Gastrointestinal (GI) MRI
 

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Luca Marciani

Professor of Gastrointestinal Imaging, Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences

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Biography

I graduated in Physics at the University of Genoa in Italy. I then worked in Milan and London before joining the University of Nottingham. I was awarded my PhD in Physics at the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, where I worked on a series of multi-disciplinary research contracts. Thanks to a Wellcome Trust VIP Fellowship and a RCUK Academic Fellowship I then moved to the School of Medicine, where I am now Professor in Gastrointestinal Imaging at the Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre (NDDC) within the Translational Medical Sciences academic unit.

My personal expertise is in imaging the human gastrointestinal (GI) tract using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). My research focuses on gastrointestinal physiology and pathology using MRI methods in combination with other physiological and behavioural techniques. I have a particular interest in in-body imaging of foods, beverages, dosage forms and formulations, intestinal fluid distribution and the development of medical devices and novel MRI tests for GI motility and transit. I am developing a new programme imaging paediatric gastrointestinal function. I work within a team that has developed a unique cross-disciplinary collaboration between gastroenterologists, surgeons, physiologists, MRI physicists, pharmaceutical scientists, food scientists and industrial collaborators from the food and pharmaceutical industry in the UK and abroad.

I have published 134 research papers and 15 book chapters, I have been principal investigator on academic and commercial research grants worth £4 million (plus £10 million as co-Investigator).

I serve as Deputy Director (Research) of Translational Medical Sciences, Honours Year Co-Lead for Translational Medical Sciences, on the Nottingham NIHR Biomedical Research Centre (BRC) Gastrointestinal & Liver theme Strategy Board and on the Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre Science Committee. I chair the Gastrointestinal MRI Research Group. I was awarded the RinR/Wellcome/RCUK Communicator's Award for my science outreach work with secondary school pupils. I am a member of the NIHR Invention for Innovation (i4i) Funding Committee B.

Teaching Summary

I currently teach a faculty-wide and MRC DTP post-graduate course on Biomedical Imaging in Research [MHSBIR]. I regularly supervise and examine BMedSci students on their 3rd year research project and… read more

Research Summary

I lead the NIHR-funded MAGIC project developing a new MRI medical device to measure gastrointestinal transit in paediatric constipation. I am also interested in using MRI to study the in vivo fluid… read more

Selected Publications

I currently teach a faculty-wide and MRC DTP post-graduate course on Biomedical Imaging in Research [MHSBIR]. I regularly supervise and examine BMedSci students on their 3rd year research project and dissertation [A13HYP] and occasionally run ad-hoc research tutorials for them. I supervise post-graduate research students (22 so far) and I act as internal and external (nationally and internationally) PhD examiner.

I completed my full Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCHE) in 2013 and became Senior Fellow of Advance HE (SFHEA) in 2019. I received the Lord Dearing Award for Teaching and Learning in 2023.

In the past I also taught 'Food imaging in the body' on the undergraduate Food and Physiology course [BIOS 1047] and on the undergraduate Food and Health [D211F1] module. Further back I have supervised 4th year Physics MSci research projects, I have been Personal Academic Tutor for 1st year Physics undergraduates and I also taught physics laboratories to a range of year groups in a high school.

Current Research

I lead the NIHR-funded MAGIC project developing a new MRI medical device to measure gastrointestinal transit in paediatric constipation. I am also interested in using MRI to study the in vivo fluid and motility environment of the undisturbed gut, with a view to improve physiological relevance of in vitro testing methods and in silico transport analyses for prediction of bioperformance of oral dosage forms.

I also lead postgraduate research projects looking at colon drug delivery, gastrointestinal responses to breakfast porridges from different grains and to rice in healthy participants, to gluten free diet in coeliac disease and at the motility responses to feeding in Crohn's disease.

I am also involved in a range of projects within the Nottingham GI MRI Research Group. These include imaging of novel dosage forms, the development of novel luminal contrast agents, small bowel imaging in inflammatory diseases, colonic motility in constipation and the effect of various food materials on gastrointestinal function and symptoms in health and disease.

GI_MRI, Nottingham Digestive Diseases Centre

The University of Nottingham
School of Medicine
Nottingham, NG7 2UH


email:GI_MRI@nottingham.ac.uk