Biomedical Engineering - Imaging and Biophotonics

Overview

Education

Biophotonics

Biophotonics research focuses on the development of optical imaging and sensing technologies to study biomolecule, cell, and tissue structure and function at nanoscopic and microscopic scales. 

The goals are to improve both fundamental biomedical research and clinical patient care. Translational technologies developed by biophotonics faculty members include, for example, new far-field optical back-scattering spectroscopic imaging to analyze cellular nanoscale alterations in early carcinogenesis and cancer therapies, and new functional imaging to provide high resolution and high sensitivity for managing blinding diseases. 

Biophotonics faculty members also investigate a variety of fundamental biomedical questions, such as chromatin architecture remodeling in early cancers, intracellular single-molecule interactions, molecular pathways of hypoxia in diabetic eyes, and brain hemodynamic responses to strokes.

Medical Imaging

The direction of imaging research at Northwestern is driven by the aim to provide new insights into diseases process of the human body. The primary focus area is the development of novel Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) imaging technology and integration of advanced data analysis methodology. 

The goal is to improve diagnosis and therapy planning by developing novel and innovative imaging techniques for the evaluation of tissue morphology, body function, and physiologic processes throughout the human body. Access to five dedicated neuro, body, and high-field pre-clinical research MRI systems at the Center for Translational Imaging (CTI) in the Downtown Chicago campus, combined with strong interdisciplinary collaborations with physicians and scientists at the Feinberg School of Medicine, provide an ideal setting for the successful translation of novel advances in MRI acquisition and analyses. 

Faculty span BME, Radiology, and other departments across the medical school, bringing expertise in innovative pulse sequence and image reconstruction approaches, cardiac structure and hemodynamics, cerebrovascular function, signal processing in fMRI, advanced hardware development, guided brain stimulation techniques, pre-surgical mapping of brain activity, spinal cord imaging, image-guided cancer therapy, nanoparticles and targeted drug delivery, and machine learning. The Biomedical Engineering - Imaging and Biophotonics program is offered by Northwestern University.