Profile photo Natalia Petridou

Natalia Petridou

Associate Professor

Strategic program(s):

Biography

My research is at the intersection of neuroimaging with emphasis on MRI, biomedical engineering, computational neuroscience, and fundamental neuroscience. The ultimate goals are to enable non-invasive quantitative MRI measurements that can be used to infer neuronal and vessel function in the human brain, and to further our understanding neurovascular coupling mechanisms in health and neurovascular pathologies. On the technical side, my research group develops innovative MRI methods at human ultra-high field (7 tesla) to enable measurements of neuro-vascular function at the level of detail that is fundamental for brain function (μm to few mm). On the neuroscience side, my group seeks to elucidate neurovascular coupling mechanisms in the human brain at the same level of detail. A large part of this research focuses on the development and validation of computational models that can enable quantitative assessment of neuro-vascular function from MRI measurements. This includes assessment of spatial (e.g. laminar) and temporal aspects of function of neuronal populations and of intracortical vessels (e.g. vascular reactivity, blood flow patterns). We build methods and fundamental knowledge by studying the healthy human brain, and apply these to neurovascular pathologies with a specific interest in dementia.

My training blends neuroimaging, MRI physics, biomedical engineering, computing, and neuroscience with a focus on neurovascular coupling and neurophysiology. My Master’s training was in biomedical engineering and MR spectroscopy, at the George Washington University, Washington DC USA, and the In Vivo NMR Research Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA. I pursued my doctoral research at the unit of functional imaging methods, NIMH, NIH USA, which exposed me to pioneers and experts in functional MRI and MRI, (neuro)physiological mechanisms underlying fMRI signals, as well as electrophysiology and properties of neuronal circuits.  I pursued my post-doctoral training as a Sir Peter Mansfield fellow (Nobel Prize for Medicine 2003) at the University of Nottingham UK, and have worked on advanced 7 tesla fMRI techniques since the early days of human 7 tesla MRI scanners. As a post-doc at the University Medical Center Utrecht, I was in the front-lines of cortical depth-resolved fMRI (laminar fMRI) development for the human brain, and I eventually started my own group zooming in on neurovascular coupling. Each of these informs the current research of my group, in which we take an integrated approach to understand the mechanisms of neurovascular coupling in health and disease, spanning advanced neuroimaging methods development, computational modelling, and the relationship between neuronal and vascular function in the human brain.

Recent publications

The contribution of the vascular architecture and cerebrovascular reactivity to the BOLD signal formation across cortical depth Emiel C A Roefs, Wouter Schellekens, Mario G Báez-Yáñez, Alex A Bhogal, Iris I A Groen, Matthias J P van Osch, Jeroen C W Siero, Natalia Petridou
Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.), 2024, vol. 2, p.1-19
On the influence of the vascular architecture on Gradient Echo and Spin Echo BOLD fMRI signals across cortical depth Mario Gilberto Báez-Yáñez, Jeroen C W Siero, Vanja Curcic, Matthias J P van Osch, Natalia Petridou
2024
Biophysical modeling Mario Gilberto Báez-Yáñez, Natalia Petridou
2024, p.119-157
A fully synthetic three-dimensional human cerebrovascular model based on histological characteristics to investigate the hemodynamic fingerprint of the layer BOLD fMRI signal formation Mario Gilberto Báez-Yáñez, Wouter Schellekens, Alex A Bhogal, Emiel C A Roefs, Matthias J P van Osch, Jeroen CW Siero, Natalia Petridou
2024, p.1-38
Microvascular Specificity of Spin Echo BOLD fMRI Tanya van Horen, J C W Siero, A A Bhogal, N Petridou, M G Báez-Yáñez
2023
A vision of 14 T MR for fundamental and clinical science Steve Bates, Serge O Dumoulin, Paul J M Folkers, Elia Formisano, Rainer Goebel, Aidin Haghnejad, Rick C Helmich, Dennis Klomp, Anja G van der Kolk, Yi Li, Aart Nederveen, David G Norris, Natalia Petridou, Stefan Roell, Tom W J Scheenen, Menno M Schoonheim, Ingmar Voogt, Andrew Webb
Magma - Magnetic Resonance Materials In Physics Biology And Medicine, 2023, vol. 36, p.211-225