
After obtaining his PhD in Bioengineering from the Joint Graduate Program at UC Berkeley/UCSF, under the mentorship of Sarah J Nelson, Dr. Autry joined the Li Lab to continue research characterizing molecular markers of malignant brain tumors. His current work focuses on real-time imaging of in vivo metabolism in adults with infiltrating gliomas using the technique of hyperpolarized carbon-13 (HP-13C) MRI, which probes glycolytic and oxidative phosphorylation pathways by means of injectable tracers whose magnetization has been transiently enhanced via specialized instrumentation. As part of this effort, he has pursued optimizing HP-13C data acquisition methods involving atlas-based prescriptions for serial imaging studies and investigated features of aberrant metabolism in progressive glioma based on the modeling of [1-13C] pyruvate kinetics.