Imaging brain glutamate at ultra‑high field.
I'm a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania. My lab uses 7 Tesla MRI, especially glutamate‑weighted CEST (GluCEST), to measure excitatory–inhibitory balance across the lifespan and across psychiatric and neurological conditions.
- Research Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Perelman School of Medicine
- Brain Behavior Laboratory · Neurodevelopment & Psychosis Section
- Associate Fellow, Penn Institute on Aging · Lifespan Brain Institute · Neuroscience Graduate Group
Research
Measuring glutamate in the living human brain
Developing and validating glutamate‑weighted CEST at 7 Tesla: reproducibility, B₁ correction, relationships to receptor density, and the open‑source pyGluCEST processing pipeline.
Neurodevelopmental risk for psychosis
Glutamate, white‑matter microstructure, and craniofacial and midline brain markers in youth at risk for psychosis and in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. Infrastructure roles on AMP‑SCZ ProNET.
Early markers of cognitive decline
Hippocampal glutamate in healthy aging, olfactory screening for incipient Alzheimer's disease, within‑individual variability, and brief cognitive screens including the short‑form MoCA.
Glutamate across conditions
Collaborative 7T studies of cannabis use in psychosis, drug‑resistant epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, and treatment response in depression, asking whether E/I imbalance is a shared mechanism.
Selected publications 168 peer‑reviewed · full list on PubMed
- 2026Cannabis use and glutamate across the psychosis spectrum: in vivo evidence from 7T proton MRSRoalf DR et al. · Molecular Psychiatry, in press
- 2025Characterizing spatial associations between GluCEST MRI and neurotransmitter receptor density in the human cortex… Roalf DR · Human Brain Mapping 46(18)
- 2025Mapping hippocampal glutamate in healthy aging with in vivo GluCEST imagingFrontiers in Aging Neuroscience 16
- 2024Computer‑vision analysis of craniofacial dysmorphology in 22q11.2 deletion syndrome and psychosis spectrum disordersRoalf DR et al. · J Neurodevelopmental Disorders 16:35
- 2021Diminished reward responsiveness is associated with lower reward network GluCEST: an ultra‑high field glutamate imaging studyMolecular Psychiatry 26(6)
- 2020Alterations in white matter microstructure in individuals at persistent risk for psychosisRoalf DR et al. · Molecular Psychiatry 25(10)
- 2017Glutamate imaging (GluCEST) reveals lower brain GluCEST contrast in patients on the psychosis spectrumRoalf DR et al. · Molecular Psychiatry 22(9)
- 2016Defining and validating a short form Montreal Cognitive Assessment (s‑MoCA) for use in neurodegenerative diseaseRoalf DR et al. · J Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry 87(12)
Software & tools
pyGluCEST
Open‑source pipeline for processing glutamate‑weighted CEST data: B₀/B₁ correction, contrast calculation, and atlas‑space output. See the ISMRM 2022 abstract on building a robust, reproducible GluCEST pipeline.
ISMRM abstract →MoCA short form & MMSE ↔ MoCA crosswalk
Conversion tables between the MMSE and MoCA for Alzheimer's disease (Roalf et al., Alzheimer's & Dementia 2013) and Parkinson's disease (van Steenoven et al., Movement Disorders 2014), and the short‑form MoCA (Roalf et al., JNNP 2016).
MMSE↔MoCA paper →Teaching & mentoring
Faculty Co‑Director, Penn Neuroscience Graduate Group Systems Neuroscience core (2024–). Lecturer for PGY2 psychiatry residents on neuroimaging in psychiatry and the neurobiology of aging and cognition.
Member of the NGG Admissions and Academic Review committees; program committee for the Society of Biological Psychiatry annual meeting.
Trainees. Primary supervisor for MD/PhD and NGG students, and faculty mentor to a long line of post‑bac research coordinators and summer scholars, many of whom have gone on to graduate and medical training. If you're interested in 7T imaging, glutamate, or psychosis‑risk research, get in touch.
Curriculum vitae
- Ph.D.
- Behavioral Neuroscience, Oregon Health & Science University, 2010
- B.S.
- Biological Psychology, The College of William & Mary, 2001
- Postdoc
- NIH T32 Neuropsychiatry Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, 2010–2013
- Faculty
- Research Associate Professor of Psychiatry, 2025– · Research Assistant Professor, 2015–2025
Full CV (appointments, funding, service, 168 peer‑reviewed publications), updated August 2026.
Contact
- roalf@upenn.edu
- Office
- Brain Behavior Laboratory, Richards Building, 3700 Hamilton Walk, 5th Floor Pod A, Room 5002, Philadelphia, PA 19104
- Penn
- Faculty profile →