Dr. Branch, an internationally-known MRI researcher, directs two Facilities at Einstein:

Einstein’s Gruss Magnetic Resonance Research Center (MRRC)

Einstein's Blaufox MicroPET Center

He is also Co-Director of Einstein's  EGL-Integrated Imaging Program

These facilities support cutting-edge translational and collaborative research involving magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS),  and PET/SPECT/CT imaging in both clinical and animal disease.  Areas of study include neurological, psychiatric and metabolic disorders, cancer and other diseases.  The Center supports basic physics and methodological research into MRI, PET, Data Analysis and MRI guided High Frequency Focused Ultrasound (MRIgHIFU).  Center scientists collaboration on NIH funded research, as well as foundation and industry research efforts.  Also available within the Center are facilities that support related measurements, such as cognitive assessments, clinical assessments, and basic physiological measurement.   The creation, development and implementation of new and novel  imaging technologies are a core element of the Center.

Dr. Branch’s personal research has centered on the development of MRI- and MRI-based measures of brain function and their application to brain disorders. Studies involving Traumatic Brain Injury, Sickle Cell Disease, Liver Disease, Cancer and Schizophrenia have been the focus of Dr. Branch's efforts. His research is translational, using both patients and animal models of disease.  These studies are conducted on high field MRI (3.0 Tesla) and ultra high field (9.4 Tesla) MRI and MicroPET instruments.  

Recent research activities have involved the development of methods to study the microstructural integrity of brain white matter using imaging methods that probe water movement within axonal tissues. Measurement of Cerebral Perfusion, Metabolism and Structure are being currently emplyed to characterize the effects of chronic oxidative stress and anemia upon brain energy utilziation, paving a new understanding of the cerebral ramifications of sickle cell pathology.  Investigation of new nano-particle based therapeutics for blood volume replacement and anemia resolution in hemoglobinopathies is ongoing.  Dr. Branch is co-director of the EGL Integrated Imaging Program, which supports biomedical research using multi-scale imaging approaches, from optical imaging to MRI, to probe invivo phenomena.

Dr. Branch' NIH funded activities have included research into Schizophrenia, MRI based Perfusion methodology, Stroke, TBI and the development of novel MRI instrumenation and technologies.

PUBMED:   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/myncbi/craig%20a..branch.1/bibliography/47968598/public/?sort=date&direction=ascending

1. Li X, Xia S, De La Fuente A, Branch C: The Role of Pulvinar-Cortical Functional Brain Pathways in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 2013, 52:756-758.PMCID: PMC Journal In Process.
2. Li X, Xia S, Bertisch HC, Branch CA, Delisi LE Unique topology of language processing brain network: a systems-level biomarker of schizophrenia.  Schizophr Res. 2012 Nov;141(2-3):128-36. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2012.07.026. Epub 2012 Aug 21.
3. Li X, Black M, Xia S, Zhan C, Bertisch HC, Branch CA, DeLisi LE. Subcorticalstructure alterations impact language processing in individuals withschizophrenia and those at high genetic risk. Schizophr Res. 2015 Dec;169(1-3):76-82. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2015.08.001. Epub 2015 Sep 18. PubMedPMID: 26386898; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4681604.
4. Cui MH, Suzuka SM, Branch NA, Ambadipudi K, Thangaswamy S, Acharya SA, Billett HH, Branch CA. Brain neurochemical and hemodynamic findings in the NY1DD mouse model of mild sickle cell disease. NMR Biomed. 2017 May;30(5). doi: 10.1002/nbm.3692. Epub 2017 Feb 10. PubMed PMID: 28186661.
5. Strauss SB, Kim N, Branch CA, Kahn ME, Kim M, Lipton RB, Provataris JM, Scholl HF, Zimmerman ME, Lipton ML. Bidirectional Changes in Anisotropy Are Associated with Outcomes in Mild Traumatic Brain Injury. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2016 Jun 9.  [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 27282864; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC5148740
6. Kim N, Heo M, Fleysher R, Branch CA, Lipton ML. Two step Gaussian mixture model approach to characterize white matter disease based on distributionalchanges. J Neurosci Methods. 2016 Sep 1;270:156-64. doi: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2016.04.024. Epub 2016 Apr 29. PubMed PMID: 27139737.
7. Brodin NP, Partanen A, Asp P, Branch CA, Guha C, Tomé WA. A simple method for determining the coagulation threshold temperature of transparent tissue-mimicking thermal therapy gel phantoms: Validated by magnetic resonance imaging thermometry. Med Phys. 2016 Mar;43(3):1167-74. doi: 10.1118/1.4941361. PubMed PMID: 26936702; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4752546.
8. Smith TL, Yuan Z, Cardó-Vila M, Sanchez Claros C, Adem A, Cui MH, Branch CA,Gelovani JG, Libutti SK, Sidman RL, Pasqualini R, Arap W. AAVP displayingoctreotide for ligand-directed therapeutic transgene delivery in neuroendocrine tumors of the pancreas. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Mar 1;113(9):2466-71. doi:10.1073/pnas.1525709113. Epub 2016 Feb 16. PubMed PMID: 26884209; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4780640.
9. Cui MH, Jayalakshmi K, Liu L, Guha C, Branch CA. In vivo (1)H MRS and (31)P MRSI of the response to cyclocreatine in transgenic mouse liver expressing creatine kinase. NMR Biomed. 2015 Dec;28(12):1634-44. doi: 10.1002/nbm.3391. Epub 2015 Oct 9. PubMed PMID: 26451872.
10. Li X, Black M, Xia S, Zhan C, Bertisch HC, Branch CA, DeLisi LE. Subcortical structure alterations impact language processing in individuals with schizophrenia and those at high genetic risk. Schizophr Res. 2015 Dec;169(1-3):76-82. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2015.08.001. Epub 2015 Sep 18. PubMed PMID: 26386898; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4681604.
11. Chitu V, Gokhan S, Gulinello M, Branch CA, Patil M, Basu R, Stoddart C, Mehler MF, Stanley ER. Phenotypic characterization of a Csf1r haploinsufficient mouse model of adult-onset leukodystrophy with axonal spheroids and pigmented glia (ALSP). Neurobiol Dis. 2015 Feb;74:219-28. doi: 10.1016/j.nbd.2014.12.001. Epub 2014 Dec 9. PubMed PMID: 25497733; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4323933.
12. Cui MH, Branch CA, Cahill SM, Quinn TJ, Adem A, Libutti SK, Yuan Z. In vivo proton MR spectroscopy of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors in a multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 conditional knockout mouse model. Magn Reson Med. 2015 Nov;74(5):1221-6. doi: 10.1002/mrm.25529. Epub 2014 Nov 13. PubMed PMID: 25392979; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4430461.
13. Fethke NB, Merlino LA, Gerr F, Schall MC Jr, Branch CA. Musculoskeletal pain  among Midwest farmers and associations with agricultural activities. Am J Ind Med. 2015 Mar;58(3):319-30. doi: 10.1002/ajim.22398. Epub 2014 Oct 23. PubMed PMID: 25345841.
14. Kim N, Heo M, Fleysher R, Branch CA, Lipton ML. A gaussian mixture model approach for estimating and comparing the shapes of distributions of neuroimaging data: diffusion-measured aging effects in brain white matter. Front Public Health. 2014 Apr 14;2:32. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2014.00032. eCollection 2014. PubMed PMID: 24783191; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3995036.
15. Lipton ML, Kim N, Zimmerman ME, Kim M, Stewart WF, Branch CA, Lipton RB. Soccer heading is associated with white matter microstructural and cognitive abnormalities. Radiology. 2013 Sep;268(3):850-7. doi: 10.1148/radiol.13130545. Epub 2013 Jun 11. PubMed PMID: 23757503; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3750422.
16. Kim N, Branch CA, Kim M, Lipton ML. Whole brain approaches for identification of microstructural abnormalities in individual patients: comparison of techniques applied to mild traumatic brain injury. PLoS One. 2013;8(3):e59382. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0059382. Epub 2013 Mar 26. PubMed PMID: 23555665; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3608654.
17. Li X, Xia S, Bertisch HC, Branch CA, Delisi LE. Unique topology of language processing brain network: a systems-level biomarker of schizophrenia. Schizophr Res. 2012 Nov;141(2-3):128-36. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2012.07.026. Epub 2012 Aug PubMed PMID: 22917951; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3463735.
18. Lipton ML, Kim N, Park YK, Hulkower MB, Gardin TM, Shifteh K, Kim M, Zimmerman ME, Lipton RB, Branch CA. Robust detection of traumatic axonal injury in individual mild traumatic brain injury patients: intersubject variation, change over time and bidirectional changes in anisotropy. Brain Imaging Behav. 2012 Jun;6(2):329-42. doi: 10.1007/s11682-012-9175-2. PubMed PMID: 22684769.
19. Li X, Alapati V, Jackson C, Xia S, Bertisch HC, Branch CA, Delisi LE. Structural abnormalities in language circuits in genetic high-risk subjects and schizophrenia patients. Psychiatry Res. 2012 Mar 31;201(3):182-9. doi: 10.1016/j.pscychresns.2011.07.017. Epub 2012 Apr 16. PubMed PMID: 22512952; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3361621.
20. Lipton ML, Liszewski MC, O'Connell MN, Mills A, Smiley JF, Branch CA, Isler JR, Schroeder CE. Interactions within the hand representation in primary somatosensory cortex of primates. J Neurosci. 2010 Nov 24;30(47):15895-903. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4765-09.2010. Erratum in: J Neurosci. 2015 Dec 2;35(48):16013. PubMed PMID: 21106828; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3073563.