushkevich P, Davatzikos C, Erus G, Tustison NJ, Postels DG, Taylor TE, Small DS, Shinohara RT.: Automated analysis of low-field brain MRI in cerebral malaria. Biometrics Jun 2022.
de Flores R, Das SR, Xie L, Wisse LEM, Lyu X, Shah P, Yushkevich PA, Wolk DA.: Medial Temporal Lobe Networks in Alzheimer's Disease: Structural and Molecular Vulnerabilities. J Neurosci 42: 2131-2141, Mar 2022.
Duong MT, Das SR, Lyu X, Xie L, Richardson H, Xie SX, Yushkevich PA; Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), Wolk DA, Nasrallah IM.: Dissociation of tau pathology and neuronal hypometabolism within the ATN framework of Alzheimer's disease. Nat Commun 13: 1495, Mar 2022.
Tisdall MD, Ohm DT, Lobrovich R, Das SR, Mizsei G, Prabhakaran K, Ittyerah R, Lim S, McMillan CT, Wolk DA, Gee J, Trojanowski JQ, Lee EB, Detre JA, Yushkevich P, Grossman M, Irwin DJ.: Ex vivo MRI and histopathology detect novel iron-rich cortical inflammation in frontotemporal lobar degeneration with tau versus TDP-43 pathology. Neuroimage Clin 2022.
back to top
Last updated: 03/03/2023
The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania
