Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Real-time imaging modalities, supported by computational analysis, have revolutionized disease diagnosis and surgery during the past decade. In particular, ultrasound imaging, a portable, non-ionizing and accessible modality has enabled real-time, visualization of soft tissue for the purposes of accurate diagnosis of disease and navigation during interventions and surgery. Contemporary computer-aided diagnosis and navigation systems depend on pre- and intra-operative imaging information in guiding a procedure or diagnosis of disease. At the same time, there is no real-time information about the pathological state of the tissue being manipulated. Through this RTI application, we bring together a group of investigators from computing, engineering and physics to enable real-time analysis of tissue properties using real-time analysis of ultrasound data. The requested instrument contains a unique multi-parametric ultrasound machine from BK Ultrasound that includes the integration of the latest generation of beam forming and imaging algorithms and GPU computation with an open access flexible back end architecture providing imaging parameters and streamed ultrasound data. The requested infrastructure, will enable real-time integration of developed methodology and narrow the gap between research and commercialization, accelerating the impact of our research. Specifically, we will render real-time pathological information from ultrasound relative to a patients anatomy in the 3D space, superimposed on pre-operative and intraoperative, providing an informed risk evaluation to patient and clinician to better guide personalized treatment options. The availability of the requested system will open many new lines of investigation and ignite transformative changes across the entire spectrum of our computer-assisted diagnosis and surgery research program. The applicant team has a large funding portfolio in this area and the proposed hardware will leverage existing research funding, accelerate progress and increase our productivity in translation of scientific and engineering results to practical use. The requested ultrasound system is unique and essential, and meets the needs of the applicants, enabling them to explore the frontiers in their respective areas. The system will be located at a research center that acts as a point of collaboration between many disciplines. This will ignite strong interest among other science and engineering researchers to use the equipment. The proposed equipment will play a critical role in interdisciplinary training of approximately 50 HQP and available to another 45 through research collaborations. HQP will gain an in depth understanding of ultrasound technologies and skills in image and signal processing, surgical navigation, machine learning and software engineering, skills that are highly sought after in industry and academia.