Event
Bioengineering Seminar Series: Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
9:00 a.m.-10:00 a.m.
Pepco Room (1105), Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building
Professor Chris Jewell
cmjewell@umd.edu
Short-Lag Spatial Coherence Beamforming of Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Images
Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell
Engineering Research Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology
Johns Hopkins University
Ultrasound imaging has been used to visualize internal tissue structures since the 1950s, while photoacoustic imaging emerged in the early 2000s to provide structural and functional information using light and sound. Despite their widespread utility, both ultrasound and photoacoustics are limited by poor image quality under challenging imaging conditions, such as acoustic penetration through multiple tissue layers or low-energy optical excitation within laser safety limits. In this talk, I will discuss my research to develop and implement the world’s first short-lag spatial coherence (SLSC) beamformer, an advanced beamforming method that overcomes the stated limitations. SLSC beamforming reduces acoustic clutter and improves image contrast, contrast-to-noise, and signal-to-noise ratios when compared with the conventional amplitude-based beamformers. Instead of displaying the brightness of an acoustic wavefield as in conventional delay-and-sum beamforming, the novel SLSC method is used to measure and display differences in a wavefield’s spatial coherence. This method is applicable to clinical tasks that include lesion detection in the presence of noise or clutter, needle visualization, brachytherapy seed localization, echocardiography, fetal imaging, transcranial neurovascular imaging, and abdominal imaging in overweight or obese patients. Improving image quality with SLSC beamforming has multiple implications for expanding the boundaries of image-guided robotics.
About the Speaker
Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell is a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University. She received her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University and earned a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Biomedical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Bell is a recipient of numerous awards and fellowships including a Whitaker International Fellowship to conduct research in the United Kingdom, two UNCF-Merck Fellowships to complete her dissertation and postdoctoral research, and a Ford Foundation Fellowship for her commitment to enhancing diversity in academia. Dr. Bell’s research interests include integrating theoretical derivations, acoustic simulations, beamforming, clinical experiments, and mechanical engineering design to develop novel imaging solutions for diagnosing and treating medical diseases. Her long-term goals include incorporating these imaging solutions in image-guided robots for interventional and surgical navigation.
