oncology and genetics

Name: Professor Paul Tofts BA(Oxon) DPhil FInstP

Academic position: Chair in Imaging Physics

Research: Quantitative MR

Contact details:

Clinical Imaging Sciences Centre
University of Sussex
Falmer
Brighton BN1 9RR
UK

Tel: +44 (0)1273-877879

E-mail:

Biography:

BA Natural Science (physics), Wadham College, Oxford University
DPhil (Experimental Physics), University of Sussex
Senior Research Officer 1975-78. Royal Postgraduate Medical School, London
Chief Programmer 1978-85. Faculty of Clinical Sciences, University College London
Lecturer in Medical Physics 1985-89. Institute of Neurology
Senior Lecturer in Medical Physics 1989-93. Institute of Neurology
Reader in Medical Physics 1994-98. Institute of Neurology
Professor of Medical Physics 1998-2006. University College London
Chair of Imaging Physics 2006-present. Brighton and Sussex Medical School

Research focus:

My PhD was in low temperature experimental physics, studying the NMR properties of solid helium. At the Royal Postgraduate Medical School, Hammersmith Hospital, London, I researched radioisotope and CT imaging. A move to the Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering at UCL gave me access to the first NMR machine that was large enough to study humans (in fact premature babies). I was the first to quantify the concentration of brain metabolites in-vivo, by using non-invasive NMR spectroscopy. One of the first whole-body MRI machines was installed by the Multiple Sclerosis Society at the Institute of Neurology, Queen Square, London. Here I invented a way of measuring Blood-Brain Barrier permeability using dynamic MRI of an injected Gd contrast agent. This method is now in widespread use in cancer research. More recently, I have developed ways of quantifying subtle diffuse brain disease, using magnetisation transfer. My book ‘Quantitative MRI of the Brain: measuring changes caused by disease’ has won the BMA radiology book prize.

Key/recent publications:

Tofts,P.S. (editor) Quantitative MRI of the brain: measuring changes caused by disease. Chichester: John Wiley 2003. ISBN: 0-470-84721-2. Winner of British Medical Association book prize for Radiology 2004.
Object strength-an accurate measure for small objects that is insensitive to partial volume effects. Tofts PS, Silver NC, Barker GJ, Gass A. MAGMA 2005; 18:162-9
The assessment of antiangiogenic and antivascular therapies in early-stage clinical trials using magnetic resonance imaging: issues and recommendations. Leach MO, Brindle KM, Evelhoch JL, Griffiths JR, Horsman MR, Jackson A, Jayson GC, Judson IR, Knopp MV, Maxwell RJ, McIntyre D, Padhani AR, Price P, Rathbone R, Rustin GJ, Tofts PS, Tozer GM, Vennart W, Waterton JC, Williams SR, Workman P; Pharmacodynamic/Pharmacokinetic Technologies Advisory Committee, Drug Development Office, Cancer Research UK. Br J Cancer 2005; 92:1599-610.
Measuring blood volume and vascular transfer constant from dynamic T(2)*-weighted contrast-enhanced MRI. Johnson G, Wetzel SG, Cha S, Babb J, Tofts PS. Magn Reson Med 2004;51:961-8.
Quantitative magnetization transfer mapping of bound protons in multiple sclerosis. Tozer D, Ramani A, Barker GJ, Davies GR, Miller DH, Tofts PS. Magn Reson Med 2003; 50:83-91
Preliminary magnetic resonance study of the macromolecular proton fraction in white matter: a potential marker of myelin? Davies GR, Ramani A, Dalton CM, Tozer DJ, Wheeler-Kingshott CA, Barker GJ, Thompson AJ, Miller DH, Tofts PS. Mult Scler 2003; 9:246-9
Osteogenic and Ewing sarcomas: estimation of necrotic fraction during induction chemotherapy with dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging. Dyke JP, Panicek DM, Healey JH, Meyers PA, Huvos AG, Schwartz LH, Thaler HT, Tofts PS, Gorlick R, Koutcher JA, Ballon D. Radiology 2003; 228:271-8.
Another approach to protons with constricted mobility in white matter: pilot studies using wideline and high-resolution NMR spectroscopy. Ramani A, Aliev AE, Barker GJ, Tofts PS. Magn Reson Imaging 2003; 21:1039-43.
Systemic lupus erythematosus: diagnostic application of magnetization transfer ratio histograms in patients with neuropsychiatric symptoms-initial results. Dehmeshki J, Van Buchem MA, Bosma GP, Huizinga TW, Tofts PS. Radiology 2002; 222:722-8.

Click here to view some of Professor Tofts' research online.