Duke chemistry Ph.D. Jake Lindale has been awarded the international Raymond Andrew prize for outstanding thesis in magnetic resonance.
In the clinic, magnetic resonance techniques are used to peer inside the body and monitor molecular changes associated with diseases such as cancer or Alzheimer’s, without using harmful radiation like X-rays and CT scans do.
There’s just one major limitation: the technique’s low signal-to-noise ratio means that molecules that are too few or fleeting can be hard to detect.
Lindale’s dissertation, supervised by Duke chemistry professor Warren Warren, re-examines and re-frames the theoretical underpinnings of new, low-cost “hyperpolarization” methods aimed at getting around this problem.
The prize was presented July 10, 2022, during the EUROMAR conference in Utrecht, Netherlands.
