Research Interests

My primary research interest focuses on developing non-invasive diagnostic technologies to address regional and global healthcare challenges, with an emphasis on ensuring their robustness and reliability for routine clinical application. A key focus of our research is advancing imaging technologies capable of probing molecular environment and detecting biochemical symptoms in diseased tissues using standard clinical MRI scanners without the need of injecting any contrast agent. These advancements offer great opportunities for early detection of diseases and improved monitoring of treatment effectiveness.

To achieve these objectives, we employ an interdisciplinary approach that integrates physics, artificial intelligence, engineering, and clinical medicine. We collaborate closely with clinical colleagues and industry partners to assess the diagnostic value of our innovations and translate them into routine clinical practice.

Education Profile

• PhD. University of Virginia, Biomedical Engineering, 2008
• MSc. Stanford University, Geophysics, 2004
• BSc. Peking University, Geophysics, 1998

Since joining The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Professor Chen has been dedicated to teaching, mentorship, and research training across multiple levels. By 2025, he had supervised the successful completion of seven PhD students. He has also supervised many postdoctoral fellows and research assistants, supporting their development in scientific research and technological innovation.

Professor Chen has taught Biomedical Imaging (BMEG 3320) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering since 2017. He also teaches AI in Radiology to medical students at CUHK, reflecting his commitment to interdisciplinary education at the intersection of engineering, medicine, and artificial intelligence.

Professor Chen’s students and trainees have received many prestigious awards and honors, including the Hong Kong PhD Fellowship Scheme, Summa Cum Laude and Magna Cum Laude distinctions at the annual meetings of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, Gold and Silver Medals at the International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva, the Young Investigator Award from the Overseas Chinese Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, the Third Place Award at the CMRxRecon Challenge at MICCAI 2023, and the CUHK Vice-Chancellor HKPFS Scholarship.

• Annual Meeting Program committee (AMPC), the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2024-2027
• Education Committee, the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2023-2024
• Publication Committee, the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 2018-2021
• PhD thesis Examiners, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, City University of Hong Kong
• Supervisor, Selected Study Modules (SSM) for Year 4 medical students, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Supervisor, Final Year Projects for undergraduate students, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Guest Editor, Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery
• Reviewer for 39 journals

MR Physics, Quantitative Imaging, and Molecular MRI

A major research focus of Professor Chen is the development of non-invasive diagnostic quantitative magnetic resonance imaging technologies. His work explores how MR physics can be leveraged to probe the molecular environment of biological tissues in a non-invasive manner. A central objective of this research is the development of novel contrast mechanisms and imaging methods that provide diagnostically important information beyond conventional structural imaging, with the goal of improving clinical disease management.

Professor Chen’s team has developed innovative approaches to assess tissue macromolecules and metabolites using non-invasive spin-lock radiofrequency techniques on clinical MRI systems. These quantitative imaging methods are designed to be signal-efficient, robust, and reliable under the complex conditions encountered in human MRI studies. Professor Chen and his team work closely with clinicians and industry partners to translate these technologies into routine clinical practice.

Artificial Intelligence

Professor Chen’s team is also engaged in artificial intelligence research in clinical radiology. This work brings together expertise in artificial intelligence, physics, engineering, and clinical medicine to address important challenges in healthcare.

The team uses AI to improve the reliability of quantitative MRI, accelerate MRI acquisition, and automate image post-processing and clinical workflows. Their research also aims to enhance the generalizability of AI technologies across diverse clinical settings. In addition, they study data-centric challenges in medical imaging, including patient privacy, data sharing, and clinical data annotation.

Selected Publications

1. Gao Z, Zhou Z, Yu Z, Shan Q, Lee J, Abrigo J, Hui E, So T, Chen W*. Orientation-independent magnetization transfer imaging of brain white matter. NeuroImage. 2025 Sep 11:121456.

2. Shan Q, Yu Z, Jiang B, Hou J, Shen Q, Chu W, Wong V, Chen W*. Quantitative macromolecular proton fraction imaging using pulsed spin-lock. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Aug, 2025

3. Zhong J, Huang C, Yu Z, Xiao F, Blu T, Li S, Ong M, Ho K, Chan Q, Griffith J, Chen W*. Utilizing 3D fast spin echo anatomical imaging to reduce the number of contrast preparations in quantification of knee cartilage using learning-based methods. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Aug, 2025
4. Li S, Yao Y, Zhong J, Zhao S, Zhang Y, Wang S, Hong J*, Chen W*. ERANet: Edge replacement augmentation for semi-supervised meniscus segmentation with prototype consistency alignment and conditional self-training. Neural Networks. 2025 Nov 15:108337.

5. Gao Z, Yu Z, Zhou Z, Hou J, Jiang B, Ong M, Chen W*. Orientation‐independent quantification of macromolecular proton fraction in tissues with suppression of residual dipolar coupling. NMR in Biomedicine. 2025 Jan;38(1):e5293. (Featured as Cover Article)

6. Zhang L, Li X, Chen W*. Camp-net: consistency-aware multi-prior network for accelerated MRI reconstruction. IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics. 2024 Dec.

7. Yao Y, Zhong J, Zhang L, Khan S, Chen W*. CartiMorph: A framework for automated knee articular cartilage morphometrics. Medical Image Analysis. 2024 Jan 1;91:103035.

8. Hou J, Wong VW*, Qian Y, Jiang B, Chan AW, Leung HH, Wong GL, Yu SC, Chu WC, Chen W*. Detecting Early‐Stage Liver Fibrosis Using Macromolecular Proton Fraction Mapping Based on Spin‐Lock MRI: Preliminary Observations. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging. 2023 Feb;57(2):485-92. (Featured as Cover Article)

9. Hong J, Zhang YD, Chen W*. Source-free unsupervised domain adaptation for cross-modality abdominal multi-organ segmentation. Knowledge-Based Systems. 2022 Jun 2:109155.

10. Hou J, Wong VW, Jiang B, Wang YX, Wong GL, Chan AW, Chu WC, Chen W*. Macromolecular proton fraction mapping based on spin‐lock magnetic resonance imaging. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. 2020 Dec;84(6):3157-71.

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Patents

1. W Chen, CH Meyer, Fast automatic linear off-resonance correction method for spiral imaging, US Patent 7,642,777, Filed 21/08/2007, Date of Patent 05/01/2010

2. W Chen, CH Meyer, CT Sica, System, Method and Computer Program Product for Fast Conjugate Phase Reconstruction Based on Polynomial Approximation, US Patent 8,094,907, Filed 02/05/2008, Date of Patent 10/01/2012

3. W Chen, P Hu, CH Meyer, Method and System for Off-Resonance Correction for Non-Cartesian Parallel Imaging Reconstruction, US Patent 8,306,289, Filed 25/02/2008, Date of Patent 06/11/2012

4. W Chen, CH Meyer, Efficient Off-Resonance Correction Method and System for Spiral Imaging with Improved Accuracy, US Patent 8,238,634, Filed 25/02/2008, Date of Patent 07/08/2012

5. W Chen, P Hu, CH Meyer, Rapid Auto-Calibrated Parallel Reconstruction Using Synthetic Target Coil, US Patent 8,026,720, Filed 25/03/2009, Date of Patent 27/09/2011

6. W Chen, ACS Brau, PJ Beatty, System and Method of Parallel Imaging for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Near Metallic Implants, US Patent 8,482,279, Filed 31/03/2010, Date of Patent 09/07/2013

7. W Chen, E Han, Composite Spin Locking Pulse Sequence and Method of Using the Same, US Patent 8,618,797, Filed 23/07/2010, Date of Patent 31/12/2013

8. P Lai, W Chen, Accelerated Multispectral Data Magnetic Resonance Imaging System and Method, US Patent 9,018,951, Filed 18/04/2011, Date of Patent 28/04/2015

9. W Chen, RD Peters, ZW Slavens, KM Koch, Method and apparatus for ring artifact repair of magnetic resonance images, US Patent 9,727,953, Filed 30/06/2015, Date of Patent 08/08/2017

10. W Chen, B Jiang, Y Wang, Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging Relaxometry with Suppression of Blood Signal, US Patent 10,557,906, Filed 27/04/2017, Date of Patent 11/02/2020

11. W Chen. System and Method for Separation of Water and Fat Signals During Spin-lock Magnetic Resonance Imaging, US Patent 10,598,751, Filed 04/02/2019, Date of Patent 24/03/2020

12. K Gan, W Chen. System and Method for Patient Privacy Protection in Medical Images, US Patent 10,679,740, Filed 12/06/2018, Date of Patent 09/06/2020

13. W Chen, B Jiang. System and Method for Continuous Wave Constant Amplitude On-Resonance and Off-resonance Spin-Lock for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, US 11,137,463, USA patent, Filed 28/07/2017, Date of Patent 05/10/2021

14. W Chen, J Hou, B Jiang. System and Method for Quantitative Magnetization Transfer Imaging Based on Spin-Lock. US 11,280,867 B2, USA patent, Filed 13/05/2020, Date of Patent 22/03/2022

15. W Chen, B Jiang, Z Yu, Method and Apparatus for Quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging Using Spin-Lock Radio Frequency Trains, US 12,386,000 B2, USA patent, Filed 31/05/2023, Date of Patent 12/08/2025

16. J Hou, W Chen, System and Method for Tissue Characterization Using Fast Quantitative Spin-lock Magnetic Transfer Imaging, US 12,392,853 B2, USA patent, Filed 24/01/2023, Date of Patent 19/08/2025

17. L Zhang, W Chen, System and Method for Consistency-Awae Learnable Multi-Prior Reconstruction for Magnetic Resonance Imaging, US 12,535,547, USA patent, Filed 13/03/2024, Date of Patent 27/01/2026

18. Y Yao, W Chen, System and Method for Articular Cartilage thickness Mapping and Lesion Quantification, US patent Application No. 18/095,474, Filed 10/01/2023

19. S Zhao, W Chen, System and Method for Denoising in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, US patent Application No. 18/128,193, Filed 29/03/2023

20. H Kang, W Chen, Deep Learning Based Accelerated MRI Reconstruction Using Mixed CNN and Vision Transformer, US patent Application No. 18/628,342, Filed 05/04/2024