Michael Albert Thomas

Michael Albert Thomas is a Professor-in-residence at the University of California Los Angeles with dual appointments in the School of Medicine: Radiological Sciences and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences. His research applies advanced Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopic Imaging (MRSI) and Neuroimaging to study metabolic, neurological, and psychiatric disorders across diverse populations.

• Education:
  • Ph.D. in Physics (1984), Indian Institute of Science
  • M.Sc. in Physics (1978), The American College
  • B.Sc. in Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics (1975), The Madura College
  • Post-doctoral training in MR Spectroscopy (1990), University of California; NMR Physics (1987), ETH Zurich; NMR Physics (1985), Purdue University

His work focuses on:

• HIV-1: Investigating brain metabolism and white matter microstructure in perinatally infected youth using MRSI.
• Sleep Apnea: Quantifying GABA/glutamate imbalances, cortical thickness, and midbrain chemical concentrations.
• Diabetes: Analyzing lipid deposition, muscle metabolism, and fat quantification via MRI and compressed sensing.
• Prostate Cancer: Developing multidimensional MRSI and Gleason score correlations with diffusion-weighted imaging.

His NIH-funded research includes grants R21MH125349 (2020-2022), R01HL131010 (2016-2019), and R21NS086449 (2014-2018), emphasizing neurochemical biomarkers and accelerated imaging techniques.

His scientific collaborations span institutions like ETH Zurich, Purdue University, and University of California, with publications in journals including Metabolites, Scientific Reports, and NeuroImage. Key methodologies include compressed sensing, dictionary learning, and 2D/5D spectroscopic imaging.