Alberto De Luca

Alberto De Luca is an assistant professor at the Image Sciences Institute (ISI), Division Imaging & Oncology. Alberto studied at the University of Padova, Italy, where he received a BSc in Biomedical Engineering (2011), an MSc in Bioengineering (2013) and a Ph.D. degree (2017) defending a thesis entitled "Beyond DTI: non-Gaussian diffusion in the brain and skeletal muscle".

Alberto's research focuses on diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods, and their translation to clinical research, especially in the context of neurological diseases such as small vessel disease (in close collaboration with the Neurology Department - VCI Group), and cancer. Current key research interests are:

• Methods to quantify fiber specific properties in grey and white matter and accurately study brain connectivity;
• Harmonization of diffusion MRI data to enable large multi-center studies;
• Robust quantification of physiological properties (such as perfusion and free water) with inverse methods;
• Prediction of response to treatment in rare pediatric tumours (in collaboration with the Prinses Maxima Centrum, Utrecht) and in brain tumours;
• Prediction of clinical outcomes (such as cognitive decline) in patients at risk of (vascular) dementia machine learning;

Alberto has previously received funding from the Italian Ministry of Health, the Kika Foundation and Hanarth Fonds, and has received the "Seal of Excellence" from the European Commission.