Introduction to Diffusion MRI

This lecture will cover the basics of diffusion MRI. We will explore how diffusion in biological tissue serves as an in vivo microscope through its measurement with MRI by varying both diffusion gradient and the diffusion time t, the time over which the molecules diffuse. The concepts of q-space imaging, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) will be covered, as well as other higher order diffusion methods (biophysical models versus representations). In addition, we will illustrate how varying the diffusion time t provides complimentary information about microstructural length scales.