Welcome to LOFT – Laboratory of Functional MRI Technology
Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, University of Southern California (USC)

Mission Statement:
At LOFT, we focus on the development of innovative and noninvasive MRI technologies for assessing the structure, function, and connectivity of a live human brain. We strive to develop MRI methods with (sub)millimeter spatial resolution and millisecond temporal resolution, so that human brain activity can be observed dynamically in 4D space. Through close collaboration with clinicians, neuroscientists and data scientists, we actively translate these novel MRI technologies for mapping the human brain in health and disease.


Recent news:

2023 Dec, LOFT MRI music is back for the holidays “Guitar and MRI Duet: Feliz Navidad”

2023 Nov, New high resolution black blood MRI to visualize small cerebral blood vessels

2023 Sept, Dr. Wang received NIH funding to study small vessel disease in Asian Americans

2023 Aug, Dr. Kay Jann published a front page article in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease on relation of fMRI complexity and tau-PET in ADNI and EEAJ cohorts

2023 July, Dr. Wang successfully organized kick-off event for 7T Translational Alliance of North America (7TANA) (Linkedin post)

2023 May, Dr. Xingfeng Shao is ISMRM I.I. Rabi Young Investigator Award finalist

2023 May, Chenyang Zhao received 1st place poster award for ISMRM Perfusion Study Group

2022 Oct, Dr. Wang successfully organized ISMRM workshop on MRI of Neuromodulation (Linkedin post)

2022 May, Dr. Wang was elected ISMRM senior fellow 2022

2022 March, ISMRM workshop on “Perfusion MRI: From Head to Toe” was successfully held at USC

2021 Dec, A fun video for holidays! “Sax and MRI Duet: Baby It's Cold Outside”

2021 Dec, Laminar perfusion fMRI at 7T featured in NIH Director’s Blog

2021 Oct, “Ultrahigh Field MRI – The Value of Fine-Grained Examination” won ISMRM High Field Study Group 2021 Video Challenge

2021 May, New MRI technique can detect early dysfunction of the blood-brain barrier with small vessel disease

2021 May, Xingfeng Shao awarded ISMRM Junior Fellow, Kai Wang awarded OCSMRM YIA, Danny Wang awarded OCSMRM Outstanding Contribution Award

2020 July, Our Youtube channel "LOFT lab" has been launched!

2019 Oct, Augmented reality app to visualize lenticulostriate arteries

2019 May, MRM highlight paper "Mapping water exchange across the blood–brain barrier using 3D diffusion‐prepared arterial spin labeled perfusion MRI"

2019 April, Samantha Ma wins USC BME Grodins Symposium award 3 years in a row!

2018 Oct, 7T Terra receives FDA approval for clinical use

2016 Oct, Mapping of tDCS current

2016 Aug, We joined USC Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute!

2015 Oct, Social brain is impaired in autism

2015 Sept, New method to measure arterial stiffness in human brain