Dr Jimmy Ball

MSci, PhD

Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health

Research Associate in Spin Polarisation Physics

Dr Jimmy Ball
Dr Jimmy Ball
Profile picture of Dr Jimmy Ball
james.ball@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 215 9142

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Dr Jimmy Ball
Clinical Medicine, School of Medicine and Population Health
Polaris
18 Claremont Crescent
Sheffield
S10 2TA
Profile

I am a post-doc in the POLARIS imaging group, having completed my PhD in Physics under the supervision of Graham Norquay and Jim Wild in March 2024. I have a MSci in Physics from the University of Nottingham.

Research interests

My research focuses on advancing techniques to enhance hyperpolarised xenon-129 (HP-129Xe) production via spin-exchange optical pumping. Large-scale HP-129Xe gas MRI studies for investigating pulmonary conditions rely on the ability to rapidly produce HP-129Xe gas with high nuclear polarisation. Using NMR, absorption spectroscopy and finite-element modelling, we are able to probe the gas dynamics and spin-transfer processes within our system. These insights are used to optimise the geometry and operational parameters (temperature, pressure, flow rate) of the polariser.

Additionally, I am developing 129Xe and proton (1H) MRI techniques to study gas dynamics in the airways, aiming to improve our understanding of respiratory conditions and treatment.

Publications

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Journal articles

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Journal articles

Conference proceedings papers

Preprints

  • Saunders LC, Collier GJ, Chan H-F, Hughes PJC, Smith LJ, Watson J, Meiring J, Gabriel Z, Newman T, Plowright M , Wade P et al (2022) Longitudinal lung function assessment of patients hospitalised with COVID-19 using1H and129Xe lung MRI, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. RIS download Bibtex download
  • Molway MJ, Bales-Shaffer L, Ranta K, Basler D, Murphy M, Kidd BE, Gafar AT, Porter J, Albin K, Goodson BM , Chekmenev EY et al (2021) Two-Orders-of-Magnitude Improvement in the Total Spin Angular Momentum of 131Xe Nuclei Using Spin Exchange Optical Pumping. RIS download Bibtex download