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

Diffusion MRI tractography with along-tract profiling reveals subtle neurodevelopmental differences between moderate and late preterm infants Anouk S Verschuur, Chantal MW Tax, Ingrid M Nijholt, Gerda van Wezel-Meijler, Leonora Hendson, Hussein Zein, Jeanne Scotland, Regan King, Khorshid Mohammad, Martijn F Boomsma, Alexander Leemans, Lara M Leijser
European Journal of Radiology, 2025, vol. 187
Considerations and recommendations from the ISMRM diffusion study group for preclinical diffusion MRI Kurt G Schilling, Francesco Grussu, Andrada Ianus, Brian Hansen, Amy F D Howard, Rachel L C Barrett, Manisha Aggarwal, Stijn Michielse, Fatima Nasrallah, Warda Syeda, Nian Wang, Jelle Veraart, Alard Roebroeck, Andrew F Bagdasarian, Cornelius Eichner, Farshid Sepehrband, Jan Zimmermann, Lucas Soustelle, Christien Bowman, Benjamin C Tendler, Andreea Hertanu, Ben Jeurissen, Marleen Verhoye, Lucio Frydman, Yohan van de Looij, David Hike, Jeff F Dunn, Karla Miller, Bennett A Landman, Noam Shemesh, Adam Anderson, Emilie McKinnon, Shawna Farquharson, Flavio Dell'Acqua, Carlo Pierpaoli, Ivana Drobnjak, Alexander Leemans, Kevin D Harkins, Maxime Descoteaux, Duan Xu, Hao Huang, Mathieu D Santin, Samuel C Grant, Andre Obenaus, Gene S Kim, Dan Wu, Denis Le Bihan, Stephen J Blackband, Luisa Ciobanu, Els Fieremans, Ruiliang Bai, Trygve B Leergaard, Jiangyang Zhang, Tim B Dyrby, G Allan Johnson, Julien Cohen-Adad, Matthew D Budde, Ileana O Jelescu
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2025, vol. 93, p.2535-2560
Considerations and recommendations from the ISMRM diffusion study group for preclinical diffusion MRI Ileana O Jelescu, Francesco Grussu, Andrada Ianus, Brian Hansen, Rachel L C Barrett, Manisha Aggarwal, Stijn Michielse, Fatima Nasrallah, Warda Syeda, Nian Wang, Jelle Veraart, Alard Roebroeck, Andrew F Bagdasarian, Cornelius Eichner, Farshid Sepehrband, Jan Zimmermann, Lucas Soustelle, Christien Bowman, Benjamin C Tendler, Andreea Hertanu, Ben Jeurissen, Marleen Verhoye, Lucio Frydman, Yohan van de Looij, David Hike, Jeff F Dunn, Karla Miller, Bennett A Landman, Noam Shemesh, Adam Anderson, Emilie McKinnon, Shawna Farquharson, Flavio Dell'Acqua, Carlo Pierpaoli, Ivana Drobnjak, Alexander Leemans, Kevin D Harkins, Maxime Descoteaux, Duan Xu, Hao Huang, Mathieu D Santin, Samuel C Grant, Andre Obenaus, Gene S Kim, Dan Wu, Denis Le Bihan, Stephen J Blackband, Luisa Ciobanu, Els Fieremans, Ruiliang Bai, Trygve B Leergaard, Jiangyang Zhang, Tim B Dyrby, G Allan Johnson, Julien Cohen-Adad, Matthew D Budde, Kurt G Schilling
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2025, vol. 93, p.2507-2534
Methods and statistics for diffusion MRI tractometry Maxime Chamberland, Samuel St-Jean, Derek K. Jones, Maxime Descoteaux, Alexander Leemans
2025, p.439-450
Current challenges and opportunities for tractography Francois Rheault, Philippe Poulin, Alex Valcourt Caron, Etienne St-Onge, Kurt G. Schilling, Laurent Petit, Flavio Dell’Acqua, Alexander Leemans, Maxime Descoteaux
2025, p.565-580
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)