Allen Song, PhD, PI
Principal Investigator
Professor in Radiology
Director of the Center for Brain Imaging and Analysis
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Professor in Neurobiology
Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Contact Information

Email: allen.song@duke.edu

Phone: 919-684-1215

External Lab Site

Location
2424 Erwin Rd

Song Lab

We center our research on the acquisition methodology, processing strategies and contrast mechanisms for brain MRI. We use these approaches to investigate the functional neuroanatomy and brain connectivities in both healthy and diseased populations in humans.

Song Research

The research in this lab is concerned with the advancement of fMRI data acquisition methods that includes the development of real-time imaging using echo-planar and spiral data acquisition with high-order shimming control, development of robust and reliable single-shot image acquisition methods and optimization of the acquisition methods for improved functional sensitivity and specificity.

Our lab is also focused on understanding the contrast mechanism of the functional MRI, which includes the source localization of the functional signal using the blood oxygenation level dependent contrast and development of alternative contrast mechanisms that are more directly linked to the neuronal activities.

Additional effort is invested in applying and validating the developed methods to study human motor sequence learning and language processing.

 

Collaborators

Gregory McCarthy, PhD 
Brain Imaging and Analysis Center
   
Martin McKeown, MD 
Brain Imaging and Analysis Center
   
Aysenil Belger, PhD 
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
   
Marty Woldorff, PhD 
Center for Cognitive Neuroscience
   
Rick Segal, PhD 
Emory University

Song Publications

Hall, Shana A., Ryan P. Bell, Syam Gadde, Sheri L. Towe, Muhammad Tauseef Nadeem, Peter S. McCann, Allen W. Song, and Christina S. Meade. “Strengthened and posterior-shifted structural rich-club organization in people who use cocaine.” Drug Alcohol Depend 235 (June 1, 2022): 109436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109436.


Cuthbertson, Jonathan D., Trong-Kha Truong, Robert Stormont, Fraser Robb, Allen W. Song, and Dean Darnell. “An iPRES-W Coil Array for Simultaneous Imaging and Wireless Localized B0 Shimming of the Cervical Spinal Cord.” Magn Reson Med, April 25, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.29257.


Darnell, Dean, Trong-Kha Truong, and Allen W. Song. “Recent Advances in Radio-Frequency Coil Technologies: Flexible, Wireless, and Integrated Coil Arrays.” J Magn Reson Imaging 55, no. 4 (April 2022): 1026–42. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmri.27865.


Howard, Cortney M., Shivangi Jain, Angela D. Cook, Lauren E. Packard, Hollie A. Mullin, Nan-Kuei Chen, Chunlei Liu, Allen W. Song, and David J. Madden. “Cortical iron mediates age-related decline in fluid cognition.” Hum Brain Mapp 43, no. 3 (February 15, 2022): 1047–60. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.25706.


Willey, Devin, Dean Darnell, Allen W. Song, and Trong-Kha Truong. “Application of an integrated radio-frequency/shim coil technology for signal recovery in fMRI.” Magn Reson Med 86, no. 6 (December 2021): 3067–81. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.28925.


Zhang, Lijia, Susan Ellor, Jessica M. Sun, Chunlei Liu, Joanne Kurtzburg, and Allen W. Song. “DTI Tract-Based Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping: An Initial Feasibility Study to Investigate the Potential Role of Myelination in Brain Connectivity Change in Cerebral Palsy Patients During Autologous Cord Blood Cell Therapy Using a Rotationally-Invariant Quantitative Measure.” J Magn Reson Imaging 53, no. 1 (January 2021): 251–58. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmri.27286.


Simhal, Anish K., Kimberly L. H. Carpenter, Saad Nadeem, Joanne Kurtzberg, Allen Song, Allen Tannenbaum, Guillermo Sapiro, and Geraldine Dawson. “Measuring robustness of brain networks in autism spectrum disorder with Ricci curvature.” Sci Rep 10, no. 1 (July 2, 2020): 10819. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-67474-9.


Dawson, Geraldine, Jessica M. Sun, Jennifer Baker, Kimberly Carpenter, Scott Compton, Megan Deaver, Lauren Franz, et al. “A Phase II Randomized Clinical Trial of the Safety and Efficacy of Intravenous Umbilical Cord Blood Infusion for Treatment of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.” J Pediatr 222 (July 2020): 164-173.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpeds.2020.03.011.


Ghusayni, Ryan, Jordan P. Richardson, Julie Uchitel, Elie Abdelnour, Melissa McLean, Lyndsey Prange, Tavis Abrahamsen, Allen Song, Jeffrey R. Petrella, and Mohamad A. Mikati. “Magnetic resonance imaging volumetric analysis in patients with Alternating hemiplegia of childhood: A pilot study.” Eur J Paediatr Neurol 26 (May 2020): 15–19. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpn.2020.02.001.


Krystal, Andrew D., Diego A. Pizzagalli, Moria Smoski, Sanjay J. Mathew, John Nurnberger, Sarah H. Lisanby, Dan Iosifescu, et al. “A randomized proof-of-mechanism trial applying the 'fast-fail' approach to evaluating κ-opioid antagonism as a treatment for anhedonia.” Nat Med 26, no. 5 (May 2020): 760–68. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-020-0806-7.