Binu Thomas, PhD

JAD profile

Affiliation(s): 

The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Areas of Interest: 

cerebral blood blow, cerebrovascular rectivity, MRI, Aging and Cognition; Alzheimer's; Exercise; Randomized Controlled Trials;

Biography & Research: 

I am an Assistant Professor at the Advanced Imaging Research Center at UT Southwestern Medical Center and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. My expertise includes studying brain function in young healthy human volunteers and in disease populations, using functional MRI, perfusion MRI, and cerebrovascular reactivity measurement techniques. I have performed technical developments to better understand the human brain's Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent (BOLD) MRI response to physiological challenges, such as inhalation of hypercapnia and hyperoxia gases. My work in young healthy volunteers has helped better appreciate the temporal and amplitude characteristics of the BOLD response from all regions in the brain. This work has provided insights into human cerebrovascular function especially in the ventricles and the white matter, which are less often studied due to technical challenges. I have evaluated the effects of aging, long term exercise, and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) on brain function and assessed the benefits of performing 12 months of aerobic exercise on brain function in MCI. My research interest is to understand the mechanism of BOLD signal changes in response to inhalation of CO2 and hyperoxia gases and measurement of cerebral blood flow and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO2) consumption in young, healthy elderly and in participants with MCI.