Prof. Yaniv Assaf

The main research interest of the lab is measuring brain micro-structure with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The general work hypothesis is that brain structure, function and behavior are linked. Under this hypothesis we study the anatomical characteristics of brain tissue as well as structural aspects of neuro-plasticity and behavioral correlates.

The research in the lab focuses on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in humans and rodents. We use a General Electric ® 3T scanner (located at Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center) for humans and a Bruker ® 7T scanner for small animals located at Tel Aviv University Campus. With these facilities we investigate brain macro-anatomy, micro-strucutre and plasticity.

Since established in October 2004, the lab has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers. Below are the most signficant publications for the past 5 years. 

Selected Publications:

Assaf Y, Pasternak O. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)-based white matter mapping in brain research: a review. J Mol Neurosci 2008;34(1). 

Barazany D, Basser PJ, Assaf Y. In vivo measurement of axon diameter distribution in the corpus callosum of rat brain. Brain 2009;132(Pt 5):1210-1220. 

Mezer A, Yovel Y, Pasternak O, Gorfine T, Assaf Y. Cluster analysis of resting-state fMRI time series.Neuroimage 2009;45(4):1117-1125. 

Lifshits S, Tamir A, Assaf Y. Combinatorial fiber-tracking of the human brain. Neuroimage2009;48(3):532-540. 

Pasternak O, Sochen N, Gur Y, Intrator N, Assaf Y. Free water elimination and mapping from diffusion MRI. Magn Reson Med 2009;62(3):717-730. 

Sasson E, Doniger GM, Assaf Y. Structural correlates of memory performance with diffusion tensor imaging. Neuroimage 2010; 50(3): 1231-42.