Research Areas

Biomedical & Biological Imaging

This program seeks to bring the most innovative technology — whether it be next-generation hardware, multiple modalities, advanced image reconstruction or signal-processing methods, new contrast agents or novel applications — to bear on important basic science and clinical issues. Our goal is to develop new technologies to complement the already strong research and clinical imaging activities in our community.

Primary Faculty

Hong Chen

Associate Professor
Develops ultrasound-based image-guided drug delivery techniques

Song Hu

Professor
Advances theranostics through the development of novel optical and photoacoustic technologies

Abhinav Jha

Associate Professor
Develops computational-imaging methods for diagnosing and treating diseases

Christine O'Brien

Assistant Professor
Developing optical spectroscopy and imaging tools to solve global problems in maternal-fetal health and reproductive diseases

Jonathan Silva

Professor
Creating better ways to treat cardiac arrhythmia

Michael Vahey

Assistant Professor
Uses imaging & microfluidics to understand infectious disease

Yan Yu

Professor
Integrate nanotechnology and imaging techniques to study, detect, and manipulate the immune system and diseases

Chao Zhou

Professor
Develops novel optical imaging technologies for biomedical applications including cancer research and tissue engineering

Quing Zhu

Professor
Advances cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment prediction and monitoring

Affiliate Faculty

Michael Altman - Radiation Oncology

Radiation therapy, High intensity focused ultrasound, MR-guided therapy, hyperthermia, brachytherapy

Hongyu An - Radiology

MRI, MR physics, sequence design, image reconstruction, PET/MR imaging, PET attenuation

Beau Ances, MD - Neurology

Alzheimer's disease, HIV

Ghazal Ashrafi - Biology and Physiology

Optical imaging, functional imaging, synaptic function, neurometabolism, mitochondria

Martha Bagnall - Neuroscience

Vestibular and spinal neural circuits in zebrafish

Deanna Barch - Psychological & Brain Sciences

cognitive neuroscience, development, psychopathology, functional connectivity, structural connectivity, multi modal imaging

Randall Bateman - Neurology

Diagnostic clinical test biochemistry mass spectrometry process robotics Alzheimer's disease neurodegeneration

Adam Bauer - Radiology

Functional Optical Neuroimaging in Mice, Systems Neuroscience, Brain Network Connectivity, Neurovascular Coupling, Optogenetics, Stroke Recovery

Philip Bayly - Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science

biomechanics, mechanobiology, cell motility, flagella, cilia, imaging

Kevin Bennett - Radiology

Molecular imaging, kidney imaging, magnetic resonance, nanotechnology, physiology, renal disease, transplant

Tammie Benzinger - Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology

Advancing novel brain imaging technologies into human studies of aging and dementia, clinical trials, and clinical practice.

Mikhail Berezin - Radiology

Peripheral Nerves, Cancer Related Neuropathies, Imaging in Shortwave Infrared, Hyperspectral Imaging, Contrast Agents

Carmen Bergom - Radiation Oncology

Radiation-induced cardiac toxicity, breast cancer, radiation therapy, MRI, genetic models, RNA-sequencing, pre-clinical models, image-guided radiation therapy, tumor microenvironment, lung cancer, vasculature, hypoxia, mitochondrial function, inflammation, cardio-oncology

Janine Bijsterbosch, MD - Radiology

Functional MRI; neuroimaging; functional connectivity; mental health; psychiatry; depression; anxiety; default mode network; trans-diagnostic; biomarker

Peter Brunner - Neurosurgery

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI); Brain-Machine Interface (BMI); Electrocorticography (ECoG); Human Brain Mapping

Bruce Carlson - Neuroscience

Neurophysiology, sensory systems, behavior, evolution, mathematical modeling, neuroanatomy

Daniel Castro - Radiology

Assistant Professor
Opioid, motivation, affect, in vivo imaging

Aadel Chaudhuri, MD - Radiation Oncology

liquid biopsy, cell-free DNA, early cancer detection, digital cytometry, translational genomics, computational biology

Shantanu Chakrabartty - Electrical & Systems Engineering

Self-powered sensors, wireless telemetry, energy harvesting, neuromorphic systems

Baron Chanda - Anesthesiology

Voltage and Ligand-gating, Pacemaking ion channels, single molecule spectroscopy, structural biology, cryo-EM, fluorescence imaging, Thermodynamic analysis

Aisling Chaney - Radiology

Assistant Professor
Molecular imaging, neuroimmune interactions, translational research, myeloid cell responses, neurological and neurodegenerative diseases

Yao Chen - Neuroscience

Molecular dynamics, Neuromodulators, Sleep, Molecular sensors, Molecular actuators, Two photon Microscopy, Molecular systems, Signaling network, neuroscience, learning, Acetylcholine, Quantitative imaging, G protein coupled receptors, Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy, Engineering biosensors

Joseph Culver - Radiology

Diffuse optical tomography, non-invasive optical imaging

Li Ding, MD - Medicine

Cancer genomics, cancer proteomics, cancer evolution and progression, single cell and cellular imaging

Nico Dosenbach - Neurology

Precisions mapping of individual human brains; Real-time image processing

Adam Eggebrecht - Radiology

Optical Radiology, Diffuse Optics, Tomography, Modeling, Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy, Analytical Methods, Photon Propagation, Finite Element, Autism, Child Development

Tom Franken, MD - Neuroscience

Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
vision; visual perception; electrophysiology; non-human primates; cortex; neurons

Daved Fremont - Division of Immunobiology, Dept of Pathology & Immunology

Structural biology, immunology, virology, host-pathogen interactions, protein engineering

Michael Gach - Radiation Oncology

MRI physics, quantitative imaging, quantitative hemodynamics, cancer, image processing, pulse sequences, real-time MRI

Aimilia Gastounioti - Radiology

Artificial intelligence; breast cancer; racial disparities; machine learning; deep learning; imaging biomarker; image processing; image analysis; data science; data fusion; mammography; breast tomosynthesis; risk prediction; early detection

Guy Genin - Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science

Interfaces and adhesion in physiology and nature; optical strain analysis; continuum mechanics; viscoelasticity

Robert Gereau - Anesthesiology

Pain, optogenetics, optoelectronics, neural circuitry, in vivo imaging, electrophysiology

Geoffrey Goodhill - Developmental Biology

Computational neuroscience, Theoretical neuroscience, Systems neuroscience, Neural coding, Neural development, Autism, Zebrafish, Behavior, Calcium imaging

Michael Greenberg - Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics

Heart failure, molecular motors, single molecule, optical trapping, stem cells, tissue engineering

David Gutmann, MD - Neurology

Professor
Brain tumors, neurons, human induced pluripotent stem cells, genetically engineered mice, tumor modeling, organoids

Edward Han - Neuroscience

Two-photon calcium imaging, electrophysiology, virtual reality behavior, neuronal networks, learning and memory, hippocampus

Tim Holy - Neuroscience

Novel optical microscopy to record large neuronal populations

Jing Hughes - Department of Medicine

Islet biology, cilia, microscopy, physiology

Geoff Hugo - Radiation Oncology

image guided radiation therapy, adaptive radiation therapy, machine learning, lung CT, image analysis

Daniel Kerschensteiner, MD - Ophthalmology & Visual Science

Neural circuits, vision, 2-photon imaging, electrophysiology, retina, visual processing

Albert Kim, MD - Department of Neurological Surgery

Understanding the molecular mechanisms that drive tumor cell behavior in glioblastoma, a malignant brain cancer that is almost invariably fatal, as well as in aggressive forms of benign brain tumors, including meningiomas and pituitary tumors

Sándor Kovács, MD - Internal Medicine - Cardiovascular Division

mathematical physiology, kinematic modeling, cardiovascular biophysics, echocardiography, cardiac catheterization, cardiac MRI, hemodynamics, human physiology

Alexxai Kravitz, MD

Striatum, dopamine, electrophysiology, open-source, devices, recording, electrodes, fiber optics, calcium imaging

Shinjini Kundu - Radiology

Artificial intelligence, machine learning, bioinformatics, computer vision, image processing, neuroscience

Ikbal Şencan-Eğilmez - Radiology

Assistant Professor
Develops advanced optical microscopy solutions for preclinical imaging studies in brain and beyond; keywords: optical microscopy, neuroimaging, biomedical optics, oxygenation, neurovascular coupling, cerebral energetics

Gregory Lanza, MD - Internal Medicine - Cardiovascular Division

Targeted drug delivery. Molecular imaging, Nanomedicine, Vascular disease, Liquid and Solid Cancer Technologies, Contrast Agent Development

Eric Leuthardt, MD - Neurosurgery

Brain Computer Interfaces, Neuroprosthetics, Advanced Imaging, Resting State fMRI

Matthew Lew - Electrical & Systems Engineering

In-vivo imaging, 3D super-resolution microscopy, single-molecule fluorescence, computational optics

H. Harold Li - Radiology - Rad Sci

Radiation therapy dosimetry, Dose imaging device, Image-guided radiation therapy

Hua Li - Radiation Oncology

Machine learning for clinical decision making, objective image quality assessment, medical image analysis

Josh Morgan - Ophthalmology

vision, retina, connectomics, synapse, imaging, electron microscopy, circuitry, thalamus, development, neuron, image analysis

Arash Nazeri - Radiology

Neurofluid Imaging, Preclinical MRI, Diffusion MRI, Computational Neuroanatomy, Neurodevelopment

Joseph O'Sullivan - Electrical & Systems Engineering

Computational imaging; imaging science; computed tomography; positron emission tomography; x-ray imaging

Ben Palanca, MD - Anesthesiology

Anesthesia, delirium, seizures, electroconvulsive therapy, depression, cardiac surgery, sleep, consciousness, cognition, electroencephalography, magnetic resonance imaging, clinical, cognitive dysfunction, perioperative monitoring, neuromodulation

Hua Pan - Division of Rheumatology

Nanotechnology, MRI, Inflammation, Cardio-Oncology, Onco-nephrology, Cancer, Drug development

Philip Payne - Internal Medicine

Translational Bioinformatics, Multi-Scale Modelling, Computational Drug Repositioning

Brenton Pennicooke - Neurological Surgery

machine learning, artificial intelligence, patient-user interface, predictive analytics, causal inference, patient outcomes, risk stratification, data science, applied mathematics, spine surgery, spine disease

David Piston - Cell Biology & Physiology

Hormone secretion, signal transduction networks, protein-protein interactions, fluorescence microscopy

Rithwick Rajagopal - Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences

Pathogenic mechanisms in diabetic retinopathy, neuronal damage in diabetes mellitus

Gwendalyn Randolph - Pathology and Immunology

macrophages, monocytes, lymph nodes, lymphatic vessels, inflammation, vascular biology, atherosclerosis, inflammatory bowel disease, high-density lipoprotein, intravital imaging, light microscopy, 3-dimensional imaging

Patricia Ribeiro Pereira - Radiology

Cancer, Membrane Trafficking, Antibody Engineerign, PET imaging, Radioimmunotherapy, Dynamic multimodal imaging, Tumor Microenvironment, Immune Cells

Janice Robertson - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

membrane protein folding thermodynamics assembly single-molecule TIRF microscopy computational modeling structure function oligomerization lipids

Jarod Roland, MD - Department of Neurosurgery

Assistant Professor
Functional MRI, resting state MRI, intracranial electrophysiology, development, plasticity, epilepsy

Erica Scheller - Internal Medicine - Bone & Mineral Diseases

Diabetes, fracture risk, advanced imaging, neurobiology, metabolic disease, bone regeneration, biosensors

Vijay Sharma - Radiology

Molecular Imaging, PET and SPECT Agents, Myocardial Perfusion, Alzheimer`s Disease, Multidrug Resistance

Joshua Shimony - Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology

Translational application and modeling of Advanced MRI methods

Leonid Shmuyovich - Optical Radiology Lab

Infrared, thermal, short-wave infrared, fluorescence, confocal, dermatology, in-vivo histology, microscopy

Kooresh Isaac Shoghi - Radiology - Rad Sci

Computational biology at the interface with in-vivo imaging in animal models, in particular as it relates to metabolic regulation and obesity, diabetes

Monica Shokeen - Radiology

Contrast Agent Development, Nanoparticles, Cancer Imaging, Cardiovascular Imaging, Functional PET, MRI

Srikanth Singamaneni - Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science

Biosensing; bioplasmonics; biopreservation; surface enhanced Raman scattering; plasmon-enhanced fluorescence; point-of-care diagnostics; nano-neuro interactions

Lilianna Solnica-Krezel - Developmental Biology

Gastrulation, Regeneration, Development, Biology Embryogenesis, Convergence, Extension, Forward and Reverse Genetics, Zebrafish

Sheng-Kwei Victor Song - Radiology - Rad-Sci

Diffusion basis spectrum imaging, diffusion fMRI, inflammation, Cancer Technologies, axonal injury and loss, demyelination

Janet Sorrells - Electrical & Systems Engineering

Biomedical Optics, biomedical microscopy, understanding model changes in cellular metabolism by imaging changes in the autofluoresence of metabolic cofactors

Aristeidis Sotiras - Radiology

Machine learning; deep learning; image processing; image analysis; data science; neuroimaging; neurodegenerative diseases; neuropsychiatric disorders

S. Joshua Swamidass, MD - Pathology & Immunology

Machine learning, computational biology, chemical informatics, bioinformatics, neural networks, pharmacology, drug toxicity, drug design

Yuan-Chuan Tai - Radiology - Rad Sci

PET, molecular imaging, theranostic, radiotracer, plant imaging, phenotyping

Simon Tang - Orthopaedic Surgery

Disc Degeneration; Low back pain; osteoporosis and fragility

Daniel Thorek - Radiology

Molecular Imaging; Targeted Radiotherapy; Radiopharmaceuticals; Translational Drug Development

Tony Tsai - Developmental Biology

Assistant Professor
Mechanochemical control mechanisms underlying robustness of embryo development

David Van Essen - Neuroscience

Functional brain-mapping

Qing Wang - Radiology

MRI, PET, Electrophysiology imaging, Neurodegenerative diseases, brain tumors

Shuo Wang - Radiology

Neuroimaging, human single-neuron recordings, eye tracking, human cognitive neuroscience

Yong Wang - Obstetrics & Gynecology

Diffusion MRI and PET imaging; Noninvasive Electrophysiology Imaging; Cancer and Immunotherapy Imaging; Preterm Birth; Alzheimer's disease

Muriah Wheelock - Radiology

human neuroimaging, MRI, brain networks, functional connectivity, sleep, brain development, brain degeneration, software development, applied statistics

Jon Willie, MD - Neurosurgery

Neuromodulation, deep brain stimulation, functional neurosurgery, stereotactic neurosurgery, epilepsy, post-traumatic stress disorder, mood disorders

Pamela Woodard, MD - Radiology

PET, MRI, Molecular Imaging, Cardiac Imaging, Translational Research, PET tracers, Atherosclerosis

Dmitriy Yablonskiy - Radiology

Professor of Radiology
applying advanced MRI to link brain genetic and cellular microstructure with brain functioning in healthy people and patients with brain diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and Multiple Sclerosis.

Mohamed Zayed - Surgery

peripheral vascular disease, arteriovenous implants for treatment of diabetes, venous thrombectomy device treating DVT

Christian Zemlin - Cardiac Surgery

Cardiac Electrophysiology, Atrial Fibrillation, Cardiac Ablation, Electroporation, Defibrillation

Jie Zheng - Radiology

Cardiac MRI and PET, cardiovascular imaging, myocardial ischemia and heart failure, skeletal muscle exercise, diabetic foot

Tianyu Zhao, MD - Radiation Oncology

Proton Therapy, Adaptive Radiotherapy, Medical Imaging