Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Fixed electric charges can exist on the surfaces of cells and in the extracellular matrix in biological tissues. One consequence of the existence of the charges is that the cells and biological tissues will be affected by an applied electric field in various ways. Recently, the applicant's team reported a new effect: physiological-level-electric-field induced mechanical changes (PLEFIMC) in general bulk soft tissues. It was shown that there were mechanical changes in various bulk soft biological tissues when they were subjected to a physiological-level external electric field, and that these changes could be monitored commercial ultrasound instruments. It is proposed that PLEFIMC is related to the electrokinetic effects in tissues. In this research program, the applicant proposes to investigate the mechanisms underlying PLEFIMC in gelatin phantoms and biological tissues and study the feasibility of utilizing PLEFIMC in the development of a novel biomedical imaging method. The imaging information provided by the new method can potentially enrich the information provided by commercial ultrasound machines, enabling more accurate early detection of diseases.