Thomas Beck Lindhardt
"Awake mouse diffusion MRI: hardware design, protocol optimization and application"

About the PhD

Researcher from the Preclinical MRI lab at CFIN, Thomas Beck Lindhardt will be defending his PhD dissertation entitled: "Awake mouse diffusion MRI: hardware design, protocol optimization and applications".

During his PhD studies, Thomas Beck Lindhardt investigated the effects of general anesthesia on mouse brain water diffusivity and brain microstructure.

Recent studies have suggested that brain fluid transport and waste clearance are greatly enhanced during sleep and anesthesia, an effect mediated by dilation of the extracellular space. Thus, sleep-dependent waste clearance may explain why brain health is so closely linked to sleep. This hypothesis is compelling and calls for closer scrutiny of how such a mechanism would influence and coexist with other fine-tuned physiological mechanisms in the brain.

By using advanced non-invasive diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) methods sensitive to brain water mobility and compartmentalization, Thomas Beck Lindhardt studied how dMRI indices of brain microstructure differ in the awake and anesthetized mouse brain. For this, original MRI methods for acquisition of imaging data in fully conscious mice were developed.

This work contribute to the investigation of how brain waste clearance is dependent on the brain arousal state and demonstrates that this biological phenomenon can be studied by using whole-brain advanced dMRI techniques – techniques which are also feasible in a clinical population.

The project was carried out by Thomas Beck Lindhardt, who is defending his dissertation on 21/08/2023.

It is also possible to follow the PhD defense online via Zoom at:
​https://aarhusuniversity.zoom.us/j/4527955131

ALL ARE WELCOME.

After the defense CFIN will host a small reception in front of the auditorium.

Assessment committee:

• Professor Craig Ferris, Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, USA
• Professor Maiken Nedergaard, Center for Translational Neuromedicine, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Associate Professor Helle H. Damkier, Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Denmark (chariman and moderator of the defense).

Contact

For more information, please contact PhD student Thomas Beck Lindhardt
Email: tblindhardt@cfin.au.dk
Phone +45 31421301.