Contact Information

UCLA Department of Radiological Sciences
Room 163, Brain Mapping Center
Los Angeles, CA 90095-7085
On-campus mail: 708522
Tel: (310) 206-3344
Fax: (310) 794-7406
E-mail: jralger@ucla.edu

Biosketch

Dr. Alger's research focuses on the development of novel in vivo imaging techniques that use Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) for study of the brain and the nervous system. Current areas of development include proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging and diffusion tensor imaging. Dr. Alger uses these advanced MRI techniques to enhance the understanding of nervous system physiology and function in a variety of normal and disease conditions. The majority of Dr. Alger's studies during the past decade have involved human subjects. However he is currently establishing the first laboratory on the UCLA campus that will be capable of performing equivalent MRI and MRS studies in small laboratory animals.

Dr. Alger has been performing research involving in vivo MRI and/or MRS since 1979. He has more than 80 peer-reviewed publications. Financial support for his research has been provided by the National Institutes of Health, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society.

Selected References

Levitt JG, O'Neill J, Blanton RE, Smalley S, Fadale D, McCracken JT, Guthrie D, Toga AW, Alger JR. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging of the brain in childhood autism. Biological Psychiatry 54; 1355-66 (2003).

Kidwell CS, Saver JL, Starkman S, Duckwiler G, Jahan R, Vespa P, Villablanca JP, Liebeskind DS, Gobin YP, Vinuela F, Alger JR. Late secondary ischemic injury in patients receiving intraarterial thrombolysis. Annals of Neurology 52: 698-703 (2002)

Alger JR, Frew, AJ, Cloughesy TF, del Vecchio W, Villablanca JP, Curran JG. Novel Methodology for Archival and Interactive Reading of Clinical Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 48:411-418 (2002)

Gupta RK, Cloughesy TF , Sinha U, Garakian J, Lazareff J, Rubino G, Rubino L, Becker DP, Vinters HV, Alger JR. Glioma MRS, Diffusion MRI and Histology: Choline and ADC Correlate with Cell Density. Journal of Neuro-oncology 50: 215-226 (2000)