Congyu Liao, PhD | Neuroimaging Technology Research Center

Technical Director

Congyu Liao, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging and the Technical Director of the Neuroimaging Technology Research Center (NTRC) at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). He received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Zhejiang University in 2018 and completed postdoctoral training at the Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, under the mentorship of Dr. Kawin Setsompop. Prior to joining UCSF in 2025, he was an Instructor at Stanford University. His research focuses on developing advanced diffusion and quantitative MRI techniques, with applications in neurodevelopment and neurological disorders.

Honors and Awards

Junior Fellow, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2022

Summa Cum Laude Merit Award, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2022

Magna Cum Laude Merit Award, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2021

Magna Cum Laude Merit Award, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2020

Summa Cum Laude Merit Award, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2019

Young Investigator Award (Second Place), Overseas Chinese Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2019

Magna Cum Laude Merit Award, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2018

Outstanding Research Award, Overseas Chinese Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2018

Educational Stipend, International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2015

Publications

Micron-resolution fiber mapping in histology independent of sample preparation.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology

Georgiadis M, der Heiden FA, Abbasi H, Ettema L, Nirschl J, Taghavi HM, Wakatsuki M, Liu A, Ho WHD, Carlson M, Doukas M, Koppes SA, Keereweer S, Sobel RA, Setsompop K, Liao C, Amunts K, Axer M, Zeineh M, Menzel M

Deep learning initialized compressed sensing (Deli-CS) in volumetric spatio-temporal subspace reconstruction.

Magma (New York, N.Y.)

Schauman SS, Iyer SS, Sandino CM, Yurt M, Cao X, Liao C, Ruengchaijatuporn N, Chatnuntawech I, Tong E, Setsompop K

Data- and Physics-Driven Deep Learning Based Reconstruction for Fast MRI: Fundamentals and Methodologies.

IEEE reviews in biomedical engineering

Huang J, Wu Y, Wang F, Fang Y, Nan Y, Alkan C, Abraham D, Liao C, Xu L, Gao Z, Wu W, Zhu L, Chen Z, Lally P, Bangerter N, Setsompop K, Guo Y, Rueckert D, Wang G, Yang G

Three-dimensional high-isotropic-resolution MR fingerprinting optimized for 0.55 T.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Cao X, Liao C, Zhu Z, Li Z, Bhattacharjee R, Nishmura M, Wang Z, Wang N, Zhou Z, Chen Q, Abraham D, Majumdar S, Villanueva-Meyer J, Yang Y, Setsompop K

AutoSamp: Autoencoding k-Space Sampling via Variational Information Maximization for 3D MRI.

IEEE transactions on medical imaging

Alkan C, Mardani M, Liao C, Li Z, Vasanawala SS, Pauly JM

Blip-up blip-down circular EPI (BUDA-cEPI) for distortion-free dMRI with rapid unrolled deep learning reconstruction.

Magnetic resonance imaging

Yarach U, Chatnuntawech I, Liao C, Teerapittayanon S, Iyer SS, Kim TH, Haldar J, Cho J, Bilgic B, Hu Y, Hargreaves B, Setsompop K

Spherical echo-planar time-resolved imaging (sEPTI) for rapid 3D quantitative T2* and susceptibility imaging.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Wang N, Liao C, Cao X, Nishimura M, Brackenier YWE, Yurt M, Gao M, Abraham D, Alkan C, Iyer SS, Zhou Z, Jeong H, Kerr A, Haldar JP, Setsompop K

Highly Accelerated Three-Dimensional Free-Breathing Cardiac T2 Mapping with Modified Low-Rank Modeling of Local K-Space Neighborhoods.

Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Annual International Conference

Hu J, Zhou J, Liao C, Wang Y, Hao X, Qiu B

Fast and reliable quantitative measures of white matter development with magnetic resonance fingerprinting.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology

Yablonski M, Zhou Z, Cao X, Schauman S, Liao C, Setsompop K, Yeatman JD

Artificial intelligence for neuro MRI acquisition: a review.

Magma (New York, N.Y.)

Yang H, Wang G, Li Z, Li H, Zheng J, Hu Y, Cao X, Liao C, Ye H, Tian Q

High-fidelity intravoxel incoherent motion parameter mapping using locally low-rank and subspace modeling.

NeuroImage

Finkelstein AJ, Liao C, Cao X, Mani M, Schifitto G, Zhong J

Reduced cross-scanner variability using vendor-agnostic sequences for single-shell diffusion MRI.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Liu Q, Ning L, Shaik IA, Liao C, Gagoski B, Bilgic B, Grissom W, Nielsen JF, Zaitsev M, Rathi Y

The Potential of Phase Constraints for Non-Fourier Radiofrequency-Encoded MRI.

IEEE transactions on computational imaging

Liu Y, Liao C, Setsompop K, Haldar JP

Rapid and accurate navigators for motion and B0 tracking using QUEEN: Quantitatively enhanced parameter estimation from navigators.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Brackenier Y, Wang N, Liao C, Cao X, Schauman S, Yurt M, Cordero-Grande L, Malik SJ, Kerr A, Hajnal JV, Setsompop K

High-resolution myelin-water fraction and quantitative relaxation mapping using 3D ViSTa-MR fingerprinting.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Liao C, Cao X, Iyer SS, Schauman S, Zhou Z, Yan X, Chen Q, Li Z, Wang N, Gong T, Wu Z, He H, Zhong J, Yang Y, Kerr A, Grill-Spector K, Setsompop K

High-resolution myelin-water fraction and quantitative relaxation mapping using 3D ViSTa-MR fingerprinting.

ArXiv

Liao C, Cao X, Srinivasan Iyer S, Schauman S, Zhou Z, Yan X, Chen Q, Li Z, Wang N, Gong T, Wu Z, He H, Zhong J, Yang Y, Kerr A, Grill-Spector K, Setsompop K

Next-generation MRI scanner designed for ultra-high-resolution human brain imaging at 7 Tesla.

Nature methods

Feinberg DA, Beckett AJS, Vu AT, Stockmann J, Huber L, Ma S, Ahn S, Setsompop K, Cao X, Park S, Liu C, Wald LL, Polimeni JR, Mareyam A, Gruber B, Stirnberg R, Liao C, Yacoub E, Davids M, Bell P, Rummert E, Koehler M, Potthast A, Gonzalez-Insua I, Stocker S, Gunamony S, Dietz P

DTI-MR fingerprinting for rapid high-resolution whole-brain T1 , T2 , proton density, ADC, and fractional anisotropy mapping.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Cao X, Liao C, Zhou Z, Zhong Z, Li Z, Dai E, Iyer SS, Hannum AJ, Yurt M, Schauman S, Chen Q, Wang N, Wei J, Yan Y, He H, Skare S, Zhong J, Kerr A, Setsompop K

High-fidelity mesoscale in-vivo diffusion MRI through gSlider-BUDA and circular EPI with S-LORAKS reconstruction.

NeuroImage

Liao C, Yarach U, Cao X, Iyer SS, Wang N, Kim TH, Tian Q, Bilgic B, Kerr AB, Setsompop K

SLfRank: Shinnar-Le-Roux Pulse Design With Reduced Energy and Accurate Phase Profiles Using Rank Factorization.

IEEE transactions on medical imaging

Ong F, Zhong Z, Liao C, Lustig M, Vasanawala SS, Pauly JM

Deep Learning Initialized Compressed Sensing (Deli-CS) in Volumetric Spatio-Temporal Subspace Reconstruction.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology

Iyer SS, Schauman SS, Sandino CM, Yurt M, Cao X, Liao C, Ruengchaijatuporn N, Chatnuntawech I, Tong E, Setsompop K

3D-EPI blip-up/down acquisition (BUDA) with CAIPI and joint Hankel structured low-rank reconstruction for rapid distortion-free high-resolution T2* mapping.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Chen Z, Liao C, Cao X, Poser BA, Xu Z, Lo WC, Wen M, Cho J, Tian Q, Wang Y, Feng Y, Xia L, Chen W, Liu F, Bilgic B

Optimized three-dimensional ultrashort echo time: Magnetic resonance fingerprinting for myelin tissue fraction mapping.

Human brain mapping

Zhou Z, Li Q, Liao C, Cao X, Liang H, Chen Q, Pu R, Ye H, Tong Q, He H, Zhong J

Detecting Silent Acute Microinfarcts in Cerebral Small Vessel Disease Using Submillimeter Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging: Preliminary Results.

Stroke

Misquitta K, Daou M, Conklin J, Liao C, Setsompop K, Poublanc J, Shirzadi Z, MacIntosh BJ, Tomlinson G, Cohn M, Aviv RI, Silver FL, Mandell DM

Highly accelerated EPI with wave encoding and multi-shot simultaneous multislice imaging.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Cho J, Liao C, Tian Q, Zhang Z, Xu J, Lo WC, Poser BA, Stenger VA, Stockmann J, Setsompop K, Bilgic B

Blip up-down acquisition for spin- and gradient-echo imaging (BUDA-SAGE) with self-supervised denoising enables efficient T2 , T2 *, para- and dia-magnetic susceptibility mapping.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Zhang Z, Cho J, Wang L, Liao C, Shin HG, Cao X, Lee J, Xu J, Zhang T, Ye H, Setsompop K, Liu H, Bilgic B

Optimized multi-axis spiral projection MR fingerprinting with subspace reconstruction for rapid whole-brain high-isotropic-resolution quantitative imaging.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Cao X, Liao C, Iyer SS, Wang Z, Zhou Z, Dai E, Liberman G, Dong Z, Gong T, He H, Zhong J, Bilgic B, Setsompop K

Erratum to: Rapid simultaneous acquisition of macromolecular tissue volume, susceptibility, and relaxometry maps (Magn Reson Med. 2022;87:781-790.).

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Yu FF, Huang SY, Kumar A, Witzel T, Liao C, Duval T, Cohen-Adad J, Bilgic B

Rapid simultaneous acquisition of macromolecular tissue volume, susceptibility, and relaxometry maps.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Yu FF, Huang SY, Kumar A, Witzel T, Liao C, Duval T, Cohen-Adad J, Bilgic B

Quantitative T1 and T2 mapping by magnetic resonance fingerprinting (MRF) of the placenta before and after maternal hyperoxia.

Placenta

Stout JN, Liao C, Gagoski B, Turk EA, Feldman HA, Bibbo C, Barth WH, Shainker SA, Wald LL, Grant PE, Adalsteinsson E

Efficient T2 mapping with blip-up/down EPI and gSlider-SMS (T2 -BUDA-gSlider).

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Cao X, Wang K, Liao C, Zhang Z, Srinivasan Iyer S, Chen Z, Lo WC, Liu H, He H, Setsompop K, Zhong J, Bilgic B

In vivo human whole-brain Connectom diffusion MRI dataset at 760 µm isotropic resolution.

Scientific data

Wang F, Dong Z, Tian Q, Liao C, Fan Q, Hoge WS, Keil B, Polimeni JR, Wald LL, Huang SY, Setsompop K

SNR-enhanced diffusion MRI with structure-preserving low-rank denoising in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Ramos-Llordén G, Vegas-Sánchez-Ferrero G, Liao C, Westin CF, Setsompop K, Rathi Y

A multi-inversion multi-echo spin and gradient echo echo planar imaging sequence with low image distortion for rapid quantitative parameter mapping and synthetic image contrasts.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Manhard MK, Stockmann J, Liao C, Park D, Han S, Fair M, van den Boomen M, Polimeni J, Bilgic B, Setsompop K

Distortion-free, high-isotropic-resolution diffusion MRI with gSlider BUDA-EPI and multicoil dynamic B0 shimming.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Liao C, Bilgic B, Tian Q, Stockmann JP, Cao X, Fan Q, Iyer SS, Wang F, Ngamsombat C, Lo WC, Manhard MK, Huang SY, Wald LL, Setsompop K

Robust autocalibrated structured low-rank EPI ghost correction.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Lobos RA, Hoge WS, Javed A, Liao C, Setsompop K, Nayak KS, Haldar JP

Diffusion-PEPTIDE: Distortion- and blurring-free diffusion imaging with self-navigated motion-correction and relaxometry capabilities.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Fair MJ, Liao C, Manhard MK, Setsompop K

DeepDTI: High-fidelity six-direction diffusion tensor imaging using deep learning.

NeuroImage

Tian Q, Bilgic B, Fan Q, Liao C, Ngamsombat C, Hu Y, Witzel T, Setsompop K, Polimeni JR, Huang SY

High-fidelity, accelerated whole-brain submillimeter in vivo diffusion MRI using gSlider-spherical ridgelets (gSlider-SR).

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Ramos-Llordén G, Ning L, Liao C, Mukhometzianov R, Michailovich O, Setsompop K, Rathi Y

Fast submillimeter diffusion MRI using gSlider-SMS and SNR-enhancing joint reconstruction.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Haldar JP, Liu Y, Liao C, Fan Q, Setsompop K

Accelerated spin-echo functional MRI using multisection excitation by simultaneous spin-echo interleaving (MESSI) with complex-encoded generalized slice dithered enhanced resolution (cgSlider) simultaneous multislice echo-planar imaging.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Han S, Liao C, Manhard MK, Park DJ, Bilgic B, Fair MJ, Wang F, Blazejewska AI, Grissom WA, Polimeni JR, Setsompop K

High-fidelity, high-isotropic-resolution diffusion imaging through gSlider acquisition with B1+ and T1 corrections and integrated ΔB0 /Rx shim array.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Liao C, Stockmann J, Tian Q, Bilgic B, Arango NS, Manhard MK, Huang SY, Grissom WA, Wald LL, Setsompop K

Magnetic resonance fingerprinting of temporal lobe white matter in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

Annals of clinical and translational neurology

Wang K, Cao X, Wu D, Liao C, Zhang J, Ji C, Zhong J, He H, Chen Y

Ultrashort echo time magnetic resonance fingerprinting (UTE-MRF) for simultaneous quantification of long and ultrashort T2 tissues.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Li Q, Cao X, Ye H, Liao C, He H, Zhong J

Highly accelerated multishot echo planar imaging through synergistic machine learning and joint reconstruction.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Bilgic B, Chatnuntawech I, Manhard MK, Tian Q, Liao C, Iyer SS, Cauley SF, Huang SY, Polimeni JR, Wald LL, Setsompop K

Accelerated whole-brain perfusion imaging using a simultaneous multislice spin-echo and gradient-echo sequence with joint virtual coil reconstruction.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Manhard MK, Bilgic B, Liao C, Han S, Witzel T, Yen YF, Setsompop K

Uncertainty assessment of gamma-aminobutyric acid concentration of different brain regions in individual and group using residual bootstrap analysis.

Medical & biological engineering & computing

Chen M, Liao C, Chen S, Ding Q, Zhu D, Liu H, Yan X, Zhong J

Efficient parallel reconstruction for high resolution multishot spiral diffusion data with low rank constraint.

Magnetic resonance in medicine

Liao C, Chen Y, Cao X, Chen S, He H, Mani M, Jacob M, Magnotta V, Zhong J