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Home > People > Academic Staff > Richard B Thompson

Profile of Richard B Thompson, PhD

Assistant Professor

1082 Research Transition Facility
University of Alberta
Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2V2

Tel: 780.492.8665
Fax: 780.492.8259

Education

• Fellow, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, 2000-2003
• PhD Medical Sciences, University of Alberta, 1999
• BSc Engineering Physics, University of Alberta, 1993

Research

My research program at the University of Alberta focuses on the development of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for the clinical evaluation of cardiovascular disease. The appeal of MRI for the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease lies in:

1. its excellent intrinsic soft tissue contrast
2. the ability to acquire images non-invasively in three dimensions with arbitrary image orientations
3. the ability to collect these images with resolution of motion across the cardiac cycle

For example, the sample cardiac MR images below illustrate excellent contrast between the blood and tissue in the heart to provide clear visualization of anatomy and mechanical function across the complete cardiac cycle.

Research areas of particular interest in my lab:

1. blood velocity imaging using phase-contrast (PC)-MRI (volumes, pressure gradients, visualization of complex flow patterns)
2. cardiac motion monitoring and correction for imaging during free-breathing (i.e. elimination of breath-holding)
3. self-gating MRI – cardiac gating without an ECG signal using the MRI data
4. combined MRI and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for modelling flow effects/patterns in congenital heart defects and surgical interventions
5. muscle perfusion using contrast-enhanced MRI
6. fast imaging of relaxation parameters (T1, T2, T2*) of the myocardium and blood

Cardiovascular Research & Education at the University of Alberta

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in Canada and the United States which is reflected in the clinical and research environment at the University of Alberta. The Alberta Heart Institute (AHI), which is slated to open in 2007, will expand the University of Alberta Hospital's cardiac surgery and heart transplant program, cardiology services, diagnostic testing (including a new cardiac catheterization lab), research and education. Separate from the Alberta Heart Institute is the Alberta Cardiovascular & Stroke Research Centre (ABACUS), a translational research centre. The mission of this multidisciplinary faculty is to perform research aimed at the prevention, detection, and cure of cardiovascular diseases (CVD), including stroke. ABACUS is a “research hospital within a hospital” that will enable researchers to quickly apply breakthrough therapies and revolutionary biomedical devices to patients participating in studies or clinical trials. The ABACUS Centre is adjoining the department of Biomedical Engineering MRI Research Centre, which houses three MRI scanners, all 100% dedicated to research. Cardiovascular research at the University of Alberta will involve collaborations between basic scientists and clinicians from all three Centres, with research topics ranging from the molecular level to clinical trials and population studies.

Selected Awards

• National Institutes of Health Fellows Award for Research Excellence, 2002
• AHFMR Scholar, 2006-2011
• NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship, 2000
• AHFMR Postgraduate Scholarship, 1994-1999
• NSERC Postgraduate Scholarship, 1993-1995
• APEGGA Gold Medal in Engineering Physics, 1993
• Deans Research Award, 1993

Selected Publications

• Thompson RB , Vermeulen FE, Chute FE. Use of a Stealth Boundary with Finite Difference Frequency Domain Simulations of Simple Antenna Problems . Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society Journal . 9: 78-87 (1994).
• Allen PS, Thompson RB and Willman AH. Metabolite-specific NMR spectroscopy in vivo. NMR in Biomed. 10: 435-444 (1997).
• Thompson RB and Allen PS. A New Multiple Quantum Filter Design Procedure for Use on Strongly Coupled Spin Systems Found In-Vivo : Its Application to Glutamate, Magn. Reson. Med. , 39:762-771 (1998).
• Thompson RB and Allen PS. The Role of the N-Acetyl-Aspartate Multiplet in the Quantification of Brain Metabolites, Bioch. and Cell Biol., 76:497-502 (1998).
• Thompson RB and Allen PS. Sources of Variability in the Response of Coupled Spins to the PRESS sequence and their Potential Impact on Metabolite Quantification , Magn. Reson. Med., 41 , 1162-9 (1999).
• Riauka TA, DeZanche NF, Thompson RB , Vermeulen FE, Capjack CE and Allen, PS. R.F. Coils Fabricated on Fourth Order Surfaces, Magn. Reson. Med. 41 , 1180-1188 (1999).
• Hanstock CC, Thompson RB , Trump ME, Gheorghiu D, Hochachka PW, and Allen PS. The Residual Dipolar Coupling of the Cr/PCr Methyl Resonance in Resting Human Medial Gastrocnemius Muscle, Magn. Reson. Med. 42 , 421-4 (1999).
• Allen PS and Thompson RB. On the Localized Quantification of Metabolites with Coupled Spins, MAGMA , 9 , 159-63 (1999).
• Thompson RB and Allen PS. The Response of Metabolites with Coupled Spins to the STEAM Sequence , Magn. Reson. Med. 45 , 955 - 65 (2001).
• Thompson RB and McVeigh ER. High Temporal Resolution Phase Contrast MRI with Multiple Echo Acquisitions, Magn. Reson. Med. 47 , 499-512 (2002).
• Lederman RJ, Guttman MA, Peters DC, Thompson RB , Sorger JM, Dick AJ, Raman VK, McVeigh ER. Catheter-Based Endomyocardial Injection with Real-Time Magnetic Resonance Imaging.Circulation . 105 , 1282-4 (2002).
• Thompson RB and McVeigh ER. Fast Measurement of Intra-Cardiac Pressure Differences with 2D Breath-Hold Phase-Contrast MRI, Magn. Reson. Med. 49 , 1056 - 66 (2003).
• Hill JM, Dick AJ, Raman VK, Thompson RB , Yu ZX, Dunbar CE, McVeigh ER and Lederman RJ. Serial In-Vivo Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Mesenchymal Stem Cells using Intracellular Iron-Fluorophore Labeling, Circulation. 108 , 1009-14 (2003).
• Thompson RB and McVeigh ER. Real-Time Volumetric Flow Measurements with Complex-Difference MRI, Magn. Reson. Med. 50 , 1248 - 55 (2003).
• Thompson RB and McVeigh ER. Flow-Gated Phase Contrast MRI Using Radial Acquisitions, Magn Reson Med . 52 :598-604 (2004).
• Dick AJ, Raman VK, Raval AN, Guttman MA, Thompson RB, Ozturk C, Peters DC, Stine AM, Wright VJ, Schenke WH and Lederman RJ. Invasive human magnetic resonance imaging: Feasibility during revascularization in a combined XMR suite. Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions 64, 265-274 (2005).
• Kim H, Thompson RB, Hanstock CC and Allen PS. Variability of metabolite yield using STEAM or PRESS sequences in vivo at 3.0 T, illustrated with myo-inositol. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 53, 760-769 (2005).
• Raman VK, Karmarkar PV, Guttman MA, Dick AJ, Peters DC, Ozturk C, Pessanha BSS, Thompson RB, Raval AN, DeSilva R, Aviles RJ, Atalar E, McVeigh ER and Lederman RJ. Real-time magnetic endovascular repair resonance-guided of experimental abdominal aortic aneurysm in swine. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 45, 2069-2077 (2005).
• Raval AN, Telep JD, Guttman MA, Ozturk C, Jones M, Thompson RB, Wright VJ, Schenke WH, DeSilva R, Aviles RJ, Raman VK, Slack MC and Lederman RJ. Real-time magnetic resonance imaging-guided stenting of aortic coarctation with commercially available catheter devices in swine. Circulation 112, 699-706 (2005).
• Nezafat R, Thompson RB, Derbyshire JA and McVeigh ER.  Partial field of view spiral phase contrast imaging using complex difference processing. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 56, 676-80 (2006).
• Thompson RB and McVeigh ER. Cardio-Respiratory Resolved Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Measuring Respiratory Modulation of Cardiac Function. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 56, 1301-10 (2006).
• Solis LR, Hallihan D, Uwiera RE, Thompson RB, Pehowich ED and Mushahwar VK. Prevention of Pressure-induced Deep Tissue Injury using Intermittent Electrical Stimulation. J Appl Physiol (2007) [Epub Ahead of Print].
• Bonnet S, Archer SL, Allalunis-Turner J, Haromy A, Beaulieu C, Thompson R, Lee CT, Lopaschuk GD, Puttagunta L, Bonnet S, Harry G, Hashimoto K, Porter CJ, Andrade MA, Thebaud B and Michelakis ED. A mitochondria-K+ channel axis is suppressed in cancer and its normalization promotes apoptosis and inhibits cancer growth. Cancer Cell 11, 37-51 (2007).