Medical Instrumentation Research Overview

Bluestein, Danny

Professor

Danny.Bluestein@sunysb.edu

Summary : Despite major progress, cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death in the western world. One of the major culprits in cardiovascular disease and in devices designed to treat or restore impaired cardiovascular function is the non-physiologic flow pattern that enhances the hemostatic response mainly through platelet activation. Platelets have long been regarded as the preeminent cell involved in physiologic hemostasis and pathologic thrombosis. An innovative technique for measuring flow induced platelet activation has been developed, and its utility demonstrated in experiments conducted in recirculation devices (models of arterial stenosis, Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD), and mechanical heart valves). The mechanisms by which the non-physiologic flow patterns induce platelet activation and generate free emboli, that enhance the risk of cardioembolic stroke, was demonstrated in vivo with mechanical heart valves implanted in the sheep model. The results of this research will aid in elucidating physical forces that regulate cellular function in flowing blood, and may be applied to improve the design of blood recirculating devices and to develop more potent drugs for treating cardiovascular diseases.

Chen, Weiliam

Associate Professor

Weiliam.Chen@sunysb.edu

Summary : Our research is focused on the application of biocompatible/biodegradable natural carbohydrates to address various clinically relevant biomedical problems including wound repair, cerebral aneurysm, arteriovenous malformation, abdominal aortic aneurysm endoleak and controlled delivery of therapeutic agents (small molecules, proteins and DNA) through interdisciplinary research efforts. Localized application provides the maximum efficacies of therapeutic agents while minimizing their undesirable effects. Other efforts are targeted towards ophthalmic issues and enhancing the biological responses of polymeric medical devices.

Chon, Ki

Professor

Ki.Chon@sunysb.edu

Summary : The cardiac autonomic nervous system is responsible for maintaining proper homeostasis, or balance, of the cardiovascular system. One of our major areas of research is to detect, quantify, and interpret differences in dynamic characteristics of the cardiac autonomic nervous system between normal and diseased subjects, in an attempt to find a marker for increased risk of sudden cardiac death. Identifying and quantifying differences in the dynamic characteristics of autonomic function between normal and diseased conditions may lead to a better understanding of the role of autonomic function imbalance in diseased conditions, and should have important clinical diagnostic and prognostic applications. Another active research area is the development of computational modeling approaches to understand differences in dynamics of renal autoregulatory mechanisms between normotensive and hypertensive conditions. For both areas of research, we are developing novel linear and nonlinear signal processing techniques that can be successfully applied to achieve the research objectives.

Djuric, Petar

Professor

Petar.Djuric@sunysb.edu

Summary : The theory of signal processing and its applications to a wide range of engineering and scientific problems. Recently, his work in biomedical engineering has been related to the development of computational methods for prediction of cellular and intercellular processes modeled by biochemical reaction networks. Another field of interest is signal processing of data obtained by magnetic resonance spectroscopy with applications to quantification of neural stem cells. Djuric is a Senior Member of IEEE and is a Member of the American Statistical Association and the International Society for Bayesian Analysis. He has been invited to lecture at many universities in the United States and overseas. He has also been Associate Editor of several journals and Guest Editor of special issues.

Liang, Jerome Z.

Professor of Radiology, Computer Science, and Physics

jzl@mil.sunysb.edu

Summary : Jerome Liang focuses his attention on the development of quantitative SPECT systems, 3D virtual endoscopy, and computer aided diagnosis. This work includes creating a quantitative SPECT imaging modality as a cost-effective means for patient diagnosis as well as developing a high resolution PET as a functional research imaging modality. Liang is also striving to create a virtual colonoscopy as a cost-effective procedure for colon screening and to construct an automatic method for brain-tissue segmentation for diagnosis of disorders. In addition, he plans to build various models, in terms of physics, mathematics, and statistics, to simulate the practical problems above and then to validate the models by experiments. Liang has published his findings in journals such as Magnetic Resonance Medicine.

Lin, Wei

Research Assistant Professor

Wei.Lin@sunysb.edu

Summary : Virtual instrumentation is defined as a layer of software and/or hardware added to a general purpose computer in such a fashion that users can interact with the computer as though it were their own custom-designed traditional electronic instrument. The technology represents a fundamental shift from traditional hardware based instrumentation systems to software based systems by using the up-to-date computing technologies. This will greatly facilitate the commercialization of the technology developed in academic laboratory because it can integrate the prototype system efficiently using commercial available hardware modules and software application. This eliminates the development cycles of traditional prototype development process and any modification to the system can be done through software modification instantly. Thus the time period for the translation of academic developed technology to commercial products will be substantially reduced.

Mueller, Klaus

mueller@cs.sunysb.edu

Summary : Klaus Mueller's areas of interest are medical, scientific and information visualization, visual analytics, medical imaging, computer graphics, virtual and augmented reality, and high-performance computing. He has pioneered the use of programmable commodity graphics hardware boards (GPUs) for the acceleration of a wide variety of computer tomographic (CT) reconstruction algorithms and medical physics phenomena. Applications include diagnostic imaging, radiotherapy, electron microscopy, ultrasound tomography for breast mammography, and others. In the visual analytics area he works on devising new high-dimensional data visualization frameworks and combining them with statistical pattern recognition and machine learning to create intuitive interactive analytical reasoning environments for medical professionals. He is also working towards a comprehensive visual data mining environment for neuroscientists, called BrainMiner, to enable a more targeted and experiential derivation of brain functional models from large collections of knowledge and data.

Pan, Yingtian

Associate Professor

Yingtian.Pan@sunysb.edu

Summary : 2D and 3D cross-sectional optical imaging of biological tissue at close to cellular resolution (e.g., 10um) and at depths of 1-3mm can have significant impacts on noninvasive or minimally invasive clinical diagnosis of tissue abnormalities, e.g., tumorigenesis. Laser scanning endoscopes, based on optical coherence tomography (OCT), have been developed and tested on a wide variety of tissues both ex vivo and in vivo. Encouraging results based on animal and human studies show that LSE can provide morphological details correlated well with excisional histology, suggesting its potential for optical biopsy or optically guided biopsy to reduced negative biopsies in clinical practice. Current research of Dr. Pan’s lab is focused on early-stage epithelial cancer detection, diagnosis of cartilage injury and healing, and assessment of engineering tissue growth. In addition, Dr. Pan’s lab studies skin dehydration, geriatric incontinence and laser/biochemical attack to the eye using OCT and light microscopy.

Qin, Yi-Xian

Professor

Yi-Xian.Qin@sunysb.edu

Summary : Early diagnostic of osteoporosis allows for accurate prediction of fracture risk and effective options for early treatment of the bone disease. A new ultrasound technology, based on focused transmission and reception of the acoustic signal, has been developed by Dr. Qin and his team which represents the early stages of development of a unique diagnostic tool for the measure of both bone quantity (density) and quality (strength). These data show a strong correlation between non-invasive ultrasonic prediction and micro-CT determined bone mineral density (r>0.9), and significant correlation between ultrasound and bone stiffness (r>0.8). Considering the ease of use, the non-invasive, non-radiation based signal, and the accuracy of the device, this work opens an entirely new avenue for the early diagnosis of metabolic bone diseases.

Rubin, Clinton

Distinguished Professor & Chair

Clinton.Rubin@sunysb.edu

Summary : Encouraging results show that the application of extremely low level strains to animals and humans will increase bone formation, and thus may represent the much sought after "anabolic" stimulus in bone. More than 15 years of research into non-invasive, non-pharmacological intervention to control osteoporosis, was referenced in Dr. Rubin's paper published in the journal Nature (August 9, 2001; 412:603-604). Dr. Rubin's studies suggest that gentle vibrations on a regular basis will help strengthen the bones in osteoporosis sufferers and increase bone formation. In his study, adult female sheep treated with gentle vibration to their hind legs for 20 minutes daily showed almost 35% more bone density. Clinical trials have been completed on post-menopausal women, children with cerebral palsy, and young women with osteoporosis, all with encouraging results. In expanding the research platform into other physiologic systems, current work demonstrates that these low-level signals influence mesenchymal stem cell differentiation, such that their path to adipocytes is suppressed, and markedly reduces adipose tissue.

Vaska, Paul

Associate Scientist

vaska@bnl.gov

Summary : The research interests of Dr. Vaska comprise all aspects of the physics of positron emission tomography (PET). This ranges from the development of unique detector technologies which extend the limits of spatial resolution and sensitivity, through improved corrections for physical effects, image reconstruction methods, and post-processing techniques to improve image quantitation. He has worked extensively with both human and small-animal PET systems and oversees the physics aspects of the clinical PET research carried out at the BNL PET facility. His previous research as a physicist for a major PET firm included development of a dedicated brain scanner in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania, and novel calibration and data acquisition methods. A recent advance in the field of neuroimmunomodulation was our identification of the “cholinergic anti-inflammatory pathway,” a neural-immune connection through which the central nervous system inhibits systemic inflammation. It had been widely known that TNF, IL-1 and other mediators interact with the vagus nerve in the periphery, and induce afferent signals to the brain; the brain, in turn, responds with anti-inflammatory signals mediated by steroids such as ACTH and MSH. We discovered that the brain also utilizes conventional neurotransmitters that are released from the vagus nerve to generate a response in peripheral organs. In vivo, surgical vagotomy prevents this communication; animals exposed to endotoxin succumb to endotoxic shock more rapidly than animals with an intact vagus. We also found that macrophages express acetylcholine receptor activity, and that acetylcholine can block the activation of macrophages in response to endotoxin. Electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve inhibits systemic inflammation, inhibits the release of TNF, HMG-1, and other mediators, and prevents death due to endotoxic shock. Ongoing studies are focused on identifying the neural substrate of this system, developing optimal stimulation parameters, and determining the molecular basis of cholinergic signal transduction in macrophages.

Welsh, Keith T

Medical Physicist

Keith.Welsh@stonybrook.edu

Summary : Primary focuses are the duties associated with clinical medical physics. Activities include assisting in the commissioning of a new Varian 6Ex LINAC with a BrainLAB M3 miniature multileaf collimator, primary clinical Stereotactic Radiosurgery physicist responsible for up to 5 SRS procedures a month, update and correct both professional and technical components of billing via CPT, APC and HPCPS codes for Radiation Oncology services, oversee all Medical Physicist’s responsibilities of a single LINAC satellite facility. Clinical duties include monthly and annual QA of multimodality LINAC and simulator, external beam and Brachytherapy patient chart checking, IMRT QA, HDR treatment planning, tandem and ovoid treatment planning, and others. Teaching experience consists of electron dosimetry and treatment planning, HDR, and neutron physics in radiation oncology. Teaching duties also include supervising projects for MS and Ph.D. student in Biomedical engineering.

Zhong , Zhong

Assisant Professor

zhong@bnl.gov

Summary : My research interests are medical imaging and diagnosis using monochromatic x-rays, x-ray phase contrast, and x-ray optics. My past work include contrast agent imaging applied to angiography using K-edge subtraction and monochromatic x-rays, development of bent-crystal monochromator for conventional x-ray source. As a scientist at the National Synchrotron Light Source and co-inventor of the Diffraction Enhanced Imaging (DEI) method, my recent research efforts have been on investigation of DEI on mammography and cartilage imaging. Unlike conventional x-ray imaging methods, DEI is sensitive to phase contrast and is thus more suitable for soft-tissue imaging. I am also developing crystal optics for focusing high-energy x-rays produced by synchrotron radiation source.