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Advanced Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications of Biomedical Ultrasound

Dr. Sacha Nandlall

Postdoctoral Research Scientist (former), Ultrasound Elasticity Imaging Laboratory, Columbia University

October 13, 2015 13:00 - 14:00

Mackenzie Building Room 3356, Carleton University

Registration not required.

abstract

Ultrasound is ubiquitous in many areas of medicine, where it has traditionally been employed for anatomical imaging. However, recent research in biomedical acoustics has given rise to techniques that leverage the noninvasiveness, high resolution, and low cost of ultrasound in new ways. This talk will provide an overview of biomedical acoustics, including several emerging diagnostic and therapeutic uses of ultrasound technology in medicine. Applications that will be discussed include:

• Monitoring and staging aneurysmal disease with Pulse Wave Imaging (PWI);
• Targeted ablation of cancer tumors with High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU); and
• Other selected techniques such as ultrasound-assisted drug delivery through the blood-brain barrier, electromechanical wave imaging of the heart, and acoustic Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).

biography

Sacha was born in September 1985 and grew up in Quebec City, Canada. He completed his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering at McGill University. During the final year of his undergraduate degree, he performed research in McGill's Department of Biomedical Engineering with Prof. Henrietta Galiana on applying signal processing techniques to detect and classify sleep apnea in children.

Sacha completed his studies at McGill in December 2006. From January to July 2007, he spent 6 months on a placement with Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) in Freetown, Sierra Leone, where he worked with the Ministry of Development and Economic Planning as a government data analyst.

In October 2007, Sacha became a doctoral student at the University of Oxford, earning the D.Phil. degree in August 2011. His research at Oxford took place in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering with Prof. Constantin-C. Coussios, and focused on developing enhanced methods of monitoring damage in cells and tissues during ablation by HighIntensity Focussed Ultrasound (HIFU).

Shortly after completing his doctoral studies, Sacha moved to Columbia University and joined the laboratory as a postdoctoral research scientist. Since September 2011, he has been working on the pulse wave imaging project.