Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Technological innovations in imaging such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Computer aided Tomography (CT) are routinely used for diagnosing diseases. However, presently these images are only analyzed visually by trained experts looking for indicators of disease. This visual examination is limited and may not use all the information present in the images. Image analysis algorithms are better suited to analyze these images in detail, and extract features that quantify presence of disease or response to treatment in these images. The goal of my research program is to invent novel computer algorithms that can automatically analyze many different modalities of images taken from an individual over one or more clinical visits and which can extract the hidden information and present it to the clinicians so that they can make improved diagnostic and treatment decisions. The automated image interpretation technologies developed in the proposed research program can also be extended to other application areas of natural sciences and engineering (NSE), where image derived measurements are required. Some examples include, real-time fault detection of products in an industrial assembly line using colour camera images, analysis of remote sensing satellite imagery for drought monitoring and characterization of surface chemistry through the analysis of nanoparticle structures imaged using transmission electron microscopy (TEM).