Biomedical and Chemical Engineering Research Seminar Series

Title: Light and sound work together to enable the next generation of intelligent theranostic systems

Presented by: Mohammad Mehrmohammadi, Associate Professor of Imaging Science with joint appointments in Biomedical Engineering and Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Rochester

Abstract:

Ultrasound (US) imaging (aka sonography) has been widely used in clinical practice for various screening and diagnostic applications due to its notable advantages such as being non-ionizing, non-invasive, cost effective, portable, real-time, possessing reasonable imaging contrast, and scalable spatial resolution. Conventional US imaging is often used to reveal morphological and structural abnormalities. However, with advancements in the field of medical diagnostics, functional and molecular imaging have also become integral parts of today’s medicine. Photoacoustic (PA) and Elasticity (EL) imaging, developed around US scanners, enable US imaging to acquire intricate functional and molecular information from tissues, including molecular composition and biomechanical properties. The advantage of these adjunct-to-US imaging modalities is they can be implemented on a single US-acquisition core without any advanced fusion algorithm to combine the multi-modal images. We have been developing various US/PA/EL imaging instruments ranging in sizes from miniaturized endoscopic systems for imaging hard-to-access tissues (such as cervix), to whole tomographic systems for imaging large tissues (such as breast). This talk will cover use of the developed devices in two major applications: more accurate cervical imaging to predict preterm birth, and the US/PA tomographic system for breast cancer theranostics.

About:

Mohammad Mehrmohammadi is an Associate Professor of Imaging Science with joint appointments in Biomedical Engineering and Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Rochester. He received his B.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Sharif University of Technology (Tehran, Iran), the M.Sc. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Illinois Institute of Technology (Chicago, IL), and the Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin (Austin, TX). Prior to joining University of Rochester, Mohammad was an Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Wayne State University in Michigan and before that he worked at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine (Rochester, Minnesota) as a Senior Research. Mohammad’s research interest includes biomedical applications of ultrasound ranging from novel functional, cellular and molecular ultrasound imaging to ultrasound tissue elastography. His research activities are focused on design, development and clinical validation of novel ultrasound and optical modalities ranging from basic science to clinical translational research. Mohammad is the recipient a number of awards such as National Institute of Health R01, Department of Defense breakthrough award, Detroit Medical Center Foundation (DMCF) research grant, Wayne State College of Engineering excellence in teaching and excellence in research award, and Karmanos Cancer Institute pilot research grant.