Jennifer Linge

Summarizing almost two decades worth of research developing and validating standardized MRI muscle biomarkers for use in research from academia and large-scale population studies, to multi-site clinical trials globally and all the way into the clinic:

• Establishing technical performance, from standardized acquisition protocols to image calibration, automatic segmentation, manual quality control, and robust measurement algorithms
• Making MRI muscle composition interpretable by publishing normative data, describing natural progression, and associations with physical function and mortality
• Enabling description of treatment effects independent of weight change and improving the prediction to outcomes using muscle volume z-score – a personalized weight and BMI-invariant muscle metric
• Providing published reference data showing change in MRI muscle composition across weight management therapies for contextualization of study results: liraglutide, tirzepatide, semaglutide, as well as gastric bypass & sleeve surgery