Dr. rer. nat. Teresa Gerhalter

Muscular dystrophies are a group of genetic disorders that affect the muscles, leading to progressive weakness and degeneration. The accurate monitoring of disease progression and activity is crucial for the development of effective treatments. In my PhD thesis, I evaluated different quantitative 1H and 23Na MRI methods for this purpose.

After completing my PhD, I moved to NYU where I worked with multimodal MRI and spectroscopy methods to assess traumatic brain injuries over the long-term. This experience further deepened my understanding of the potential of MRI as a diagnostic tool.

Currently, I am continuing my research on muscle diseases and MRI at the University Hospital of Erlangen with the support of a DFG research grant (project number: 497320374). My specific research interests include X-nuclei imaging, particularly 23Na and 39K, as well as quantitative 1H MRI as an early indicator of skeletal muscle degeneration.

In summary, my research background is focused on the use of MRI for the assessment and monitoring of muscle and brain diseases. Specifically, I have been using quantitative 1H and 23Na MRI methods and spectroscopy methods to evaluate the progression of these diseases and to identify early indicators of degeneration. My current research aims to further explore these methods and to gain a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms of muscle diseases.

• Since 01.2022

PostDoc, Institute of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Germany

• 01.2021 – 12.2021

Project Manager and Data Scientist, Experimental and Clinical Research Center, Charité Medical Faculty, Germany

•  02.2019 – 12.2020

PostDoc, Center For Biomedical Imaging – Department of Radiology, NYU Langone Health, USA

• 02.2018 – 01.2019

PostDoc, Institute of Radiology, University Hospital Erlangen, Germany

• 10.2014 – 07.2018

PhD, Physics and Engineering (Imaging and physical medicine), Université Paris Sud, France

• 02.2012 – 04.2014

MSc, Biomedical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Austria

• 10.2008 – 02.2012

BSc, Biomedical Engineering, Graz University of Technology, Austria

• Gerhalter T, Müller C, Maron E, Thielen M, Schätzl T, Mähler A, Schütte T, Boschmann M, Herzer R, Spuler S, Gazzerro E. “suMus,” a novel digital system for arm movement metrics and muscle energy expenditure. Frontiers in Physiology, 2023 Jan 26; 14:1664-042X. doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1057592
• Gerhalter T, Chen AM, Dehkharghani S, Peralta R, Adlparvar F, Babb JS, Bushnik T, Silver JM, Im BS, Wall SP, Brown R, Baete SH, Kirov II, Madelin G. Global decrease in brain sodium concentration after mild traumatic brain injury. Brain Communication, 2021 Mar 23;3(2): fcab051. doi:10.1093/braincomms/fcab051
• Gerhalter T, Marty B, Gast LV, Porzelt K, Heiss R, Uder M, Schwab S, Carlier PG, Nagel AM, Türk M. Quantitative ¹H and ²³Na muscle MRI in Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy patients. J Neurology. 2021 Mar; 268(3):1076-1087. doi:10.1007/s00415-020-10254-2. Epub 2020 Oct 12.
• Gerhalter T, Gast LV, Marty B, Uder M, Carlier PG, Nagel AM. Assessing the variability of ²³Na MRI in skeletal muscle tissue: Reproducibility and repeatability of tissue sodium concentration measurements in the lower leg at 3 T. NMR Biomed, 2020 Mar 3:e4279. doi:10.1002/nbm.4279
• Regensburger AP, Fonteyne LM, Jüngert J, Wagner AL, Gerhalter T, Nagel AM, Heiss R, Flenkenthaler F, Qurashi M, Neurath MF, Klymiuk N, Kemter E, Fröhlich T, Uder M, Woelfle J, Rascher W, Trollmann R, Wolf E, Waldner MJ, Knieling F. Detection of collagens by multispectral optoacoustic tomography as an imaging biomarker for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Nature Medicine, 2019 Dec;25(12):1905-1915. doi:10.1038/s41591-019-0669-y
• Gerhalter T, Gast LV, Marty B, Martin J, Trollmann R, Schüssler S, Roemer F, Laun FB, Uder M, Schröder R, Carlier PG, Nagel AM. ²³Na MRI Depicts Early Changes in Ion Homeostasis in Skeletal Muscle Tissue of Patients With Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 2019 Oct;50(4):1103-1113. doi:10.1002/jmri.26681