Profile photo Alexander Leemans

Alexander Leemans

Associate Professor

Strategic program(s):

Biography

Alexander Leemans is a physicist who received his Ph.D. in 2006 at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. From 2007 to 2009, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Center (CUBRIC), Cardiff University, Wales, United Kingdom. In 2009, he joined the Image Sciences Institute (ISI), University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands, where he currently holds a tenured faculty position as Associate Professor. His current research interests include modeling, processing, visualizing and analyzing diffusion MRI data for investigating microstructural and architectural tissue organization. He heads the PROVIDI Lab and is the developer of ExploreDTI, which is a graphical toolbox for investigating diffusion MRI data.

Research line

Diffusion MRI

Most recent key publications

1: C. Lebel, L. Walker, A. Leemans, L. Phillips, C. Beaulieu, "Microstructural Maturation of the Human Brain from Childhood to Adulthood", NeuroImage, 2008, nr. 3, vol. 40, pp. 1044-1055
2: A. Leemans, D.K. Jones, "The B-matrix must be rotated when correcting for subject motion in DTI data", Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2009, nr. 1, vol. 62, pp. 1336-1349
3: J.D. Tournier, S. Mori, A. Leemans, "Diffusion tensor imaging and beyond", Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2011, nr. 6, vol. 65, pp. 1532-1556
4: B. Jeurissen, A. Leemans, J.D. Tournier, D.K. Jones, J. Sijbers, "Investigating the prevalence of complex fiber configurations in white matter tissue with diffusion MRI", Human Brain Mapping, 2013, nr. 11, vol. 34, pp. 2747-2766
5: S.B. Vos, D.K. Jones, M.A. Viergever, A. Leemans, "Partial volume effect as a hidden covariate in DTI analyses", NeuroImage, 2011, nr. 4, vol. 55, pp. 1566-1576

Research groups

Image sciences institute

Research aim

Our aim is to develop and evaluate medical image analysis and acquisition methods that help to answer research questions relevant to the strategic research programs, and that will benefit clinical imaging and image-guided interventions.

Go to group

Translational neuroimaging group

Research aim

To develop and apply advanced MRI methods for (pre)clinical research on neuronal and cerebrovascular biology in order to: 1) unravel critical aspects of brain impairment and recovery 2) advance brain treatments (focus: cerebrovascular diseases).

Go to group

Recent publications

Probabilistic tractography Gabriel Girard, Dogu Baran Aydogan, Flavio Dell’Acqua, Alexander Leemans, Maxime Descoteaux, Stamatios N. Sotiropoulos
2025, p.257-274
Single-shell diffusion models Flavio Dell’Acqua, Alexander Leemans, Matthew Dawson, Maxime Descoteaux
2025, p.177-200
Diffusion MRI acquisition for tractography Jennifer S.W. Campbell, Steven H. Baete, Julien Cohen-Adad, J. Donald Tournier, Filip Szczepankiewicz, Christian Beaulieu, Corey A. Baron, Merry Mani, Kawin Setsompop, Congyu Liao, Christine L. Tardif, Sjoerd B. Vos, Anastasia Yendiki, Ilana R. Leppert, Els Fieremans, Alberto De Luca, Alexander Leemans, G. Bruce Pike
2025, p.143-149
Tractography in pathological anatomy Guillaume Theaud, Manon Edde, Alexander Leemans, Flavio Dell’Acqua, Joseph Yuan Mou Yang, Maxime Descoteaux
2025, p.363-379
Preface Flavio Dell'Acqua, Maxime Descoteaux, Alexander Leemans
2025, p.xxi
Deterministic fiber tractography Alexander Leemans, Flavio Dell’Acqua, Maxime Descoteaux
2025, p.241-255

Fellowships & Awards

VIDI (NWO)

FC-EW (NWO)

USERN (UNESCO)

PhD fellowship (IWT)

Honorary Doctorate (Chubut)

Honorary Doctorate (Kharkiv)

Young Investigator Award (BHPA)

Outstanding Teacher Award (ISMRM)