Daniel Vigneron, PhD

Overview
Daniel B. Vigneron, PhD, is a Professor in the Departments of Radiology & Biomedical Imaging, Bioengineering & Therapeutic Sciences and Neurological Surgery at the University of California, San Francisco. He is also Director of the UCSF Research Resource Program’s (RRP) Human Imaging Core Services recharge and the P41 NIH/NIBIB Hyperpolarized MRI Technology Resource Center. He is also the Operations Director of the Surbeck Laboratory for Advanced Imaging, Chair of the Radiology Research Safety & Compliance Committee, and a core member of the UCB/UCSF Graduate Group in Bioengineering at UCSF. Dr. Vigneron’s professional activities focus on the advancement of biomedical MRI research.

Dr. Vigneron’s research focuses on the development of advanced functional and metabolic Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques for both basic research and clinical assessments of human diseases. This requires the development of new hardware/software and MR protocols to provide biochemical and functional information in addition to the anatomic information provided by clinical MRI. This research has been reported in over 350 total publications resulting in over 43,000 citations with an h-index of 112 and an i10-index of 360 (Google Scholar) and has been funded by 27 NIH grants, including as PI: 3 P41 center grant awards, 2 P01, 2 U01, 18 R01 and 2 S10 shared equipment awards. Also 7 NIH mentored career awards as the Primary Mentor have been funded.

Dr. Vigneron’s research was initially focused on developing 3D MR spectroscopic imaging for the non-invasive assessment of brain tumor metabolism. Another major research interest of Dr. Vigneron’s is the characterization of prostate cancer using novel MR metabolic imaging techniques. Developing specialized acquisitions techniques for prostate cancer MRSI has been a major project for Dr. Vigneron and his group. These techniques have now been used in over 8000 research and clinical studies at UCSF. He also has led technical development aspects for the UCSF Hyperpolarized (HP) Carbon-13 MR molecular imaging program and is the PI for 6 projects including NIH P41 center grant, 2 RO1's, a P01, and a Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP U01) focused on this new stable isotope molecular MR imaging approach. This exciting new technology detects not only the uptake of the HP molecule, but also its metabolic conversion rates in vivo.

Dr. Vigneron obtained his BA in Chemistry from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut in 1983, and he received his PhD in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from UCSF in 1988 for his graduate work on applying new MRI techniques for characterizing disease and therapy response. In 1990, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship from the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia and in 1991 he completed a postdoctoral fellowship from UCSF.

Expertise:
Radiology and Biomedical Imaging

Specialty:
MRI, hyperpolarized MRI techniques, brain metabolism, prostate cancer

Professional Interests:
Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Molecular Imaging, Metabolic Imaging, Diffusion tensor imaging, Oncologic Imaging, Prostate Cancer Imaging, Pediatric Imaging, Brain MRI, Radiology.

Education and Training:
• Bachelor of Arts: Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut - Chemistry, Pre-Med Studies
• Doctor of Philosophy: University of California, San Francisco - Pharmaceutical Chemistry
• Research Fellow: Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia
• Visiting Postdoctoral Scholar: University of California, San Francisco - Department of Radiology