Director, Spectroscopy Core
Associate Professor of Translational Neuroscience

Research Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, UNM

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My expertise lies in the application of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) to the study and diagnosis of various brain disorders. A major focus of my research is to improve the quantification of brain metabolism using MRS, in order to realize the full potential of this method for both diagnosis and basic research. I am particularly interested in using this tool to study the biochemical and physiologic underpinnings of neurological disorders, such as vascular cognitive impairment, traumatic brain injury, lupus erythematosus, alcohol abuse and schizophrenia. With colleagues at MRN and Sandia National Laboratories, I am also exploring the use of MRS-based methods to detect brain activity directly.

Education
•    BS, Biophysics, University of Michigan
•    PhD, Medical Science/Biophysics, University of New Mexico

Selected Publications - To view all of Dr. Gasparovic's work, go to PubMed

•    Gasparovic C, Neeb H, Feis DL, Damaraju E, Chen H, Doty MJ, South DM, Mullins PG, Bockholt HJ, Shah NJ. (2009) Quantitative spectroscopic imaging with in situ measurements of tissue water T1, T2, and density. Magn Reson Med. 62:583-90.
•    Gasparovic C, Yeo RA, Mannell M, Ling J, Elgie R, Phillips J, Doezema D, Mayer AR. (2009) Neurometabolite concentrations in gray and white matter in mild traumatic brain injury: an 1H–magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. J Neurotrauma. 26:1635-43.
•    Jung RE, Gasparovic C, Chavez RS, Flores RA, Smith SM, Caprihan A, and Yeo RA. (2009) Biochemical support for the "threshold" theory of creativity: a magnetic resonance spectroscopy study. J Neurosci. 22;29:5319-25.
•    Mayer AR, Mannell MV, Ling J, Elgie R, Gasparovic C, Phillips JP, Doezema D, Yeo RA. (2009) Auditory orienting and inhibition of return in mild traumatic brain injury: a FMRI study. Human Brain Map. In press.
•    Thoma R, Ruhl D, Mullins PG, Yeo RA, Caprihan A, Monnig M, Bogenschutz M, Lysne P, Tonigan S, Gasparovic C. (2009) Perturbation of the glutamate-glutamine system in alcohol dependence and remission. Alcoh Clin Exp Res. In press.
•    Mullins PG, Chen H, Xu J, Caprihan A, Gasparovic C. (2008) Comparative reliability of proton spectroscopy techniques designed to improve detection of J-coupled metabolites. Magn Reson Med. 60:964-9.
•    Blagoev KB, Mihaila B, Travis BJ, Alexandrov LB, Bishop AR, Ranken D, Posse S, Gasparovic C, Mayer A, Aine CJ, Ulbert I, Morita M, Müller W, Connor J, Halgren E. (2007) Modelling the magnetic signature of neuronal tissue. Neuroimage. 37:137-48.
•    Posse S, Otazo R, Caprihan A, Bustillo J, Chen H, Henry PG, Marjanska M, Gasparovic C, Zuo C, Magnotta V, Mueller B, Mullins P, Renshaw P, Ugurbi K, Lim KO, Alger JR. (2007) Proton echo-planar spectroscopic imaging of J-coupled resonances in human brain at 3 and 4 Tesla. Magn Reson Med. 58:236-44.
•    Gasparovic C, Song T, Devier D, Bockholt HJ, Caprihan A, Mullins PG, Posse S, Jung RE, Morrison LA. (2006) Use of tissue water as a concentration reference for proton spectroscopic imaging. Magn Reson Med. 55:1219-26.
•    Song T, Gasparovic C, Andreasen N, Bockholt J, Jamshidi M, Lee RR, Huang M. (2006) A hybrid tissue segmentation approach for brain MR images. Med Biol Eng Comput. 44:242-9.