Dr Marco Palombo
(he/him)

: Available for postgraduate supervision

Teams and roles for Marco Palombo

Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor), Head of Microstructure Imaging at CUBRIC
School of Psychology

Biography

I am UKRI Future Leaders Fellow and Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) in Microstructure Imaging at Cardiff University, with a joint appointment between the Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) in the School of Psychology, where I am Head of Microstructure Imaging and co-lead the MicroTeam group, and the School of Computer Science and Informatics, where I co-lead the Medical Image Computing group.

I am also lead academic in the Interdisciplinary Precision Oncology Cardiff Hub (IPOCH) and have been a member of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Robotics and Human-Machine Systems (IROHMS) at Cardiff University where I co-chaired the "Human-centric AI for Medical Imaging" Working Group.

I have B.Sc., M.Sc. and PhD in Physics, with expertise in biophysical modelling, machine learning, computational modelling, medical imaging, and data analysis.

Research

I lead the Microstructure Imaging research programme at CUBRIC. My research interest is in combining Physics, Computer Science and Neuroscience to develop non-invasive imaging technologies for early diagnosis and prognosis of neurological and psychiatric conditions.

Towards this goal, my team (see Research tab) and I combine computational modelling, MRI and modern machine learning to pioneer key innovations in microstructure imaging and non-invasive histology of the brain (with particular focus on grey matter):

The first demonstration of non-invasive quantification of complex brain cell morphology, using diffusion-weighted MR spectroscopy and computational modelling (Palombo et al., PNAS 2016);

Mapping of cell body size and density, using SANDI (Palombo et al. Neuroimage 2020, Ianus et al. Neuroimage 2022); mapping of water exchange, using NEXI (Jelescu et al. Neuroimage 2022; Uhl et al. Imaging Neuroscience 2024);

Translation of cell body size and density imaging using SANDI on clinical 3T scanners to characterize Multiple Sclerosis (MS) pathology (Schiavi et al. Human Brain Mapping 2023, Magoni et al. Journal of Neurology 2023, Barakovic et al. Nature Sci Rep 2024);

Imaging restriction and exchange effects using diffusion temporal ratio, TDR (Warner et al. Neuroimage 2023) and combined water and metabolite diffusion time dependence (Mougel et al. Imaging Neuroscience 2024);

First-of-its-kind generative models of complex brain cell morphologies (Palombo et al., Neuroimage 2019), axonal bundles with ConFiG (Callaghan et al. Neuroimage 2020) and brain gray matter with ConCeG (Aird-Rossiter et al. ISMRM2024) for the controlled and flexible generation of ultra-realistic computational models of the brain microstructure, essential for more realistic numerical simulations (e.g. Monte Carlo)

Recent work focuses on combining such computational models, Monte Carlo simulations and machine learning for next generation microstructure imaging, e.g.:

Maps of axonal permeability as new imaging marker of demyelination (Hill et al. Neuroimage 2021);

In vivo quantification of glial reactivity and neuroinflammation (Ligneul et al., Neuroimage 2019, Genovese et al., NMR Biomed 2021);

Cancer-specific microstructure imaging to assess brain tumor’s response to radio/proton therapy (Buizza et al., Medical Physics 2020, Morelli et al. Medical Physics 2023); endometrial cancer (Maiuro et al. Medical Physics 2025); and simulations and microstructure imaging frameworks tailored to liver cancer (Grussu et al. medRxiv 2024, Grigoriu et al. medRxiv 2024, Voronova et al. Medical Image Analysis 2025)

Joint estimation of diffusion and relaxation properties of prostate cancer with rVERDICT (Palombo et al. Nature Sci. Rep. 2023), and advanced microstructural characterization of prostate cancer using ultra-strong gradients (Molendowska et al. NMR Biomed 2024)

Efficient Bayesian inference using deep learning for uncertainty and degeneracy quantification in microstructure imaging using µGUIDE (Jallais and Palombo, eLife 2024)

Advanced characterization of brain microstructure during healthy neurodevelopment (Genc et al. Nature Communications 2025, Karat et al. bioRxiv 2024)

Efficient data compression of multidimensional MRI data with SirenMRI (Mancini et al, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2022)

Open-source code:

SANDI: https://github.com/palombom/SANDI-Matlab-Toolbox-Latest-Release
NEXI: https://github.com/QuentinUhl/nexi
rVERDICT: https://github.com/palombom/rVERDICT
µGUIDE: https://github.com/mjallais/uGUIDE
SirenMRI: https://github.com/palombom/SirenMRI

Funding

Our research is supported by a range of funding bodies and industrial partners:

UK Research and Innovation

2025-2028: UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Renewal: MR/T020296/2, (Palombo Principal Investigator), ~£700k
2022-2025: UKRI MRC: MR/W031566/1, (Palombo Co-Principal Investigator), ~£1m
2020-2025: UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship: MR/T020296/1 & 2, (Palombo Principal Investigator), ~£1.3m
2022-2024: UKRI BBSRC: BB/X005089/1, (Palombo Principal Investigator), ~£22k
2022-2027: UKRI EPSRC DTP Scholarships (Lewis Kitchingman and Jiří Benáček), ~£130k

Cancer Research Wales & Velindre University NHS Trust:

2024- 2027 MIMOSA study (Palombo Joint Lead Applicant), ~£350k

Strategic Partnerships with Industry

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) - PhD Scholarship (Elise Gwyther)
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd (Roche) - DEPICT research project (2024-2027)
Siemens Healthineers Ltd

Australian Research Council (ARC)

2025- 2028 Discovery Project "New mathematical models for brain tissue microstructure imaging" (Palombo Co-Principal Investigator), ~£300k

Date
Type

2020

Ning, L. et al. 2020. Cross-scanner and cross-protocol multi-shell diffusion MRI data harmonization: algorithms and result. NeuroImage 221, article number: 117128. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117128)
Pizzolato, M. et al. 2020. Acquiring and predicting multidimensional diffusion (MUDI) data: an open challenge. Presented at: MICCAI Workshop, Shenzhen, China, Oct 2019 Presented at Bonet-Carne, E. et al. eds.Computational Diffusion MRI. Mathematics and Visualization Springer pp. 195-208., (10.1007/978-3-030-52893-5_17)
Callaghan, R., Alexander, D. C., Palombo, M. and Zhang, H. 2020. ConFiG: Contextual Fibre Growth to generate realistic axonal packing for diffusion MRI simulation. NeuroImage 220, article number: 117107. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117107)
Jelescu, I. O., Palombo, M., Bagnato, F. and Schilling, K. G. 2020. Challenges for biophysical modeling of microstructure. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 344, article number: 108861. (10.1016/j.jneumeth.2020.108861)
Slator, P. J. et al. 2020. Data-driven multi-contrast spectral microstructure imaging with InSpect. Presented at: MICCAI: International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention, Lima, Peru, 4–8 October, 2020 Presented at Martel, A. et al. eds.Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention – MICCAI 2020., Vol. 12266. Cham: Springer pp. 375-385., (10.1007/978-3-030-59725-2_36)
Warner, R. W., Palombo, M., Dell'Acqua, F. and Drobnjak, I. 2020. Optimisation of Temporal Diffusion Ratio (TDR) to maximise its potential to map large axons: Insight from simulations. Presented at: ISMRM and SMRT Virtual Conference and Exhibition, 8-14 August 2020.
Palombo, M., Ianus, A., Guerreri, M., Nunes, D., Alexander, D. C., Shemesh, N. and Zhang, H. 2020. SANDI: a compartment-based model for non-invasive apparent soma and neurite imaging by diffusion MRI.. NeuroImage 215, article number: 116835. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116835)
Vincent, M., Palombo, M. and Valette, J. 2020. Revisiting double diffusion encoding MRS in the mouse brain at 11.7T: Which microstructural features are we sensitive to?. NeuroImage 207, article number: 116399. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116399)
Capuani, S. and Palombo, M. 2020. Mini review on anomalous diffusion by MRI: Potential advantages, pitfalls, limitations, nomenclature, and correct interpretation of literature. Frontiers in Physics 7, article number: 248. (10.3389/fphy.2019.00248)
Palombo, M. and Singh, S. 2020. Relaxed-VERDICT: decoupling relaxation and diffusion for comprehensive microstructure characterization of prostate cancer.. Presented at: ISMRM & SMRT Virtual Conference & Exhibition 2020, Online, 8-14 August 2020.
Guerreri, M., Szczepankiewicz, F., Lampinen, B., Palombo, M., Nilsson, M. and Zhang, H. 2020. Tortuosity assumption not the cause of NODDI’s incompatibility with tensor-valued diffusion encoding. Presented at: ISMRM and SMRT Virtual Conference and Exhibition, 8-14 August 2020.

2019

Slator, P. et al. 2019. Combined diffusion-relaxometry MRI to identify dysfunction in the human placenta. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 82(1), pp. 95-106. (10.1002/mrm.27733)
Callaghan, R., Alexander, D. C., Zhang, H. and Palombo, M. 2019. Contextual fibre growth to generate realistic axonal packing for diffusion MRI simulation. Presented at: IPMI: 26th International Conference on Information Processing in Medical Imaging, Hong Kong, China, 2-7-June 2019 Presented at Chung, A. et al. eds.Information Processing in Medical Imaging Proceedings, Vol. 11492. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Springer pp. 429-440., (10.1007/978-3-030-20351-1_33)
Slator, P. et al. 2019. InSpect: INtegrated SPECTral component estimation and mapping for multi-contrast microstructural MRI. Presented at: IPMI 2019: International Conference on Information Processing in Medical Imaging, 2-7 June 2019 Presented at Chung, A. C. S. et al. eds.Information Processing in Medical Imaging: 26th International Conference, IPMI 2019, Hong Kong, China, June 2–7, 2019, Proceedings. Springer pp. 755-766., (10.1007/978-3-030-20351-1_59)
Callaghan, R., Shemesh, N., Alexander, D., Zhang, H. and Palombo, M. 2019. Towards a more realistic and flexible white matter numerical phantom generator for diffusion MRI simulation. Presented at: ISMRM 27th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 11-16 May 2019.
Ianus, A., Callaghan, R., Alexander, D. and Palombo, M. 2019. Effect of cell complexity and size on diffusion MRI signal: a simulation study. Presented at: ISMRM 27th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 11-16 May 2019.
Ning, L. et al. 2019. Muti-shell diffusion MRI harmonisation and enhancement challenge (MUSHAC): Progress and results. Presented at: MICCAI 2018, Granada, Spain, 16-20 September 2018 Presented at Bonet-Carne, E. et al. eds.Computational Diffusion MRI, Vol. 1. Mathematics and Visualization Cham: Springer pp. 217-224., (10.1007/978-3-030-05831-9_18)
Ligneu, C. et al. 2019. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance spectroscopy enables cell-specific monitoring of astrocyte reactivity in vivo. NeuroImage 191, pp. 457-469. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.02.046)
Slator, P. et al. 2019. Placenta Imaging Workshop 2018 report: Multiscale and multimodal approaches. Placenta 79, pp. 78-82. (10.1016/j.placenta.2018.10.010)
Palombo, M., Alexander, D. C. and Zhang, H. 2019. A generative model of realistic brain cells with application to numerical simulation of the diffusion-weighted MR signal. NeuroImage 188, pp. 391-402. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.12.025)
Guerreri, M., Palombo, M., Caporale, A., Fasano, F., Macaluso, E., Bozzali, M. and Capuani, S. 2019. Age-related microstructural and physiological changes in normal brain measured by MRI γ-metrics derived from anomalous diffusion signal representation. NeuroImage 188, pp. 654-667. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.12.044)
Blumberg, S. B., Palombo, M., Khoo, C. S., Tax, C. M. W., Tanno, R. and Alexander, D. C. 2019. Multi-stage prediction networks for data harmonization. Presented at: Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention – MICCAI, Shenzhen, China, 13-17 Oct 2019Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention – MICCAI Proceedings, Vol. 11767. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Springer pp. 411-419., (10.1007/978-3-030-32251-9_45)
Palombo, M., Nunes, D., Alexander, D. C., Zhang, H. and Shemesh, N. 2019. Histological validation of the brain cell body imaging with diffusion MRI at ultrahigh field. Presented at: ISMRM 27th Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 11-16 May 2019 Presented at Port, J. D. and Noll, D. C. eds.Proceedings of the 27th ISMRM Annual Meeting and Exhibition. ISMRM (International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine).
Palombo, M. et al. 2019. Improving strain diagnosis of prion disease by diffusion MRI and biophysical modelling. Presented at: 27th ISMRM Annual Meeting and Exhibition, 11-16 May 2019.

2018

Palombo, M., Shemesh, N., Ronen, I. and Valette, J. 2018. Insights into brain microstructure from in vivo DW-MRS. NeuroImage 182, pp. 97-116. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.11.028)
Palombo, M., Ligneul, C., Hernandez-Garzon, E. and Valette, J. 2018. Can we detect the effect of spines and leaflets on the diffusion of brain intracellular metabolites?. NeuroImage 182, pp. 283-293. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.05.003)
Jones, D. K. et al. 2018. Microstructural imaging of the human brain with a ‘super-scanner’: 10 key advantages of ultra-strong gradients for diffusion MRI. NeuroImage 182, pp. 8-38. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.05.047)
Guerreri, M., Szczepankiewicz, F., Lampinen, B., Nilsson, M., Palombo, M., Capuani, S. and Zhang, G. H. 2018. Revised NODDI model for diffusion MRI data with multiple b-tensor encodings. Presented at: Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB 2018, 16-21 June 2018.
Palombo, M. et al. 2018. Machine learning based estimation of axonal permeability: validation on cuprizone treated in-vivo mouse model of axonal demyelination. Presented at: Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB 2018, 16-21 June 2018 Presented at Miller, K. L. and Port, J. D. eds.
Hill, I. et al. 2018. Deep neural network based framework for in-vivo axonal permeability estimation. Presented at: Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB 2018, 16-21 June 2018Proceedings of the Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB 2018. ISMRM (International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine).
Palombo, M., Shemesh, N., Ianus, A., Alexander, D. and Zhang, H. 2018. Abundance of cell bodies can explain the stick model’s failure in grey matter at high bvalue. Presented at: Joint Annual Meeting ISMRM-ESMRMB 2018, 16-21 June 2018.
Sinibaldi, R. et al. 2018. Multimodal-3D imaging based on MRI and CT techniques bridges the gap with histology in visualization of the bone regeneration process. Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine 12(3), pp. 750-761. (10.1002/term.2494)
Valette, J., Ligneul, C., Marchadour, C., Najac, C. and Palombo, M. 2018. Brain metabolite diffusion from ultra-short to ultra-long time scales: What do we learn, where should we go?. Frontiers in Neuroscience 12, article number: 2. (10.3389/fnins.2018.00002)

2017

Conti, A., Palombo, M., Parmentier, A., Poggi, G., Baglioni, P. and De Luca, F. 2017. Two-phase water model in the cellulose network of paper. Cellulose 24(8), pp. 3479-3487. (10.1007/s10570-017-1338-2)
Ligneul, C., Palombo, M. and Valette, J. 2017. Metabolite diffusion up to very high b in the mouse brain In Vivo: Revisiting the potential correlation between relaxation and diffusion properties. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 77(4), pp. 1390-1398. (10.1002/mrm.26217)
Caporale, A., Palombo, M., Macaluso, E., Guerreri, M., Bozzali, M. and Capuani, S. 2017. The gamma-parameter of anomalous diffusion quantified in human brain by MRI depends on local magnetic susceptibility differences. NeuroImage 147, pp. 619-631. (10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.12.051)
Zhang, D., Zhu, X., Bifone, A., Gozzi, A., Capuani, S. and Palombo, M. 2017. Efficient parametric imaging with GPU computing. Biophysical Journal 112(3), pp. 583A-584A. (10.1016/j.bpj.2016.11.3141)
Palombo, M., Ligneul, C. and Valette, J. 2017. Modeling diffusion of intracellular metabolites in the mouse brain up to very high diffusion-weighting: Diffusion in long fibers (almost) accounts for non-monoexponential attenuation. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 77(1), pp. 343-350. (10.1002/mrm.26548)

2016

Santi, G. D., La Greca, C., Bruno, A., Palombo, M., Bronco, I. and Palombo, P. 2016. The use of dermal regeneration template (Matriderm (R) 1 mm) for reconstruction of a large full-thickness scalp and calvaria exposure. Journal of Burn Care and Research 37(5), pp. E497-E498. (10.1097/BCR.0000000000000395)
Palombo, M. et al. 2016. New paradigm to assess brain cell morphology by diffusion-weighted MR spectroscopy in vivo. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113(24), pp. 6671-6676. (10.1073/pnas.1504327113)

2015

Palombo, M., Gentili, S., Bozzali, M., Macaluso, E. and Capuani, S. 2015. New insight into the contrast in diffusional kurtosis images: does it depend on magnetic susceptibility?. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine 73(5), pp. 2015-2024. (10.1002/mrm.25308)

2014

Di Pietro, G., Palombo, M. and Capuani, S. 2014. Internal magnetic field gradients in heterogeneous porous systems: comparison between spin-echo and diffusion decay internal field (DDIF) method. Applied Magnetic Resonance 45(8), pp. 771-784. (10.1007/s00723-014-0556-0)

2013

Palombo, M., Gabrielli, A., Servedio, V. D. P., Ruocco, G. and Capuani, S. 2013. Structural disorder and anomalous diffusion in random packing of spheres. Scientific Reports 3, article number: 2631. (10.1038/srep02631)
GadElkarim, J. J., Magin, R. L., Meerschaert, M. M., Capuani, S., Palombo, M., Kumar, A. and Leow, A. D. 2013. Fractional order generalization of anomalous diffusion as a multidimensional extension of the transmission line equation. IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems 3(3), pp. 432-441. (10.1109/JETCAS.2013.2265795)
Di Pietro, G. et al. 2013. Assessment of muscle microstructures in osteoporotic and osteoarthritic subjects by using magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging. Presented at: European Congress on Osteoporosis and Osteoarthritis (ESCEO13-IOF), 2013, Vol. 24. Vol. Supp 1. Springer pp. S293-S293., (10.1007/s00198-013-2312-y)
Capuani, S., Palombo, M., Gabrielli, A., Orlandi, A., Maraviglia, B. and Pastore, F. S. 2013. Spatio-temporal anomalous diffusion imaging: results in controlled phantoms and in excised human meningiomas. Magnetic Resonance Imaging 31(3), pp. 359-365. (10.1016/j.mri.2012.08.012)

2012

Palombo, M., Gabrielli, A., De Santis, S. and Capuani, S. 2012. The γ parameter of the stretched-exponential model is influenced by internal gradients: Validation in phantoms. Journal of Magnetic Resonance 216, pp. 28-36. (10.1016/j.jmr.2011.12.023)

2011

De Santis, S., Gabrielli, A., Palombo, M., Maraviglia, B. and Capuani, S. 2011. Non-Gaussian diffusion imaging: a brief practical review. Magnetic Resonance Imaging 29(10), pp. 1410-1416. (10.1016/j.mri.2011.04.006)

I am the Head of Microstructure Imaging and lead the Microstructure Imaging research programme at CUBRIC. My multi-disciplinary team is part of the wider MicroTeam in CUBRIC and the Medical Image Computing group in the School of Computer Science and Informatics and it comprises students and expert researchers in Physics, Computer Science, Neuroscience and Psychology.

Our research focusses on advanced microstructure mapping using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging techniques (see the Overview tab for further details).

Team members:

Assistant Professors:

Paddy Slator, PhD - Lecturer in Computer Science - slatorp@cardiff.ac.uk
Stefano Zappala, PhD - Lecturer in Computer Science - zappalas@cardiff.ac.uk

Post-Doctoral Research Associates:

Maëliss Jallais, PhD - Research Associate - jallaism@cardiff.ac.uk
Kadir Simsek, PhD - Research Associate - simsekk@cardiff.ac.uk

Clinical Fellows:

Jennifer Golten, MD - Honorary Clinical Fellow - jenny.golten@wales.nhs.uk

PhD Students:

Charlie Aird-Rossiter - PhD student - aird-rossiterc@cardiff.ac.uk
Jiří Benáček - PhD student - benacek@cardiff.ac.uk
Elise Gwyther- PhD student - gwythere@cardiff.ac.uk
Lewis Kitchingman - PhD student - kitchingmanl@cardiff.ac.uk
Solanki Mitra - PhD student - mitras1@cardiff.ac.uk
Adam Threlfall - PhD student - threlfallas@cardiff.ac.uk
Michael Law - PhD student - lawml@cardiff.ac.uk

Interns and Master Students:

Ioanna Deroukaki - Intern - deroukakii@cardiff.ac.uk
Medha Raketla - Intern - raketlam@cardiff.ac.uk
Rutu Shah - Intern - shahr48@cardiff.ac.uk

Visiting students and scientists

(2024 - 3 months) Manon Desenne - while master student at Aix-Marseille Université (France)
(2024 - 3 months) Ana Aquino Servin - while PhD student at FIDMAG in Barcelona (Spain)
(2024 - 6 months) Eleonora Lupi - while PhD student at the University of Pavia (Italy)
(2023 - 3 months) Qianqian Yang - while Assistant Professor at Queensland University of Technology, QUT (Australia)
(2023 - 6 months) Alessandra Maiuro - while PhD student at Sapienza University (Italy)
(2022 - 1 month) Erick Canales Rodrigues - while Senior Research Fellow at the Ecole Polythecnique Federale de Lausanne, EPFL (Switzerland)
(2022 - 1.5 months) Bradley Karat, while PhD student at the University of Western Ontario, (Canada)
(2022 - 1.5 months) Lydia Chougar - while PhD student at the Institute of Brain and Spine, ICM (France)

Previous members

(2022 - 2024) Eirini Messaritaki, PhD - Senior Research Associate - messaritakie2@cardiff.ac.uk

Funding

Our research is supported by a range of funding bodies and industrial partners:

UK Research and Innovation

2025-2028: UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Renewal: MR/T020296/2, (Palombo Principal Investigator), ~£700k
2022-2025: UKRI MRC: MR/W031566/1, (Palombo Co-Principal Investigator), ~£1m
2020-2025: UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship: MR/T020296/1 & 2, (Palombo Principal Investigator), ~£1.3m
2022-2024: UKRI BBSRC: BB/X005089/1, (Palombo Principal Investigator), ~£22k
2022-2027: UKRI EPSRC DTP Scholarships (Lewis Kitchingman and Jiří Benáček), ~£130k

Cancer Research Wales & Velindre University NHS Trust:

2024-2027 MIMOSA study (Palombo Joint Lead Applicant), ~£350k

Strategic Partnerships with Industry

GlaxoSmithKline Plc (GSK) - PhD Scholarship (Elise Gwyther)
F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd (Roche) - DEPICT research project (2024-2027)

Australian Research Council (ARC)

2025- 2028 Discovery Project "New mathematical models for brain tissue microstructure imaging" (Palombo Co-Principal Investigator), ~£300k

Education

2014: PhD in Biophysics. Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy. Anomalous diffusion to probe brain microstructure by means of new NMR parameters: from theoretical modelling to NMR in vivo experiments.
2010: MSc in Physics. Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
2007: BSc in Physics. Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

Employment

2021 – present: Senior Lecturer joint 50:50 School of Psychology and School of Computer Science and Informatics. Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
2018 – 2021: Senior Research Associate. University College London, London, UK.
2016 – 2018: Research Associate. University College London, London, UK.
2014 – 2016: Research Associate. Atomic Energy and Alternative Energies Commission (CEA), Fontenay-aux-Roses, France.

National and International engagment

Member of the ISMRM Annual Meeting Programme Committee (2023 - 2026);
Course Director and Organizer of the ESMRMB Lectures on MR 2023: ‘INTRODUCTION TO DIFFUSION-WEIGHTED MR IMAGING AND SPECTROSCOPY’;
Organizer of the UCL Medical Image Computing Summer School (MedICSS) 2021;
Organizer of the Lorentz Workshop on “Best Practices & Tools for Diffusion MR Spectroscopy”, scheduled for September 2021;
Organizer of the hackathon: “micro2macro BrainHack 2020”;
Organizer of MICCAI satellite event “Computational Diffusion MRI Workshop” in 2019 and 2020;
Organizer of MICCAI Challenge “MUDI” in 2019 and “Super-MUDI” in 2020;
Organizer of ISMRM Member Initiated Symposium in 2019;
Educational lectures at ISMRM 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Honours and awards

11/2019	2019 ISMRM Outstanding Teacher Award
05/2019	3rd place at the EPSRC's Science Photography Competition 2019, in the Weird & Wonderful category.
05/2019	Magna Laude Merit Award at International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) annual meeting.
11/2018	Best research image at the UCL Institute of Healthcare Engineering Autumn Research Symposium
06/2018	Finalist at the public engagement competition during the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) annual meeting
04/2018	Certificates of Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing by Neuroimage, Elsevier.
01/2018	UCL representative at the Global Young Scientists Summit (GYSS), Singapore
06/2017	Magna Laude Merit Award at International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) annual meeting.
05/2016	Best work at the Diffusion Study Group at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) annual meeting
04/2016	Certificates of Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing by Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Wiley.
2011 – 2014	Educational Stipend awarded by the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM)

Committees and reviewing

Peer reviewer for grant schemes both nationally and internationally:

European Research Executive Agency (REA)
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship scheme
Personalized Health and Related Technologies (PHRT) strategic focus area of the ETH Domain
Swiss Cancer Research foundation & Swiss Cancer League
French National Research Agency (ANR)
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation)

Regular reviewer for research-focused journals:

Nature
Ageing Cell
NeuroImage
Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
Journal of Magnetic Resonance
Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Neurobiology of Aging
Frontiers in Physics

Team members:

Assistant Professors:

Paddy Slator, PhD - Lecturer in Computer Science - slatorp@cardiff.ac.uk
Stefano Zappala, PhD - Lecturer in Computer Science - zappalas@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Line Manager)

Post-Doctoral Research Associates:

Maëliss Jallais, PhD - Research Associate - jallaism@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Line Manager)
Kadir Simsek, PhD - Research Associate - simsekk@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Line Manager)

Clinical Fellows:

Jennifer Golten, MD - Honorary Clinical Fellow - jenny.golten@wales.nhs.uk - (Palombo Line Manager)

PhD Students:

Charlie Aird-Rossiter - PhD student - aird-rossiterc@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Primary Supervisor)
Jiří Benáček - PhD student - benacek@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Primary Supervisor)
Elise Gwyther- PhD student - gwythere@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Primary Supervisor)
Lewis Kitchingman - PhD student - kitchingmanl@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Primary Supervisor)
Solanki Mitra - PhD student - mitras1@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Secondary Supervisor)
Adam Threlfall - PhD student - threlfallas@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Primary Supervisor)
Michael Law - PhD student - lawml@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Primary Supervisor)

Interns and Master Students:

Ioanna Deroukaki - Intern - deroukakii@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Primary Supervisor)
Medha Raketla - Intern - raketlam@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Primary Supervisor)
Rutu Shah - Intern - shahr48@cardiff.ac.uk - (Palombo Primary Supervisor)

Visiting students and scientists

(2024 - 3 months) Manon Desenne - while master student at Aix-Marseille Université (France)
(2024 - 3 months) Ana Aquino Servin - while PhD student at FIDMAG in Barcelona (Spain)
(2024 - 6 months) Eleonora Lupi - while PhD student at the University of Pavia (Italy)
(2023 - 3 months) Qianqian Yang - while Assistant Professor at Queensland University of Technology, QUT (Australia)
(2023 - 6 months) Alessandra Maiuro - while PhD student at Sapienza University (Italy)
(2022 - 1 month) Erick Canales Rodrigues - while Senior Research Fellow at the Ecole Polythecnique Federale de Lausanne, EPFL (Switzerland)
(2022 - 1.5 months) Bradley Karat, while PhD student at the University of Western Ontario, (Canada)
(2022 - 1.5 months) Lydia Chougar - while PhD student at the Institute of Brain and Spine, ICM (France)

Previous members

(2022 - 2024) Eirini Messaritaki, PhD - Senior Research Associate - messaritakie2@cardiff.ac.uk

Current supervision

Elise Gwyther

Jirka BenÁČek

Solanki Mitra

Contact Details

PalomboM@cardiff.ac.uk
+44 29208 70358
Cardiff University Brain Research Imaging Centre, Room 1.003, Maindy Road, Cardiff, CF24 4HQ

Research themes

Specialisms

Image processing
Medical devices
medical imaging and spectroscopy
Applied computing
AI

Behind the Scenes at the Visual Computing Hackathon

Dr Marco Palombo (he/him)

Teams and roles for Marco Palombo

Senior Lecturer (Associate Professor), Head of Microstructure Imaging at CUBRIC

Overview

Biography

Research

Funding

Publication

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

Articles

Book sections

Conferences

Websites

Research

Biography

Education

Employment

National and International engagment

Honours and awards

Committees and reviewing

Supervisions

Current supervision

Elise Gwyther

Jirka BenÁČek

Solanki Mitra

Contact Details

Research themes

Specialisms

Related news

Behind the Scenes at the Visual Computing Hackathon

Partnership to uncover new insights into dementia

Research project awarded £1m in funding to uncover new ‘fingerprints’ of brain disease

External profiles

Dr Marco Palombo
(he/him)