Mission Statement
The research at INSPire lab is primarily directed towards development, optimization and
application of metabolic and physiologic MR imaging techniques in various neuro-oncologic clinical applications. Particularly, we leverage the potential of robust, reproducible, objective and quantitative 3T MR imaging derived parameters and molecular signatures combined with machine learning based methods for making accurate diagnosis and assessment of treatment response in glioblastoma patients receiving standard of care treatment and novel therapies such as tumor treating fields, immunotherapies and targeted therapies.
Currently, we are conducting a double blinded randomized clinical trial (NCT05086497) in patients with newly diagnosed glioblastoma. The purpose of this trial is to employ whole brain spectroscopic imaging derived choline/N-acetylaspartate maps to accurately define the target volume [solid contrast enhancing regions i.e., visible tumor + infiltrative regions of glioblastomas i.e., invisible tumor] for enhanced delivery of tumor treating fields to improve the survival outcomes and quality of life measures in of these patients with this dismal disease.
Our lab is also active in the clinical translation implementation and utilization of the powerful imaging capabilities of 7 Tesla MRI to real-life benefits for brain tumor patients such as 7T two-dimensional correlation (2D-COSY) and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) techniques in the identification of IDH mutation in gliomas.
We have assembled an expert and dedicated team of investigators (neuroradiologists,
neurosurgeons, neurooncologists, neuropathologists, clinical neuroscientists, project managers and clinical research coordinators, research assistants) from Penn Medicine and other institutions for providing expertise inputs in the pursuit of successful outcome of our study goals. Additionally, we have established strong collaboration with our industry partners from NovoCure Ltd. for planning and evaluation of treatment response in glioblastoma patients receiving tumor treating fields.
Faculty & Staff
Suyash Mohan, MD
Principal Investigator
View Full Profile
Sanjeev Chawla, PhD
Principal Investigator
View Full Profile
Laiz Godoy, M.D.
Co-Investigator
View Full Profile
Archith Rajan, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
View Full Profile
Steven Brem, M.D.
Co-Investigator
View Full Profile
Stephen Bagley, M.D.
Co-Investigator
View Full Profile
Goldie Kurtz, M.D.
Co-Investigator
View Full Profile
Haochang Shou, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
View Full Profile
Lisa Desiderio, RT (R) (MR)
Project Manager
View Full Profile
Viviane Tabar, M.D.
Consultant
View Full Profile
Roger Stupp, M.D.
Consultant
View Full Profile
Harish Poptani, Ph.D.
Consultant
View Full Profile
Kristina Vineis
Clinical Research Coordinator
Demetrius Lee
Clinical Research Coordinator
Leeanne Lezotte
Clinical Research Coordinator
Marisa Sanchez
Clinical Research Coordinator
Jeremy Westerman
Clinical Research Coordinator
Vanessa Lafferty
Summer Student
Publications
LL de Godoy, KC Lim, A Rajan, G Verma, M Hanaoka, DM O’Rourke, JYK Lee, A Desai, S Chawla*, S Mohan. Non-Invasive Assessment of Isocitrate Dehydrogenase-Mutant Gliomas Using Optimized Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy on a Routine Clinical 3-Tesla MRI. Cancers (Basel). 2023;15(18):4453.
LL de Godoy; S Chawla; S Brem; S Mohan. Taming Glioblastoma in ‘Real Time’: Integrating Multimodal Advanced Neuroimaging/AI Tools Towards Creating a Robust and Therapy Agnostic Model for Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology. ClinCancer Res. 2023;29(14):2588-2592.
LL de Godoy; S Chawla; S Brem; S Wang; DM O’Rourke; MP Nasrallah; A Desai; LA Loevner; LM Liau; S Mohan. Assessment of Treatment Response to Dendritic Cell Vaccine in Patients with Glioblastoma using a Multiparametric MRI-Based Prediction Model. J Neurooncol. 2023;163:173-183.
LL de Godoy, S Mohan, S Wang, MP Nasrallah, Y Sakai, DM O’Rourke, S zBagley, A Desai, LA. Loevner, H Poptani, S Chawla. Validation of Multiparametric MRI Based Prediction Model in Identification of Pseudoprogression in Glioblastomas. J Trans Med. 2023 Apr 28;21(1):287.
SA Hosseini, E Hosseini, G Hajianfar, I Shiri, S Servaes, P Rosa-Neto, L Godoy, MP Nasrallah, DM O'Rourke , S Mohan , S Chawla. MRI-Based Radiomics Combined with Deep Learning for Distinguishing IDH-Mutant WHO Grade 4 Astrocytomas from IDH-Wild-Type Glioblastomas. Cancers (Basel). 2023;15(3):951.
LL de Godoy, YJ Chen, S Chawla, AN Viaene, S Wang, LA Loevner, M Alonso-Basanta, H Poptani, S Mohan. Prognostication of overall survival in patients with brain metastases using diffusion tensor imaging and dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced MRI. Br J Radiol. 2022 Dec 1;95(1140):20220516.
S Chawla, S Bukhari, OM Afridi, S Wang, SK Yadav, H Akbari, G Verma, K Nath, M Haris, S Bagley, C Davatzikos, LA Loevner, S Mohan. Metabolic and Physiologic MR Imaging in Distinguishing True Progression from Pseudoprogression in Patients with Glioblastoma. NMR Biomed. 2022; Mar 2;e4719.
S Mohan, S Wang, S Chawla, K Abdullah, A Desai, E Maloney, S Brem. Multiparametric MRI Assessment of Response to Convection-Enhanced Intratumoral Delivery of MDNA55, an Interleukin-4 Receptor Targeted Immunotherapy, for Recurrent Glioblastoma. Surg Neurol Int. 2021 Jul 6;12:337.
S Chawla, SC Lee , S Mohan , S Wang , M Nasrallah , A Vossough , J Krejza , ER Melhem , SA Nabavizadeh. Lack of choline elevation on proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in grade I-III gliomas. Neuroradiol J. 2019; 32:250-258.
S Mohan; S Wang; G Coban; F Kural; S Chawla; DM O'Rourke; H Poptani. Detection of Occult Neoplastic Infiltration in the Corpus Callosum and Prediction of Overall Survival in Patients with Glioblastoma using Diffusion Tensor Imaging. Eur J Radiol. 2019;112:106-111.
G Verma, S Chawla, S Mohan, S Wang, M Nasrallah, S Sheriff, A Desai, S Brem, DM O’Rourke, R Wolf, A Maudsley, H Poptani. Differentiation of True Progression from Pseudoprogression in Patients with Glioblastoma using Whole Brain Echo-planar Spectroscopic Imaging. NMR Biomed. 2019 Feb;32(2):e4042.
S Wang, DM O'Rourke, S Chawla, et al. Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging in the assessment of anti-EGFRvIII chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy in patients with recurrent glioblastoma. Br J Cancer. 2019 Jan;120(1):54-56.
S Chawla, S Wang, S Mohan, MacLean Nasrallah, Gaurav Verma, Steven Brem, Donald M. O’Rourke, Ronald L. Wolf, Harish Poptani, S. Ali Nabavizadeh. Differentiation of brain infection from necrotic glioblastoma using combined analysis of diffusion and perfusion MRI. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2019 Jan;49(1):184-194.
S Mohan, S Chawla, A Skolnik, H Poptani. Perspective on the EF-14 Trial and Its Implications for the Role of Tumor-Treating Fields in the Management of Glioblastoma. Trans Cancer Res. 5(S2):S272-5; 2016.
S Mohan, S Chawla, S Wang, G Verma, A Skolnik, S Brem, KB Peters, H Poptani. Assessment of Early Response to Tumor Treating Fields in Newly Diagnosed Glioblastoma using Physiologic and Metabolic MR Imaging: Initial experience. CNS Oncol. 5(3):137-44; 2016.
S Chawla, S Wang, S Kim, S Sheriff, P Lee, R Rengan, A Lin, ER Melhem, A Maudsley, H Poptani. Radiation Injury to the Normal Brain Measured by 3D-Echo-Planar Spectroscopic Imaging and Diffusion Tensor Imaging: Initial Experience. J Neuroimaging. 25(1):97-104;2015.
Contact Information
Neuroradiology Research Core
3400 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Office: 267-258-3367
Lab: 215-615-1662
Email: NeuroradiologyResearchCore@uphs.upenn.edu