Scan Times
Weblog of the Department of Radiology
Education
Stanford University Graduation 2008!
(Images courtesy of Aya Kamaya, MD)
On Sunday, June 15th, several of our radiology faculty (Drs. Gabi Gayer, Aya Kamaya, Justus Roos, and Geoff Rubin), along with Dr. Neetu Ahluwalia from Anesthesia, marched in Stanford University's 117th commencement ceremony in which Oprah Winfrey served as the commencement speaker. In front of 4,666 graduates and a crowd of 25,000, she delivered a 30-minute commencement address centered on "three lessons" dealing "with feelings, with failure, and with finding happiness" that have had the greatest influence over her life. To read the transcript of her address, please access http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/june18/como-061808.html.
The breakdown of degrees for Stanford's Class of 2008 was as follows: 1,702 bachelor's degrees; 49 dual bachelor's degrees; 134 combined bachelor's and master's degrees; 2,017 master's degrees; and 947 doctoral degrees. Of the undergraduates, 90 graduated with multiple majors, and 407 completed minors. In terms of awards and honors, 340 undergraduates received departmental honors and 268 graduated with distinction. 83 of the undergraduates were from 37 different countries, and 940 of the graduate students came from 76 different countries (see "O in '08" by Adam Gorlick http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/june18/com-061808.html).
Awards and Honors: July 9, 2008
Zongjin Li, PhD, MD, postdoctoral scholar in the Cardiovascular Gene and Cell Therapy Laboratory, is the recipient of five honors: a Travel Award to attend the 2008 International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) Annual Meeting; an American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF)/Bristol-Myers Squibb Travel Award from the American College of Cardiology; a finalist for the Young Investigators Awards Competition of the American College of Cardiology; an honorable mention in the Young Investigator of the Year Award Competition from the Stanford University School of Medicine Cardiovascular Institute; and a Mitzi and William Blahd, MD, Pilot Research Grant. Sponsored by the Education and Research Foundation for the Society of Nuclear Medicine, the Mitzi and William Blahd, MD, Pilot Research Grant is designed to support innovative ideas in clinical and basic research and is awarded to the highest-ranked proposal.
Dr. Li received his PhD degree from Peking Union Medical College in Beijing, China, and his MD degree from the Norman Bethune University of Medical Sciences in Changchun, China. At the Rizhao Hygiene College in China, he completed both his internship and residency in internal medicine and served as an attending physician in the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine. In September of 2005, Dr. Li joined Dr. Wu's Cardiovascular Gene and Cell Therapy Laboratory, where he researches the molecular imaging of stem cells for cardiovascular applications.
Awards and Honors: July 3, 2008
Priti Balchandani, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Radiological Sciences Laboratory (RSL), was a finalist for the I.I. Rabi Young Investigator Award at the 2008 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) Annual Meeting. Named after Nobel Laureate Isidor I. Rabi, the Rabi Award honors "achievements in basic scientific research, especially focusing on novel technical developments." Out of the 38 abstracts on basic research, Dr. Balchandani's abstract was 1 of 3 chosen as a finalist. Her abstract featured her research in adiabatic RF pulse design. Along with her colleagues, Dr. Balchandani has developed the slice-selective tunable-flip adiabatic low peak-power excitation (STABLE) pulse. To read more about her award and research, please access "Young Investigator Awards Add Luster to MRI's Scientific Stars" featured online in the "Diagnostic Imaging ISMRM Conference Reporter." Dr. Balchandani's research interests include the development of high-field MR anatomic and spectroscopic imaging tools and novel RF pulse design for positive-contrast imaging of cells labeled with SPIO nanoparticles and sodium imaging of the brain at 7T.
Dr. Balchandani received her BS in computer engineering from the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada, and completed her MS and PhD in electrical engineering at Stanford.
Welcome New Residents
By Teresa Newton
The Radiology Department is pleased to welcome our new first-year residents, who will begin on July 1st. We are also excited to announce the additions of Chivonne Harrigal, MD, and Bao Do, MD. Chivonne will be entering our second-year resident class, starting on July 1st. Bao has already joined our current second-year resident class and, on July 1st, will begin his third year of residency.
Our first-year residents are
Stacey Crawford Keel, MD, MBA
Albert Hsiao, MD, PhD
Michael Kim, MD
Deborah Lee Abelson, MD
Jared Narvid, MD
Srihari Sampath, MD, PhD, MPhil
Srinath Sampath, MD, PhD, MPhil
Anobel Tamrazi, MD, PhD
Amy White, MD
(For additional information on our new first-year residents, please see "Match Day, March 15, 2007")
Please join us in warmly welcoming our new residents, and lending a hand to help them feel at home here at Stanford.
To read their biographies and view their photos, please click on the link below.
Stacey Crawford Keel, MD, MBA
Stacey comes to us from Ohio, where her father is a radiologist, which may have sparked her interest in this field. After a successful career at Northwestern, she completed her medical education at Dartmouth Medical School while simultaneously pursuing her MBA at the Tuck School of Business. She plans to pursue a career influencing medical education by integrating the organizational behavior and general management skills of the MBA into the curriculum for physicians-in-training. In her free time, she indulges in her love of animals by volunteering at her local humane society, as well as taking care of her own dog and two cats. She is a big fan of outdoor sports and enjoys traveling, especially to visit her extended family.
Bao Do, MD
Bao comes from the University of Iowa but grew up in Silicon Valley, where he was heavily influenced by technology. However, he chose to study biochemistry and economics at the University of California, Davis, over electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California, Berkeley, because the last thing he wanted to do was sit in front of a computer all day. Alas, fate has caught up to Bao as he pursues radiology. Ironically, he is currently developing a "negation" search algorithm with his friend Andrew Wu that explicitly finds the exact opposite of what a user wants. Bao's other interests include web programming, the NBA, and sushi. Bao will be joining our third-year class in July.
Chivonne Harrigal, MD
Chivonne was born in New Orleans and also grew up in Bakersfield, Denver, and Dallas. She earned her BS and MD degrees from the University of Pittsburgh. She began her residency at the University of Arizona, but she is transferring to our program to complete it. Chivonne will join us July 1, 2008, as a second-year resident. When she has time, she pursues her interests in running, scuba diving, cooking, and traveling.
Albert Hsiao, MD, PhD
Albert is happy to join his radiology colleagues after a year of general surgery internship at Stanford. After studying science and engineering at Caltech, he chose to enter medical school at the University of California, San Diego, where he completed a PhD program in bioengineering. He spent much of this time studying math, physics, and computation, visiting his soon-to-be wife at Stanford, training in martial arts, playing tennis, and surfing. He eventually completed medical school, got married, adopted cats, and spent a productive year learning general and subspecialty surgery.
Michael JJ Kim, MD
Michael was born and raised in Nutley, New Jersey, where he stayed close to home for his undergraduate career at Rutgers University, graduating summa cum laude with a degree in genetics. Afterwards, he attended Weill Medical College of Cornell University in New York City, where he developed his interest in radiology and met his fiancee. "JJ" recently became engaged, surprising his fiancee with a loudspeaker balcony proposal where they first met at Barnes and Noble in Nutley. For fun, Michael enjoys many sports including tennis and golf, sharing new experiences with friends and family, and learning about public policy issues.
Deborah Lee Abelson, MD
Debbie, from southern California, went to the University of Southern California for her undergraduate degree. She received her medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine. When not working, Debbie enjoys spending time with family, exploring the Bay Area, travelling abroad, and learning guitar.
Jared Narvid, MD
Born in California, Jared attended Yale University as an undergraduate. He earned his medical degree at the University of California, San Francisco. When not involved in research, Jared entertains himself by bicycling, playing tennis, roasting coffee, and playing jazz guitar.
Srihari Sampath, MD, PhD, MPhil
Srihari is a southern Californian. He completed his BA and MD degrees at Cornell University; his MPhil at the University of Cambridge; and his PhD at the Rockefeller University in New York. He is now excited to return to the Palo Alto underground, where he plans to pursue his interests in radiology, the Lakers, and indie rock. Srihari joins us at Stanford with his twin, Srinath Sampath, who is also in radiology.
Srinath Sampath, MD, PhD, MPhil
Srinath, a native Californian, earned his BA at Cornell University. He went on to complete his MPhil at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom; his PhD at the Rockefeller University in New York; and his MD at Cornell University Medical College. When asked to describe himself, Srinath offered the following: "When not actively having my life's dreams appropriated by my brother, I like to relax listening to classic and indie rock--either that or surfing PubMed. And though I don't always drink beer, when I do, I prefer Dos Equis." Srinath is here with his twin, Srihari Sampath, who is also in radiology.
Anobel Tamrazi, MD, PhD
Anobel started out in the Bay Area and attended San Jose State University for his BS. He earned his PhD from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and his MD from the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He did his internship on the East Coast before returning to California for his radiology residency. When he gets a break in his schedule, he enjoys traveling and photography.
Amy White, MD
Amy is a returning California native. After earning her BS at the University of California, Santa Barbara, she studied for her MD at Georgetown University School of Medicine. She is sure to find a welcome home for her interests here, as both she and her husband are avid cyclists. In her remaining spare time, she enjoys practicing yoga.
Awards and Honors: June 24, 2008
Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD, director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS), professor of Radiology and Bioengineering, and head of the Nuclear Medicine Division, has received two honors: the Tesla Medal and induction into the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI). Dr. Gambhir was awarded the Tesla Medal from the United Kingdom Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) for his research in the multimodality molecular imaging of living subjects. Established in England, the RCR can trace its beginnings to the Roentgen Society, which was founded in 1897. The Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) has approximately 7,600 members and Fellows all over the world whose goal is to advance the science and practice of radiology and oncology. Dr. Gambhir received his second honor at the one hundred year anniversary of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI) in 2008. At this anniversary meeting, Dr. Gambhir was inducted as a member of the ASCI, which is an honor society for physician-scientists. Election to the ASCI is an "extraordinary honor in academic medicine and industry" and is bestowed upon those who have achieved "significant accomplishments at a relatively early age." The ASCI is dedicated to advancing the research of human disease and to mentoring future generations of physician-scientists.
Dr. Gambhir has over 20 years of experience in molecular imaging in both animal models and patients. He has an active laboratory, with over 20 postdoctoral fellows and graduate students, that focuses on developing molecular imaging assays in small animal models for translation into clinical applications. Dr. Gambhir also has over 270 publications in the field of molecular imaging and leads several large NCI-funded programs, such as the In Vivo Cellular Molecular Imaging Center (ICMIC); the Center for Nanotechnology Excellence Focused on Therapy Response (CCNE-TR); and the Stanford Molecular Imaging Scholars (SMIS) Program. Dr. Gambhir is a member of the NCI Scientific Advisory Board; is past president (2006) of the Academy of Molecular Imaging; and serves on the board of several other societies. He is also on the editorial boards of several journals.
Awards and Honors: June 23, 2008
Joseph Wu, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine (cardiology) and radiology, has been selected as a 2008 Baxter Faculty Scholar. The Donald E. and Delia B. Baxter Foundation Faculty Scholar Program Awards provide support to new assistant professors to help in the early stages of their research careers. To learn more about Dr. Wu's research, please visit his lab at http://mips.stanford.edu/research/lab?lab%5fid=2883.
Awards and Honors: June 23, 2008
Michael Zeineh, MD, PhD, neuroradiology fellow, has been awarded a research fellow grant from the Radiological Society of North America Research and Education Foundation for his project, "Ultra-High Resolution Clinical Imaging of the Human Medial Temporal Lobe with 7T MRI." Dr. Zeineh has just finished his radiology residency in our Department. He completed his internship as well as received his medical and graduate degrees at the University of California, Los Angeles, (UCLA). Dr. Zeineh is also a GE Radiology Seed Funding Recipient and received the 2003 Emil Bogen Research Prize in recognition of his work. His current research interests include the development and application of ultra-high resolution 7T MRI of the human medial temporal lobe with clinical applications to Alzheimer's disease and epilepsy.
Awards and Honors: April 30, 2008
Rebecca Fahrig, PhD, assistant professor of radiology, has been selected as one of sixteen School of Medicine Faculty Fellows for 2008. Over the next year, the Fellows will meet monthly for leadership meetings with invited faculty who will serve as role models. In addition, they will attend small mentoring groups led by senior faculty mentors and will devise a career development plan. The Faculty Fellows were nominated by their departmental chairs and were ranked by the Faculty Fellow Review Committee based on their "leadership potential and demonstrated commitment to building diversity."
Before joining our Department as an assistant professor, Dr. Fahrig completed her PhD in medical biophysics at the University of Western Ontario and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University. She has won numerous awards including the Greenfield Award for the Best Paper (nonradiation dosimetry) published in Medical Physics in 2005; the Fellowship Research Trainee Prize (along with Zhu, PhD, candidate) from the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) Physics Subcommittee; and the Faculty Scholar in Translational Research Award from the Baxter Foundation. Dr. Fahrig's research focuses on imaging for guidance of minimally invasive procedures. She works on software and hardware that permit the use of a C-arm system for both fluoroscopy and CT imaging, and she has extended the applications of C-arm CT to retrospectively gated 3D/4D cardiac imaging in the interventional suite. She is also developing an MR-compatible X-ray fluoroscopy system, including a new rotating-anode X-ray tube for use in the fringe fields of 1.5T and 3.0T magnets.
New Faculty Hires and Promotions: April 24, 2008
Debra Ikeda, MD, director of the Stanford University breast imaging section, has been promoted to full professor of radiology. For 16 years, Dr. Ikeda has served as the director of the breast imaging section. Prior to coming to Stanford, she received her medical degree from the University of Connecticut, Farmington, and completed her internship and residency in radiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. After completing fellowships at the University of San Francisco Medical Center and Malmo General Hospital in Sweden, Dr. Ikeda came to Stanford to build our breast imaging section into a state-of-the-art center. She has developed and led two of the leading CME courses in the world of breast imaging, each attended by over 300 participants. She has also been very active in teaching our residents and fellows and was awarded "Teacher of the Year" for her efforts. Her achievements include chairing the American College of Radiology (ACR) BIRADS Lexicon Committee, which resulted in the publication of the ACR MRI BIRADS text that is used to report breast MRI throughout the world. Dr. Ikeda's research focuses on the roles and limitations of breast cancer detection and imaging using X-ray methods, ultrasonography, and MRI. New research involves imaging of Asian women, evaluation of breast density, imaging of accelerated partial breast irradiation, optical imaging, and digital mammography with CAD.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
Announcements: March 3, 2008
Dr. Alexej Jerschow to Deliver Talk Entitled "23Na and 1H CEST MRI: Contrast in Cartilage and Intervertebral Disc": Friday, March 7th, at 10:00 AM in the Clark Center Auditorium. Associate Professor Alexej Jerschow, from the Department of Chemistry at New York University (NYU), will be visiting Stanford on March 7th to give a talk on his novel work at high field. He will be visiting the Lucas Center afterwards to see our facilities and to meet our scientists over lunch. For more information, please see his abstract below and/or contact Dr. Garry Gold.
ABSTRACT:
Glycosaminogycan (GAG) plays numerous vital functions in the human body. GAG concentration [GAG] in vivo is a sensitive biomarker indicative of both osteoarthritis (OA) and intervertebral disc (IVD) degenerative diseases. By exploiting the exchangeable protons of GAG, we demonstrate that one can directly map the localized GAG concentration in vivo using a chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) method. This gagCEST approach is presented on both human cartilage and animal discs. We also show the observation of the Nuclear Overhauser Effect (NOE) from macromolecules in tissue, which contributes significantly to the CEST/MT contrast mechanism in MRI and may lead to further diagnostic abilities. GAG contrast may also be enhanced by employing intermolecular multiple-quantum coherences.
Monitoring the bound sodium pool can be an important tool for assessing the onset of tissue disorders. Practical clinical 23Na MRI methods, furthermore, often do not allow one to use sufficiently small voxel sizes such that only the tissue of interest is seen, and a large signal contamination can arise from sodium in synovial fluid. Methods are presented for the clean separation between the signal from bound or ordered 23Na over that of free 23Na, which is particularly important and can greatly enhance the potential of 23Na-MRI as a diagnostic tool. 23Na MRI also offers the possibility of monitoring local anisotropic motion. 3T and 7T in vivo volumetric 23Na images are presented. Monitoring GAGs via 23Na or CEST can also be important for assessing heart valves or corneae.
References:
W. Ling, R. R. Regatte, G. Navon, A. Jerschow, Assessment of Glycosaminoglycan Concentration in Vivo by Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (gagCEST). Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, in press 2008, http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/abstract/0707666105v1.
W. Ling, R. R. Regatte, M. E. Schweitzer, A. Jerschow. Characterization of Bovine Patellar Cartilage by NMR. NMR Biomed., in press 2008, http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/114294661/ABSTRACT.
Awards and Honors: March 3, 2008
(Drs. Ganguly and Pelc)
Arundhuti (Arun) Ganguly, PhD, research associate, received an Honorable Mention Award for her poster entitled "On the Angular Distribution of Bremsstrahlung" at the 2008 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) "Physics of Medical Imaging" Conference in San Diego in February of 2008. She co-authored this poster and an associated conference paper with Professor Norbert Pelc. Only five candidates were selected for this award out of 120 submissions. Working with Professors Rebecca Fahrig, PhD, and Norbert Pelc, PhD, Dr. Ganguly has been a research associate in Radiology since 2004. She has also received the Sylvia Sorkin Greenfield Co-Author Award for the Best Paper in Medical Physics (2005), and she was a co-recipient of the Young Investigator Award from the Association for Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) in 2004. Prior to becoming a research associate, Dr. Ganguly was a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford working with Professors Fahrig and Pelc. Dr. Ganguly received her doctoral degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo, New York, in physics. While at Stanford, she has participated in the development of a truly hybrid X-ray/MR system at Stanford. Her primary interest is in the development of image-guidance technologies for minimally invasive procedures. Her current research includes the development of imaging protocols using a C-arm CT system, the synthesis of novel targeted imaging contrast agents, and X-ray detector development work.
The Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging Celebrates Over 15 Years of Service
The Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging in 1992 (left) and 2008 (right).
By Julie Ruiz, PhD
(Images courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
At the dedication of the Richard M. Lucas Center for Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Imaging on May 19, 1992, the Nobel Prize winner in chemistry from Zurich, Switzerland, Professor Richard Ernst, envisioned no limits to MR technology: "The only property of the body that one hasn't found with MR is the soul." While we still haven't imaged the soul, our imaging technology has greatly advanced since the opening of the Lucas Center 15 years ago.
The Lucas Center emanated from Dr. Gary Glazer's vision of creating a premier imaging research program to enhance the clinical research efforts of the Department. When he became chair of Stanford Radiology in 1989, the diagnostic radiology offices and research space were limited to one basement corridor in the Grant Building. Dr. Glazer invited Drs. Gary Glover, PhD, and Norbert Pelc, PhD, to Stanford to form a basic science team. They initiated the beginnings of the Radiological Sciences Laboratory (RSL), which was first housed in the Grant Building and then moved to the Lucas Center upon its completion in 1992. Donna Cronister was hired in 1990 as the RSL administrative services manager and became the administrative director for the Lucas Service Center in 1992.
Construction of the Lucas Center began in 1990 funded by the Richard M. Lucas Foundation. Don Lucas, venture capitalist and Stanford graduate, had started the foundation in honor of his older brother, Richard, who died of cancer in 1981. The Lucas Center was finished by 1992, adding approximately 12,500 square feet to our Department. Scientists at the Lucas Center in 1992 conducted 30 research studies using one 1.5T MRI scanner (human); one 4.7T MRI (animal); and one 9T MRI scanner (tissue). The total NIH funding in 1992 was about $1 million.
(Don, Mary, and John Lucas with Peter Bing (L) at the 1992 dedication ceremony for the opening of the Lucas Center. John, Mary, and Don (R) in front of the bust dedicated to Richard M. Lucas.)
By 1993, RSL had doubled the number of its faculty by adding Sandy Napel, PhD, in 1991 and Michael Moseley, PhD, in 1993. Dan Spielman, PhD, joined RSL as a research affiliate in 1990 and became an assistant professor in 1993. There were also two postdoctoral fellows and six scientific staff members including Tom Brosnan, PhD; Lori Pelc, PhD; and Anne Marie Sawyer, RRT.
In the years following its opening, the Lucas Center experienced unprecedented growth. In 1995, Dr. Glover received funding from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to launch a full-scale academic radiology training program at the Lucas Center: the Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technology at Stanford (CAMRT). Funded through 2010, the CAMRT joins the resources of RSL with those of the Electrical Engineering Department's Magnetic Resonance Systems Research Laboratory. From 1997 to 1998, the Lucas Center was expanded, adding 5,000 square feet to its facilities. As part of this expansion, the 3D Medical Imaging Laboratory, which had been in the Grant Building, moved to the Lucas Center, and we became one of the first research programs to install a 3T MR magnet.
(Pictures from the first expansion.)
The second expansion of the Lucas Center occurred between the years 2003 to 2005 and added an additional 20,000 square feet of space, making our Center one of the world's largest academic centers for medical imaging. With the second expansion, the Lucas Center also acquired a 7T whole-body magnet; a cyclotron to produce isotopes; more wet labs and offices for developing our Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS); and a unique education center equipped with the latest technology for fully interactive imaging seminars. Because of its high quality and innovative design, our Center received the 2007 Design Honor Award: Excellence in Architecture from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), San Francisco Chapter (http://www.aiasf.org/Programs/Awards_Program/Design_Awards.htm).
(2004 view of the Lucas Center from the roof during the second expansion.)
After fifteen years and two expansions, the Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging now houses 15 faculty members in RSL; 2 radiology faculty members in the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS); and over 70 graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. During the past year, our scientists conducted over 300 studies on our three magnets (a 1.5T, 3T, and 7T). With the remarkable increase in scanning speed and resolution of the 7T, we are imaging brain structures that have not been visualized before. We have also initiated two new research programs: high-intensity focused ultrasound and hyperpolarized C13 MR.
Since the opening of the Lucas Center, we have expanded our scope beyond MRI to include cellular and molecular imaging, moving us into the era of nanotechnology. To reflect the extension of our scope, the Lucas Center was renamed the "Richard M. Lucas Center for Imaging" in 2007. The Richard M. Lucas Center has also grown into a major resource for service in medical imaging. From January 1, 2006, to February 28, 2007, the Lucas Center supplied imaging services to over 70 projects and to 45 principal investigators (PIs).
Those who were present at the inception of the Lucas Center shared their impressions. Dr. Glover remembers standing in his Grant Building office just before the move into the new Lucas Center in 1992 and talking with Gary Glazer, MD, who asked him, "Did you ever think we'd get this big?" Gary Glover responded, "No, not to the point of needing a new building." In fact, shortly after the move into the Lucas Center and after each expansion, the Lucas personnel quickly outgrew their space. "The enthusiasm and excitement surrounding our research is fueled by having the best faculty and students in the world and incredible support from Gary Glazer," Gary Glover remarked. "Most radiology research programs do not have the support our lab has received from their Department chairs. Gary has made it easy for me and my colleagues by fostering such a large investment in research. Indeed, he has been the driving force behind the success of our Department's research enterprise. One result of his vision and enthusiasm for research is that we have retained all but one of our faculty over the past 18 years."
Gary Glover has tried to grow the RSL and Lucas Center and still retain a community: "It's harder maintaining cohesion with 90 people as opposed to 10 people, but I think we have succeeded in keeping comradery and closeness." Reflecting back on his years as part of RSL, Tom Brosnan, PhD, also remembers how small the lab was in 1991: "There weren't enough people for a softball team, but every Friday at 5 PM we had a party and everyone brought food. We even had an annual lab ski trip, but the lab is too big for that now." When RSL moved from the Grant Building to the Lucas Center in 1992, Dr. Brosnan thought, "We'll never fill up all of this space!" The biggest change for him has been the significant growth in personnel and in the nature of his projects: "There are more projects to do now, and they are more complex. In retrospect, the work I did initially for RSL seems simpler than what I'm doing now."
In the future, we anticipate "Lucas Three," the third expansion of our Center to support growth in anatomic imaging, molecular imaging, and nanotechnology. We will continue to promote interdisciplinary translational research through our recent "Academic Initiatives": the Stanford Center for Early Neoplasia Detection; the Aging Brain and Cognitive Disorders; and Image-Guided Therapy. Our investments in our translational research efforts have already resulted in the establishment of three NIH-funded centers that complement the efforts of the Lucas Center: the Center for Advanced Magnetic Resonance Technology (CAMRT); the In Vivo Cellular and Molecular Imaging Center (ICMIC); and the Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Focused on Therapy Response (CCNE-TR). As we continue to build better tools for imaging structure and function, we hope to make a large impact on medicine and biology.
Awards and Honors: February 12, 2008
The Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) recently featured research from the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab (MMIL) and the Yock lab on the cover of their February 5, 2008, V. 51:5 issue. To view their abstract from this issue on the noninvasive imaging of reporter genes after percutaneous delivery in swine, please access http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/full/51/5/595. Members of MMIL are developing imaging assays to interrogate cells for mRNA levels, cell surface antigens, intracellular proteins, and protein-protein interactions using technologies such as micro positron emission tomography (microPET), bioluminescence optical imaging, fluorescence optical imaging, micro computerized axial tomography (microCAT), ultrasound, and photoacoustics.
Awards and Honors: February 8, 2008
Natesh Parashurama, MD, PhD, postdoctoral scholar in the Multimodality Molecular Imaging Lab (MMIL), has received two awards: a Speaker and Travel Award for the Stem Cell Bioengineering Conference (American Institute of Chemical Engineers AICHE) and a 2008-2009 Dean's Fellowship for his proposal, "Molecular Imaging of the Cardiac Stem Cell Niche." Dr. Parashurama received his BS in chemical engineering from MIT; his medical degree from the State University of New York at Buffalo; his PhD in chemical engineering from Rutgers University, New Jersey; and a three-year graduate research fellowship at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Parashurama's research interests include applying quantitative molecular imaging tools to study cell proliferation and differentiation; cell function; the cellular micro-environment; cell trafficking and homing; the immune response; and cell therapy-mediated gene therapy.
Dr. Lawrence "Rusty" Hofmann Featured in AuntMinnie.com
Rusty Hofmann, MD, chief of interventional radiology, was recently featured in an AuntMinnie.com article by Edward Susman, "Imaging Set to Play Pivotal Role for Delivering Molecular Therapeutics." The article is based on Dr. Hofmann's presentation at the 2008 International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET) meeting in which he highlighted the importance of imaging in molecular therapeutics: "In human trials, there is no way to monitor the appropriate site to inject the drugs, to monitor delivery of the drugs, to monitor how the drugs traffic in the body, and no way to monitor how those drugs engraft." The injection of molecular agents in combination with imaging guidance can help resolve these problems by improving drug delivery. For the full text of "Imaging Set to Play Pivotal Role for Delivering Molecular Therapeutics," please access http://www.auntminnie.com/print/print.asp?sec=sup&sub=adv&pag=dis&ItemId=79852&d=1.
ISET celebrated its 20th anniversary at the 2008 conference in Hollywood, Florida. Attended by leaders in interventional cardiology, interventional radiology, and vascular specialties, this conference provides the most current noninvasive techniques for the diagnosis and treatment of vascular diseases through live case demonstrations. Conference presentations included ground-breaking research on topics such as gender differences in the endovascular repair of abdominal aortic aneurysms; outpatient uterine fibroid embolizations; the benefits of treating pregnant women who have DVT; and the use of anti-platelet therapy to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in PAD patients.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
Visiting Faculty: January 31, 2008
Hadassa Degani, PhD, is a recent visitor to our Department and on sabbatical from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel. Professor Degani has also spent a sabbatical year at Yale University and at the Pasteur Institute, as well as summers at the University of Oxford; University of the UK; Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia; and the University of Pennsylvania, where she also serves as an adjunct professor. She is known internationally for her work in MR imaging of breast cancer and, more recently, for her work on prostate cancer. She received a BSc in chemistry from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1966, an MSc in physical chemistry from the Weizmann Institute of Science in 1969, and a PhD in chemistry from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1974. Her postdoctoral research was carried out both at Stony Brook and at the University of Tel-Aviv. In 1976, she joined the staff of the Weizmann Institute; she currently serves as a full professor in the Department of Biological Regulation and the Willner Family Center for Vascular Biology. Professor Degani is the incumbent of the Fred and Andrea Fallek Professorial Chair for Breast Cancer Research.
Professor Degani's research focuses on the development of magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy in biomedical research and the integration of these state-of-the-art methodologies with modern molecular biology. Specifically, her research centers on the hormonal regulation of breast cancer, as well as the role of blood vessels in the progression and metastasis of this malignancy. She and her colleagues use magnetic resonance to detect and diagnose breast and prostate cancer and to monitor the effectiveness of cancer therapy. For more information on her research and publications, please access http://www.weizmann.ac.il/Biological_Regulation/degani/. Professor Hadassa Degani and her husband, Dr. Gabriel D. Degani, have two daughters and a son; they also enjoy being grandparents to three grandchildren.
New Faculty Hires and Promotions: January 23, 2008
Zhen Cheng, PhD, became an assistant professor (research) of radiology and member of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) in September of 2007. He was an undergraduate at Sichuan University, where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry. Dr. Cheng also holds an MS from the National Research Center of Isotope Engineering and Technology & China Institute of Atomic Energy and a PhD from the Department of Chemistry at the University of Missouri-Columbia. From 2001 to 2003, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Radiology at Harvard Medical School. His awards include a Young Investigator Travel Scholarship to attend the 2005 Academy of Molecular Imaging Annual Conference and a 1997-1998 graduate fellowship at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Dr. Cheng is currently a member of the Cancer Molecular Imaging Chemistry Laboratory (CMICL) of MIPS where he is developing novel molecular imaging probes and non-invasive techniques for the early detection of cancer and its metastasis. He is also researching the molecular, metabolic, and physiological characteristics of cancers and their responses to therapy by identifying novel cancer biomarkers with significant clinical relevance; by devising new chemistry for the preparation of probes; and by validating new strategies for probes by using high-throughput screening.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
New Faculty Hires and Promotions: January 23, 2008
Aya Kamaya, MD, was appointed as an assistant professor in the abdominal imaging section of the Radiology Department on October 1, 2007. Since the completion of her fellowship in body imaging at Stanford in 2005, she has been a clinical instructor and clinical assistant professor in the abdominal imaging section at Stanford. During this time, she was given two teaching awards for her outstanding contributions to resident education, compassionate patient care, and research. She is currently the assistant fellowship director of the Stanford Body Imaging Fellowship. Prior to coming to Stanford for her fellowship, she completed her residency in diagnostic radiology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she was awarded the Executive Council Award from the American Roentgen Ray Society for her work on "Color Doppler Twinkling Artifact" and the Laurence A. Mack Research Award from the Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound for her work on "Linear Streak Artifact." She completed medical school at the University of Utah in her hometown of Salt Lake City. As an undergraduate, she double majored in engineering sciences and Asian Studies, securing her two bachelor's degrees at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Her research interests include investigating new ultrasound technologies such as photoacoustic ultrasound, in conjunction with the Electrical Engineering Department at Stanford; liver imaging; and women's imaging. Outside of work, her favorite activities include skiing and snowboarding through powder (her favorite ski resort is Snowbird, UT), as well as running at the Stanford Dish, surfing, and traveling.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
Announcements IV: January 23, 2008
Special Seminar Series on Radiological Informatics: As part of a special series on radiological informatics, we are offering seminars on Jan. 23rd, 24th, 28th, and 31st. Please click on the "Continue Reading This Entry" link below to find the title of each talk as well as the presenter's abstract and biography. For more information, please contact Dr. Sandy Napel.
1) Wednesday, January 23rd, at noon; Alway M104
Julia Patriarche, PhD
Mayo Clinic
Title:
"Detection of Change in Serial Magnetic Resonance Studies of Brain Tumor Patients"
Abstract:
The comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies is a common task in clinical radiology. It is, however, widely considered not to be very reproducible. There are a variety of reasons for this, including the confounding of disease-related changes with acquisition-related changes and issues related to information presentation. We have constructed a computational system that performs the comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies and presents changes in the form of a color-coded change map, superimposed on the anatomical images. The system additionally formats the output as a quantitative summary. We used this quantitative summary to conduct a study with 88 brain tumor serial comparisons. Our results were suggestive that it may be possible to use the change detector to identify cancer changes months earlier than is possible using manual inspection, alone.
We have recently implemented an integrated system for the change detector, which includes a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI not only displays the color-coded change map, but also allows the user to turn it on and off. The GUI provides linked cursors, and it additionally provides "flicker" functionality to allow the user to rapidly alternate between the serial acquisitions. We are preparing to deploy the GUI change detector clinically, which will greatly increase the size and variety of possible future research studies and which will allow the direct clinical application of this technology.
The change detector is an example of a layered artificial intelligence (AI) architecture in which each layer builds upon the layer below, with each layer accomplishing progressively more sophisticated analyses. Specifically, the change detector is built on a lesion-finder application. The lesion finder is built on an automated sample point's algorithm. The automated sample point's algorithm is built on a significant region detection algorithm. Each of these algorithms has merit in its own right, and each can be used in a modular fashion in a variety of contexts. As a unified application, they together automatically address a complex clinical task. Early detection of changes may facilitate improved care through more rapid intervention following recurrence. It may also facilitate screening and personalized therapy. We additionally see the change detector as providing a solution to the problem of novel therapy comparison, by providing fully automatic, reproducible, and quantitative measures of change. We envision the change detector as a model of layered artificial intelligence, not only freeing the radiologist from the drudgery of information overload, but providing a model whereby greater information will enable many sophisticated automatic analyses by the computer, with the computer bringing to the attention of the clinician only what is relevant.
Biography:
Julia Patriarche is an informatics fellow in the Radiology Informatics Lab at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. She has completed an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering/computer engineering option at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada; a PhD in medical science/medical imaging; and a neurology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
2) Thursday, January 24th, at noon; Alway M112
Ross Mitchell, PhD
University of Calgary
Title:
"Virtual Biopsies: Non-Invasive Molecular Diagnosis"
Abstract:
Our expanding knowledge of the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of cancer is beginning to revolutionize the practice of clinical oncology. Increasingly, molecular biomarkers of prognosis and treatment response are being used to classify tumors and direct treatment decisions. Advanced medical imaging platforms such as MRI, PET, and CT provide incredibly detailed images of tumors that reflect their structure, biochemistry, physiology, and perhaps genetics.
Studies by the Imaging Informatics Lab at the University of Calgary, and others, show that information about a tumor's molecular phenotype can be obtained by using novel algorithms and computational tools to more fully analyze tumor images. Such "virtual biopsies," performed by applying these image-processing techniques to routine diagnostic images (e.g. MRI, PET, or CT), could be a rapid and powerful means of assaying important cancer biomarkers. If successfully validated, and proven to have suitable sensitivity and specificity, the use of non-invasive, imaging-based molecular diagnostic tests would offer significant advantages over conventional surgical biopsies. For example, this could be important in the context of large heterogeneous tumors, multiple metastases, surgically inaccessible tumors, and settings where disease progression needs to be monitored frequently over time. Virtual biopsy research lies at the intersection of molecular imaging, medical imaging physics, and biocomputation, and is highly complementary to these areas. This presentation will cover key enabling technologies behind virtual biopsies and discuss some recent successes in this research.
Biography:
Dr. Ross Mitchell is an associate professor of the Departments of Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences and an adjunct professor of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary. He is also the founding and chief scientist of Calgary Scientific Incorporated, a Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada; a Donald Paty Scholar; and an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Senior Scholar. Dr. Mitchell has received numerous awards for his research including the Berlex Canada MS Research Award; several Dean's Awards of Excellence from the University of Western Ontario; Best Paper Awards from the Canadian Association of Radiologists and the International Organization for Medical Physics; and two Awards of Merit from the Radiological Society of North America. Dr. Mitchell has a proven research track-record comprising 11 patents, 73 invited presentations, 63 peer-reviewed articles, and 150 published abstracts.
Dr. Mitchell supervises a research team investigating space/frequency analysis, medical image processing, as well as segmentation and visualization technologies. For more information, please see, http://www.ImagingInformatics.ca.
3) Monday, January 28th, at noon; Alway M104
Jianming Liang, PhD
Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc., Malvern, PA
Title:
"Dynamic Chest Image Analysis, United Snakes, and
Computer-Aided Detection"
Abstract:
Modern medical imaging systems generate enormous datasets with ever higher coverage and resolution, but it is the clinically relevant information in these images that is paramount. I shall present several novel computational approaches for gleaning such information from chest X-ray images to reveal pulmonary functional abnormalities, for segmenting and characterizing organ motions, and for detecting the most lethal diseases from CT images, including pulmonary embolism and colonic polyps. The former approach has yielded model-based analysis and visualization methods for revealing focal and general abnormalities of lung ventilation and perfusion based on a sequence of digital chest fluoroscopy frames collected with the dynamic pulmonary imaging (DPI) technique.
In particular, I shall present a novel multiresolutional method with an explicit ventilation/perfusion analysis model, as well as "United Snakes," an interactive deformable model framework for lung registration and motion analysis, cardiac shape and motion analysis, and other applications. Finally, I will introduce a fast yet effective concentration-oriented tobogganing technique for efficient local artery/vein separation and multiple instance classification for the automated detection of pulmonary embolism from CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA), and a virtual colonoscopy technique that simplifies the complex 3D-polyp detection problem into a 2D-disk identification problem, significantly improving sensitivity while reducing computation time.
Biography:
Dr. Jianming Liang is a staff scientist at Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., where he has been engaged in research and development activities in the domain of computer-aided diagnosis in medical imaging since December 2002. He holds a PhD degree (2001) in computer science and carried out his thesis work at the Turku Centre for Computer Science in Finland and in the Visual Modeling Group at the University of Toronto in Canada. From 2001-02, he was a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Industrial Research Fellow. His research on dynamic chest image analysis received a University Faculty Research Award from the University of Turku. His other prizes include a Siemens Recognition Award and a Best Paper Award at the 2007 International Congress of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery in Berlin, Germany.
4) Thursday, January 31st, at noon; Clark Center Auditorium
Daniel Rubin, MS, MD
Stanford University
Title:
"Imaging Informatics: From Bench to Bedside and Beyond"
Abstract:
Vast amounts of knowledge lie within the grasp of radiology researchers and practitioners to help them to understand disease and to practice effectively, but much current biomedical knowledge is not being accessed and utilized. The explosion in images and non-imaging data is challenging the ability of radiology researchers to identify and to pursue promising new investigational directions. The latest results that researchers produce are not always informing radiologists in their day-to-day work, as there are few tools to help them to identify, retrieve, and use pertinent clinical and research knowledge at the point of care. Consequently, there is variability among radiologists in their clinical effectiveness, and opportunities for translating new discoveries into practice are being lost. The methods and tools of biomedical informatics are enabling biologists to cope with similar problems arising from the information explosion in biology, and they are adopting informatics techniques to function effectively in the e-Science era.
In this presentation, I will discuss ongoing work to develop and apply biomedical informatics techniques to meet the information challenges in radiology. Specifically, knowledge representation, semantic annotation, statistical natural language processing, data integration/warehousing, computer reasoning, and decision support are key directions in informatics needed to create intelligent applications for radiology. Future advances in radiology will lie at the intersection of imaging science and biomedical informatics. The new computer applications that emerge will change clinical imaging workstations into knowledge portals and enable radiologists to keep pace with new discoveries, to exploit new radiology knowledge, and to practice more consistently and effectively.
Biography:
Daniel Rubin is a research scientist in the Center for Biomedical Informatics Research and clinical assistant professor of radiology at Stanford University. He is director of scientific development for the National Center for Biomedical Ontology, a National Center for Biomedical Computing of the NIH Roadmap. He is chair of the RadLex Steering Committee of RSNA, chair of the Informatics Committee of the American College of Radiology Imaging Network (ACRIN), and co-chair of the Medical Imaging Systems Working Group of the American Medical Informatics Association. In addition to informatics, his background includes clinical and investigational radiology, as a radiologist and researcher. His academic focus is the intersection of biomedical informatics and imaging science, developing computational methods and applications to access and integrate diverse clinical and imaging data, to extract information and meaning from images, to enable data mining and discovery of image biomarkers, and to translate these methods into practice by creating computer applications that will improve diagnostic accuracy and clinical effectiveness.
New Faculty Hires and Promotions: January 23, 2008
Lewis Shin, MD, will be starting as an assistant professor of diagnostic radiology in February 2008. He has been a clinical instructor in our Department since August of 2007 after completing a body imaging fellowship from 2005 to 2007 through our Advanced Techniques for Cancer Imaging Program, which is funded by the National Cancer Institute. Prior to coming to Stanford, he attended Brown University where he received his BS in neuroscience in 1996 and his medical degree in 2000. Dr. Shin completed his internship and residency in diagnostic radiology at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, New York. His research interests include real time MRI airway imaging and body imaging, specifically diffusion-weighted imaging and virtual colonoscopy with CT and MR. Born and raised in New York, his hobbies
include ice hockey and golf.
(Image courtesy of Mark Riesenberger)
Announcements III: January 22, 2008
Special Seminar Series on Radiological Informatics: As part of a special series on radiological informatics, we are offering seminars on Jan. 23rd, 24th, 28th, and 31st. Please click on the "Continue Reading This Entry" link below to find the title of each talk as well as the presenter's abstract and biography. In addition to the seminars listed below, there will be a few more talks, which are being scheduled now and will be posted shortly. Please contact Dr. Sandy Napel for more information.
1) Wednesday, January 23rd, at noon; Alway M104
Julia Patriarche, PhD
Mayo Clinic
Title:
"Detection of Change in Serial Magnetic Resonance Studies of Brain Tumor Patients"
Abstract:
The comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies is a common task in clinical radiology. It is, however, widely considered not to be very reproducible. There are a variety of reasons for this, including the confounding of disease-related changes with acquisition-related changes and issues related to information presentation. We have constructed a computational system that performs the comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies and presents changes in the form of a color-coded change map, superimposed on the anatomical images. The system additionally formats the output as a quantitative summary. We used this quantitative summary to conduct a study with 88 brain tumor serial comparisons. Our results were suggestive that it may be possible to use the change detector to identify cancer changes months earlier than is possible using manual inspection, alone.
We have recently implemented an integrated system for the change detector, which includes a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI not only displays the color-coded change map, but also allows the user to turn it on and off. The GUI provides linked cursors, and it additionally provides "flicker" functionality to allow the user to rapidly alternate between the serial acquisitions. We are preparing to deploy the GUI change detector clinically, which will greatly increase the size and variety of possible future research studies and which will allow the direct clinical application of this technology.
The change detector is an example of a layered artificial intelligence (AI) architecture in which each layer builds upon the layer below, with each layer accomplishing progressively more sophisticated analyses. Specifically, the change detector is built on a lesion-finder application. The lesion finder is built on an automated sample point's algorithm. The automated sample point's algorithm is built on a significant region detection algorithm. Each of these algorithms has merit in its own right, and each can be used in a modular fashion in a variety of contexts. As a unified application, they together automatically address a complex clinical task. Early detection of changes may facilitate improved care through more rapid intervention following recurrence. It may also facilitate screening and personalized therapy. We additionally see the change detector as providing a solution to the problem of novel therapy comparison, by providing fully automatic, reproducible, and quantitative measures of change. We envision the change detector as a model of layered artificial intelligence, not only freeing the radiologist from the drudgery of information overload, but providing a model whereby greater information will enable many sophisticated automatic analyses by the computer, with the computer bringing to the attention of the clinician only what is relevant.
Biography:
Julia Patriarche is an informatics fellow in the Radiology Informatics Lab at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. She has completed an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering/computer engineering option at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada; a PhD in medical science/medical imaging; and a neurology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
2) Thursday, January 24th, at noon; Alway M112
Ross Mitchell, PhD
University of Calgary
Title:
"Virtual Biopsies: Non-Invasive Molecular Diagnosis"
Abstract:
Our expanding knowledge of the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of cancer is beginning to revolutionize the practice of clinical oncology. Increasingly, molecular biomarkers of prognosis and treatment response are being used to classify tumors and direct treatment decisions. Advanced medical imaging platforms such as MRI, PET, and CT provide incredibly detailed images of tumors that reflect their structure, biochemistry, physiology, and perhaps genetics.
Studies by the Imaging Informatics Lab at the University of Calgary, and others, show that information about a tumor's molecular phenotype can be obtained by using novel algorithms and computational tools to more fully analyze tumor images. Such "virtual biopsies," performed by applying these image-processing techniques to routine diagnostic images (e.g. MRI, PET, or CT), could be a rapid and powerful means of assaying important cancer biomarkers. If successfully validated, and proven to have suitable sensitivity and specificity, the use of non-invasive, imaging-based molecular diagnostic tests would offer significant advantages over conventional surgical biopsies. For example, this could be important in the context of large heterogeneous tumors, multiple metastases, surgically inaccessible tumors, and settings where disease progression needs to be monitored frequently over time. Virtual biopsy research lies at the intersection of molecular imaging, medical imaging physics, and biocomputation, and is highly complementary to these areas. This presentation will cover key enabling technologies behind virtual biopsies and discuss some recent successes in this research.
Biography: Dr. Ross Mitchell is an associate professor of the Departments of Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences and an adjunct professor of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary. He is also the founding and chief scientist of Calgary Scientific Incorporated, a Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada; a Donald Paty Scholar; and an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Senior Scholar. Dr. Mitchell has received numerous awards for his research including the Berlex Canada MS Research Award; several Dean's Awards of Excellence from the University of Western Ontario; Best Paper Awards from the Canadian Association of Radiologists and the International Organization for Medical Physics; and two Awards of Merit from the Radiological Society of North America. Dr. Mitchell has a proven research track-record comprising 11 patents, 73 invited presentations, 63 peer-reviewed articles, and 150 published abstracts.
Dr. Mitchell supervises a research team investigating space/frequency analysis, medical image processing, as well as segmentation and visualization technologies. For more information, please see, http://www.ImagingInformatics.ca.
3) Monday, January 28th, at noon; Alway M104
Jianming Liang, PhD
Siemens Medical Solutions USA Inc., Malvern, PA
Title:
"Dynamic Chest Image Analysis, United Snakes, and
Computer-Aided Detection"
Abstract:
Modern medical imaging systems generate enormous datasets with ever higher coverage and resolution, but it is the clinically relevant information in these images that is paramount. I shall present several novel computational approaches for gleaning such information from chest X-ray images to reveal pulmonary functional abnormalities, for segmenting and characterizing organ motions, and for detecting the most lethal diseases from CT images, including pulmonary embolism and colonic polyps. The former approach has yielded model-based analysis and visualization methods for revealing focal and general abnormalities of lung ventilation and perfusion based on a sequence of digital chest fluoroscopy frames collected with the dynamic pulmonary imaging (DPI) technique.
In particular, I shall present a novel multiresolutional method with an explicit ventilation/perfusion analysis model, as well as "United Snakes," an interactive deformable model framework for lung registration and motion analysis, cardiac shape and motion analysis, and other applications. Finally, I will introduce a fast yet effective concentration-oriented tobogganing technique for efficient local artery/vein separation and multiple instance classification for the automated detection of pulmonary embolism from CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA), and a virtual colonoscopy technique that simplifies the complex 3D-polyp detection problem into a 2D-disk identification problem, significantly improving sensitivity while reducing computation time.
Biography:
Dr. Jianming Liang is a staff scientist at Siemens Medical Solutions USA, Inc., where he has been engaged in research and development activities in the domain of computer-aided diagnosis in medical imaging since December 2002. He holds a PhD degree (2001) in computer science and carried out his thesis work at the Turku Centre for Computer Science in Finland and in the Visual Modeling Group at the University of Toronto in Canada. From 2001-02, he was a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada Industrial Research Fellow. His research on dynamic chest image analysis received a University Faculty Research Award from the University of Turku. His other prizes include a Siemens Recognition Award and a Best Paper Award at the 2007 International Congress of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery in Berlin, Germany.
4) Thursday, January 31st, at noon; location TBA
Daniel Rubin, MS, MD
Stanford University
Visiting Faculty: January 18, 2008
Myeong Sub Lee, MD, PhD, and Sun Mi Kim, MD, have been visiting professors of radiology since March of 2007; they will be visiting our Department for one year. Dr. Lee received his PhD from the Department of Anatomy at Korea University of Seoul, Korea, and his MD from Yonsei University, where he is an associate professor in the Department of Radiology at Yonsei Wonju Medical School. His specialty is interventional neuroradiology, and he works with Dr. Marks in the division of interventional neuroradiology at Stanford. After completing her residency and a fellowship at the Asan Medical Center in Seoul, Dr Kim became an assistant professor of Seoul National University Bundang Hospital where she specializes in breast imaging, particularly mammography and ultrasound. Working as a visiting professor at Stanford, Dr. Kim has had the opportunity to interpret breast MRI cases and conduct research with Dr. Bruce Daniel. When they are not working, Drs. Lee and Kim enjoy spending time with their little boy, Jaewon.
Announcements II: January 15, 2008
Special Seminar Series on Radiological Informatics: As part of a special series on radiological informatics, we are offering seminars on Jan. 23rd, 24th, 28th, and 31st. Please watch future announcements for each seminar's title and abstract. In addition to the seminars listed below, there will be a few more talks, which are being scheduled now and will be posted shortly. Please contact Dr. Sandy Napel for more information.
1) Wednesday, January 23rd, at noon; location TBA
Julia Patriarche, PhD
Mayo Clinic
Title:
"Detection of Change in Serial Magnetic Resonance Studies of Brain Tumor Patients"
Abstract:
The comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies is a common task in clinical radiology. It is, however, widely considered not to be very reproducible. There are a variety of reasons for this, including the confounding of disease-related changes with acquisition-related changes and issues related to information presentation. We have constructed a computational system that performs the comparison of serial magnetic resonance imaging studies and presents changes in the form of a color-coded change map, superimposed on the anatomical images. The system additionally formats the output as a quantitative summary. We used this quantitative summary to conduct a study with 88 brain tumor serial comparisons. Our results were suggestive that it may be possible to use the change detector to identify cancer changes months earlier than is possible using manual inspection, alone.
We have recently implemented an integrated system for the change detector, which includes a graphical user interface (GUI). The GUI not only displays the color-coded change map, but also allows the user to turn it on and off. The GUI provides linked cursors, and it additionally provides "flicker" functionality to allow the user to rapidly alternate between the serial acquisitions. We are preparing to deploy the GUI change detector clinically, which will greatly increase the size and variety of possible future research studies and which will allow the direct clinical application of this technology.
The change detector is an example of a layered artificial intelligence (AI) architecture in which each layer builds upon the layer below, with each layer accomplishing progressively more sophisticated analyses. Specifically, the change detector is built on a lesion-finder application. The lesion finder is built on an automated sample point's algorithm. The automated sample point's algorithm is built on a significant region detection algorithm. Each of these algorithms has merit in its own right, and each can be used in a modular fashion in a variety of contexts. As a unified application, they together automatically address a complex clinical task. Early detection of changes may facilitate improved care through more rapid intervention following recurrence. It may also facilitate screening and personalized therapy. We additionally see the change detector as providing a solution to the problem of novel therapy comparison, by providing fully automatic, reproducible, and quantitative measures of change. We envision the change detector as a model of layered artificial intelligence, not only freeing the radiologist from the drudgery of information overload, but providing a model whereby greater information will enable many sophisticated automatic analyses by the computer, with the computer bringing to the attention of the clinician only what is relevant.
Biography:
Julia Patriarche is an informatics fellow in the Radiology Informatics Lab at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine. She has completed an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering/computer engineering option at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada; a PhD in medical science/medical imaging; and a neurology fellowship at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
2) Thursday, January 24th, at noon; location TBA
Ross Mitchell, PhD
University of Calgary
Title:
"Virtual Biopsies: Non-Invasive Molecular Diagnosis"
Abstract:
Our expanding knowledge of the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of cancer is beginning to revolutionize the practice of clinical oncology. Increasingly, molecular biomarkers of prognosis and treatment response are being used to classify tumors and direct treatment decisions. Advanced medical imaging platforms such as MRI, PET, and CT provide incredibly detailed images of tumors that reflect their structure, biochemistry, physiology, and perhaps genetics.
Studies by the Imaging Informatics Lab at the University of Calgary, and others, show that information about a tumor's molecular phenotype can be obtained by using novel algorithms and computational tools to more fully analyze tumor images. Such "virtual biopsies," performed by applying these image-processing techniques to routine diagnostic images (e.g. MRI, PET, or CT), could be a rapid and powerful means of assaying important cancer biomarkers. If successfully validated, and proven to have suitable sensitivity and specificity, the use of non-invasive, imaging-based molecular diagnostic tests would offer significant advantages over conventional surgical biopsies. For example, this could be important in the context of large heterogeneous tumors, multiple metastases, surgically inaccessible tumors, and settings where disease progression needs to be monitored frequently over time. Virtual biopsy research lies at the intersection of molecular imaging, medical imaging physics, and biocomputation, and is highly complementary to these areas. This presentation will cover key enabling technologies behind virtual biopsies and discuss some recent successes in this research.
Biography: Dr. Ross Mitchell is an associate professor of the Departments of Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences and an adjunct professor of the Department of Computer Science at the University of Calgary. He is also the founding and chief scientist of Calgary Scientific Incorporated, a Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada; a Donald Paty Scholar; and an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Senior Scholar. Dr. Mitchell has received numerous awards for his research including the Berlex Canada MS Research Award; several Dean's Awards of Excellence from the University of Western Ontario; Best Paper Awards from the Canadian Association of Radiologists and the International Organization for Medical Physics; and two Awards of Merit from the Radiological Society of North America. Dr. Mitchell has a proven research track-record comprising 11 patents, 73 invited presentations, 63 peer-reviewed articles, and 150 published abstracts.
Dr. Mitchell supervises a research team investigating space/frequency analysis, medical image processing, as well as segmentation and visualization technologies. For more information, please see, http://www.ImagingInformatics.ca.
3) Monday, January 28th, at noon; location TBA
Jianming Liang, PhD
Siemens Medical Solutions
4) Thursday, January 31st, at noon; location TBA
Daniel Rubin, MS, MD
Stanford University
New Faculty Hires and Promotions: January 10, 2008
John MacKenzie, MD, MS, became an acting assistant professor of pediatric radiology and chief of pediatric musculoskeletal imaging at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital (LPCH) in September of 2007. At LPCH, he is helping to expand the options for imaging and image-guided interventions for children, and he is excited to be back on the Farm. After completing his Bachelor of Science degree at Stanford with honors in computer science and the biological sciences, Dr. MacKenzie left Stanford for medical school at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, which was initially a culture shock for him. However, Dr. MacKenzie enjoyed the East Coast enough to complete his residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital and two fellowships: a musculoskeletal and body MRI fellowship at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and a pediatric radiology fellowship at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. His research interests include molecular imaging applications for bone and joint disorders, and he is currently developing a research program in hyperpolarized carbon-13 imaging with members of Stanford Radiology (Drs. Dan Spielman, Shreyas Vasanawala, and Dirk Mayer) and General Electric (Ralph Hurd and Yi-Fen Yen). When he's not working, you may see him riding his green bike around campus reliving his undergraduate days as well as commuting to and from Caltrain. Dr. MacKenzie lives in San Francisco and enjoys hiking and carpentry; both his father and grandfather were carpenters. A native of Colorado, Dr. MacKenzie is currently teaching his seven-year-old daughter how to ice skate.
Announcements I: January 10, 2008
Special Seminar Series on Radiological Informatics: As part of a special series on radiological informatics, we are offering seminars on Jan. 14th, 23rd, and 28th. Each seminar is at 12 noon in Alway M104 unless otherwise indicated. Please watch future announcements for each seminar's title and abstract. In addition to the three seminars listed below, there will be at least two more talks, which are being scheduled now and will be posted shortly. Please contact Dr. Sandy Napel for more information.
1) Monday, Jan 14th:
James Z. Wang, PhD
Carnegie Mellon University and Pennsylvania State University
Title:
"A Data-Driven Approach Toward Knowledge Discovery and Improving Healthcare"
Abstract:
Radiology and biomedical informatics are revolutionizing healthcare. It has been predicted that a shortage of trained radiologists will continue in the next three decades. Effective computerized tools will therefore be in great demand. Radiology departments today generate an incredibly massive amount of digital medical images and metadata. Conventional PACS search methods allow physicians to locate images using metadata stored in relational databases. Much more can be done to leverage this wealth of data. Using massively parallel computers, we can mine millions of electronic medical records and millions of high-resolution, high-dimensional, multi-spectrum medical images to draw conclusions statistically based on past cases. We need to invent computational methods to harness the breathtaking quantity of digital information effectively and to generate biomedical knowledge at a pace we could not have imagined. In the last decade, my research group attempted to reduce the significant gap between low-level features extracted from images and high-level semantic concepts. Machine learning, statistical modeling, and mathematical tools have been utilized. I will introduce some of our past research results of relevance to the radiology community. Specifically, the talk will cover the SIMPLIcity visual similarity search, the 3-D hidden Markov models for analyzing volume images, the Automatic Linguistic Indexing of Pictures system, and the ontology-based annotation and retrieval of histological images and quantitative phenotypes. In the coming years, I plan to collaborate with radiologists, physicians, and biologists in order to develop indexing, retrieval, and mining algorithms and systems for large amounts of radiological images and patient-specific data.
Biography:
James Z. Wang is currently a visiting professor at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. He is also a tenured faculty member at Pennsylvania State University. He received a summa cum laude bachelor's degree in mathematics and computer science from the University of Minnesota. From Stanford University, Dr. Wang has received an MS in mathematics, an MS in computer science, and a PhD degree in medical information sciences. He has been a recipient of a National Science Foundation (NSF) Career award and the endowed PNC Technologies Career Development Professorship. Research interests of his group include automatic image tagging, semantics-sensitive image retrieval, image security, biomedical informatics, computational aesthetics, story picturing, art image retrieval, and computer vision. The group has published two monographs and more than 20 journal articles. Science media including Discovery News, Scientific American, National Public Radio, and MIT Technology Review, as well as wired news agencies, have reported his research.
2) Wednesday, January 23rd:
Julia Patriarche, PhD
Mayo Clinic
3) Monday, January 28th:
Jianming Liang, PhD
Siemens Medical Solutions
2007 MIPS Retreat
On October 24th, the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford (MIPS) held a two-day retreat by the beach at Asilomar in Pacific Grove, California. Dr. Sam Gambhir, professor of radiology and bioengineering, director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford, and chief of the Nuclear Medicine Division, gave the opening remarks, which were followed by lunch and one-minute talks moderated by Michael Moseley, PhD. Professor of Chemistry Carolyn Bertozzi from the University of California, Berkeley, delivered the keynote address entitled "Shedding Light on Glycans." The retreat also included discussion groups, a game show, and a faculty volleyball game.
Dr. Gambhir delivers the opening talk.
Tsinghua University's "Oversea Expert," Dr. Gary Glover
As he jogged along the banks of the Wanquan River sharing the path with a swarm of bicyclists, Dr. Gary Glover wound through the campus of Tsinghua University in the northwestern suburbs of Beijing. Selected by Tsinghua University as their "Oversea Expert," Dr. Glover came to the University to share his scientific expertise and knowledge with their faculty and students as they initiate their own MRI program. He brought graduate student Catie Chang with him for part of the trip.
Sponsored jointly by the National Office of Foreign Experts and the Department of Education, Tsinghua's "Oversea Expert Program" is designed to bring "recipients of important international awards . . ., professors of world-renowned universities, and other established experts who have a great reputation in their corresponding international research community" to help train students and faculty in MR research and program design as well as to offer specialty courses and to provide guidance and consulting for research projects. Tsinghua University has over 20,000 students (including 12,000 undergraduates, 6,200 master's degree candidates and 2,800 doctoral candidates) and approximately 8 colleges, 43 departments, 44 research institutes, 9 engineering research centers, and 163 laboratories. The University also offers 37 bachelor's degree programs, 107 master's degree programs, and 64 PhD programs.
Karen Ying, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Engineering Physics and the Medical Physics and Engineering Institute, extended the invitation honoring Dr. Glover as Tsinghua University's Oversea Expert, who is to return annually for one month each year for a total of three years to provide scientific expertise and continuing guidance for Tsinghua's MRI program. Dr. Ying teaches a graduate course on the principles of magnetic resonance imaging. She and her three undergraduate and three graduate students comprise the whole MR imaging program for the University. They have no scanners; all MR and CT research is done at local hospitals. The University is constructing a medical school.
Dr. Ying has been a professor at Tsinghua for two years; prior to that, she taught and researched in the United States for ten years. Her father has taught in Tsinghua's Department of Engineering Physics for over 57 years. In talking with him, Dr. Glover learned that during the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao's reign, Dr. Ying's father was forced to quit the University and work on the farms for one and a half years. Although a professor emeritus, he still has five graduate students with whom he works.
During his visit from November 15th to December 5th, Dr. Glover gave 9 two-hour class lectures, and Ms. Chang gave 2. His lectures covered such topics as pulse sequence design and fast imaging techniques; the principles of diffusion/perfusion MRI and flow imaging; and functional MRI. He described the building in which he lectured as "gigantic with hundreds of classrooms that were busy from 0 o'clock in the morning until N o'clock at night." "Even as I walked around at 9 PM," Dr. Glover remarked, "there were students in the classrooms studying. There was a constant bustle of people around me, and bikes where everywhere at all hours; there were few cars on campus and no students' cars."
In addition to his lectures, Dr. Glover held two public evening colloquia and three meetings with University officials including the university president, provost, Vice President Ke-Jun Kang, Medical School Dean Zhao, and the Department of Engineering Physics Head Tang Chuanxiang. One topic he and the University faculty and administration discussed was the possibility of a foreign exchange program for graduate-level research/education between Tsinghua and Stanford to foster strong collaboration between our two institutions. He also spoke at a meeting with General Electric regarding research collaboration between GE, Stanford, and Tsinghua.
Established in 1911, Tsinghua University was built on the site of "Qing Hua Yuan," a former royal garden of the Qing Dynasty. Dr. Glover stayed at the guest house, which was across from a small island known as Jinchun Garden, where the eighth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Xian Feng, had lived. From 8 AM until about 10 AM, Dr. Glover was greeted by the sights and sounds of people dancing to traditional Chinese music in the -20 degrees Fahrenheit weather in Han Pavilion of Jinchun Garden, which is surrounded by a lake with scenic bridges.
Han Pavilion
Also undaunted by the cold weather were the "pillbox" guards who stood watch over the campus from 6 AM until around 11 PM.
During his visit, he was amazed by the excellent customer service he received, "I went into the equivalent of a 'Best Buy,' and there were 27 clerks in the camera department waiting to help me. In the local pharmacy, there were 11 clerks--one every foot and a half of counter space. When my card key didn't work in my hotel door, two people and part of a third person came to remedy it after an extensive discussion. The service was wonderful!" While the customer service was excellent, the air quality was not: "I saw four power plants on campus burning coal; I never saw the sun; it was always filtered through the haze, and there were no stars at night. It was hard to breathe as I jogged on campus."
In his free time, Dr. Glover did some sightseeing in Beijing, a city of over 15 million people. He toured the Great Wall of China; the Forbidden City and its "Hall of Medium Harmony" (something has been lost in the translation); Tian Anmen Square; the Lao She Tea House; Fragrance Hill; the Sleeping Budha; the Botanical Garden; the Thirteen Ming Tombs; and the Chairman Mao Solemn Memorial. The streets were packed with bicyclists as most goods were transported by bicycle cart. While in Beijing, he also had the opportunity to visit a CT manufacturing site.
His visit to Tsinghua University was only part of his three and a half week "lecture circuit." Prior to coming to Beijing, Dr. Glover had flown to the University of Maryland where he gave two lectures: one on real-time fMRI and anot