Hi everyone!

If you don't already know me, I'm Tyler Williams and I'm a junior studying biomedical and mechanical engineering at Penn State. This past summer I was given the amazing opportunity to start a project in Penn State's Biomechanics and Imaging research lab.  The main goal of this project is to develop a new, noninvasive technique for diagnosing and analyzing the decay of spinal discs in the form of sodium MRI.  This can potentially be used to detect disc degeneration earlier than with normal hydrogen MRI. I submitted an abstract to the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) explaining how we utilized MRI and showcasing some of our results (see images below). My abstract was accepted so I'm expected to present my research at the ISMRM conference in Paris this summer! It is a week long conference full of various classes, presentations, and world class researchers. Going to this conference would be an incredible experience and invaluable to both my education and my project. However, it is a very expensive trip and without your help I may not be able to go! Please consider donating to my Paris trip fund and thank you all for your support over the years! 

Thanks again,

Tyler



The image above was taken using the MRI coil system I built for this project. It shows a cross-sectional slice of a rat tail. The spinal disc can be seen in the center.