Grants totaling $1 million awarded for biomedical imaging research

The National Academies Keck Futures Initiative (NAKFI; Irvine, CA), a program of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS; Washington, DC), awarded its latest round of grants—totaling $1 million—to support 13 research projects in biomedical imaging.

The Keck Futures grants allow researchers of areas that are considered risky or unusual to start recruiting students and postdoctoral fellows, purchasing equipment, and acquiring preliminary data. All of this can position researchers to compete for larger awards from other public and private sources.

Farouk El-Baz, research professor and director of the Center for Remote Sensing, Boston University, and the 2010 NAKFI Conference on Imaging Science chair, says that the grants were scored based on their interdisciplinarity, relevance to imaging science, riskiness/boldness, and the importance and potential impact if the grant is funded.

The award recipients and their grant research topics are as follows:

Jason Fleischer, Princeton University
Thomas Bifano, Boston University
Shelley Batts, Stanford University
Using adaptive optics to improve imaging of the inner ear – $75,000
Adaptive optics (AO) improves imaging by adjusting the wavefront of light to compensate for aberrations in the optical path. This project applies AO to functional, in-vivo microendoscopy of the inner ear. The proposal generalizes AO to fluid environments and holds potential for better understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of hearing loss.

Richard Frazin, University of Michigan
Peter Lawson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Advanced statistical methods for exoplanet detection – $50,000
These researchers will organize a multidisciplinary workshop of experts in order to study the application of state-of-the-art statistical decision theory to the detection of faint exoplanets. They anticipate enabling the detection of exoplanets at least an order of magnitude fainter than is currently possible.

Thomas Grabowski and James Brinkely, University of Washington
Brian Wandell and Robert Dougherty, Stanford University
Randall Frank, Self-employed
Scalable neuroimaging initiative: Tools for sharing and analyzing neuroimaging data – $50,000
Scientific imaging data are being acquired at an enormous rate, but data sharing is typically limited to descriptions (metadata) and results selected by the original investigators. This study proposes a distributed computing framework to enable quantitative access to the experimental conditions and image data and thus accelerate multi-institutional scientific progress.

Daniel Keefe, University of Minnesota
Kimani Toussaint, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Intelligent interactive imaging: Coupling smart spatial visualization interfaces with real-time second-harmonic generation microscopy – $75,000
This project couples research in optics (second-harmonic generation microscopy) and computer science (3-D user interfaces and data visualization) to explore a new paradigm of intelligent interactive imaging. The research tightly integrates image acquisition and image analysis via a novel real-time interactive visualization environment that combines human and machine intelligence.

John Mackenzie and Raga Ramachandran, University of California, San Francisco
Danny Chen, University of Notre Dame
Frank Chuang, National Science Foundation Center for Biophotonics, University of California, Davis
Multiscale biomedical imaging for autoimmune disease – $50,000
A multidisciplinary team will develop and combine new biomedical imaging methods in order to better detect, analyze, and track autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The team will focus on producing advanced imaging tools that can probe molecules and peer inside both living cells and humans.

Rafael Piestun, University of Colorado, Boulder
Liliana Borcea, Rice University
Adaptive approach for imaging through a highly scattering volume using spatio-temporal waveform shaping and statistical algorithms – $75,000
Efficient optical imaging through highly scattering volumetric media is arguably the next frontier in imaging science, with wide implications in microscopy, security, biomedical analysis, neuroscience, and more. The goal of this project is to investigate adaptive imaging concepts, synergistically combining optical and mathematical methodologies to tackle this demanding imaging problem.

Amina Qutub, Michael Diehl, and Tomasz Tzaszyk, Rice University
Building multiscale models of capillary regeneration from image-based RNA transcriptome analyses – $75,000
This project will establish an integrated approach to understand how capillaries form in tissues. Molecular-cell pathways will be interrogated via advanced hyperspectral imaging methods and a new class of erasable molecular imaging probes. Together, these tools will facilitate multiscale modeling efforts aimed at elucidating mechanisms governing capillary formation.

Mark Schnitzer, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Stanford University
Teri Odom, Northwestern University
A technology platform for high-resolution biomedical imaging in live animals using genetically targeted nanoparticles – $100,000
Recently, genetics and nanotechnology have each provided powerful techniques for biomedical imaging in animal models of human disease. This research seeks to combine the virtues of each approach by creating hybrid technology permitting selective imaging of particular cell types in live animals at unprecedented levels of imaging sensitivity.

Demitri Terzopoulos and Manuela Alex O. Vasilescu, University of California, Los Angeles
A multilinear (tensor) algebraic framework for multifactor manifold learning with applications to image science – $100,000
This project will develop a multilinear algebraic framework for computer vision and image science. By exploiting the nonlinear algebra of higher-order tensors, this new framework will yield powerful new computational methods and algorithms for detection and recognition with applications from biometrics and visual surveillance to medical imaging.

Kimani Toussaint, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Thomas Bifano, Boston University
Richard Paxman, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems
Optical propagation through impenetrable materials using MEMS (OPTIMUM) – $50,000
These researchers will explore techniques for light transmission through dynamically changing, thin materials that normally appear opaque using fast, segmented deformable mirrors. The technique will advance important imaging science applications ranging from biological microscopy through dense tissue for medical research to covert surveillance through opaque screens for defense and security.

Tom Vogt and Peter Binev, University of South Carolina
Wolfgang Dahmen, Institute für Geometrie und Praktische Mathematik
Smart data acquisition for nanoscale imaging – $100,000
Imaging using high-energy electrons will become increasingly important in the future. Electrons damage biological and organic matter, leading to distorted images with low signal-to-noise ratio. This project will explore new paradigms in data acquisition, nonlinear signal and image processing, more sophisticated data 'de-noising' and image analysis in combination with extensive simulation techniques.

Andrew Wang, University of North Carolina
Andrew Tsourkas, University of Pennsylvania
Development of nanoparticle-based multiplex multimodality imaging agents for the specific and sensitive detection of cancer – $100,000
This research proposes development of a new class of imaging agents that enable multiplex and multimodality imaging. Using cutting-edge nanotechnology, these agents will allow for the early detection of malignancies on multiple imaging platforms (MRI and SPECT) and will provide detailed biological information, which can improve tumor staging and treatment.

Lihong Wang, Konstantin Maslov, and Xiao Xu, Washington University, St. Louis
Time-reversed ultrasonically encoded (TRUE) optical focusing for biomedical imaging – $100,000
Optical imaging of biological tissue has limited depth because of strong light scattering. It can dynamically focus light into scattering tissue. This proposal will support further development of Time-Reversed Ultrasonically Encoded (TRUE) optical focusing to help realize its potential profound impact and broad application on optical imaging, sensing, manipulation, and therapy.

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Posted by Lee Mather

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