Manojkumar Saranathan

Manojkumar Saranathan, PhD, is a Professor at UMass Chan Medical School in the Departments of Radiology and Neuroscience, with dual appointments in the Morningside Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. He co-directs the Image Processing and Analysis core and the Advanced MRI Center core, and holds an Adjunct Professor position at UMass Amherst's Biomedical Engineering department.

• Education:
  • MS in Bioengineering, University of Washington
  • PhD in Bioengineering, University of Washington

His research focuses on ultra high-resolution MRI techniques for segmenting deep brain structures like the thalamus and claustrum, studying their role in alcoholism, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, psychoses, and frontotemporal dementia. He has developed the DISCO MRI sequence (used globally since 2017) and methods for 7 Tesla MRI segmentation of thalamic nuclei.

Publication Trends: Recent work emphasizes automated thalamic segmentation, dynamic functional connectivity, and multi-atlas parcellation across neurodegenerative and psychiatric conditions. Collaborations span neurology, neurosurgery, and radiology.

Labs & Teams: Leads the Laboratory for Neuro-Analysis and Imaging (LANAI), focusing on MRI physics, brain connectivity, and clinical applications. Collaborates with global neurology and neuroscience teams on thalamic involvement in movement disorders and neuroinflammation.