Cristian Tudorel Badea

Professor in Radiology


  • Our lab's research focus lies primarily in developing novel quantitative imaging systems, reconstruction algorithms and analysis methods.  My major expertise is in preclinical CT.
  • Currently, we are particularly interested in developing novel strategies for spectral CT imaging using nanoparticle-based contrast agents for theranostics (i.e. therapy and diagnostics).
  • We are also engaged in developing new approaches for multidimensional CT image reconstruction suitable to address difficult undersampling cases in cardiac and spectral CT (dual energy and photon counting) using compressed sensing and/or deep learning.


Appointments and Affiliations

  • Professor in Radiology
  • Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
  • Member of the Duke Cancer Institute

Contact Information

Education

  • Ph.D. University of Patras (Greece), 2001

Research Interests

Spectral CT,  Cardiac CT, Image Reconstruction, Deep Learning, Nanoparticles, Theranostics,  Co-Clinical cancer trials, Small Animal Imaging

In the News

Representative Publications

  • Nadkarni, Rohan, Alex Allphin, Darin P. Clark, and Cristian T. Badea. “Material decomposition from photon-counting CT using a convolutional neural network and energy-integrating CT training labels.” Phys Med Biol 67, no. 15 (July 18, 2022). https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6560/ac7d34.
  • Allphin, Alex J., Yvonne M. Mowery, Kyle J. Lafata, Darin P. Clark, Alex M. Bassil, Rico Castillo, Diana Odhiambo, Matthew D. Holbrook, Ketan B. Ghaghada, and Cristian T. Badea. “Photon Counting CT and Radiomic Analysis Enables Differentiation of Tumors Based on Lymphocyte Burden.” Tomography 8, no. 2 (March 10, 2022): 740–53. https://doi.org/10.3390/tomography8020061.
  • Holbrook, Matthew D., Darin P. Clark, Rutulkumar Patel, Yi Qi, Alex M. Bassil, Yvonne M. Mowery, and Cristian T. Badea. “Detection of Lung Nodules in Micro-CT Imaging Using Deep Learning.” Tomography 7, no. 3 (August 7, 2021): 358–72. https://doi.org/10.3390/tomography7030032.
  • Clark, D. P., and C. T. Badea. “Advances in micro-CT imaging of small animals.” Phys Med 88 (August 2021): 175–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmp.2021.07.005.
  • Holbrook, M. D., D. P. Clark, and C. T. Badea. “Dual source hybrid spectral micro-CT using an energy-integrating and a photon-counting detector.” Phys Med Biol 65, no. 20 (October 21, 2020): 205012. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6560/aba8b2.
  • Holbrook, M. D., S. J. Blocker, Y. M. Mowery, A. Badea, Y. Qi, E. S. Xu, D. G. Kirsch, G. A. Johnson, and C. T. Badea. “MRI-Based Deep Learning Segmentation and Radiomics of Sarcoma in Mice.” Tomography 6, no. 1 (March 2020): 23–33. https://doi.org/10.18383/j.tom.2019.00021.
  • Blocker, S. J., Y. M. Mowery, M. D. Holbrook, Y. Qi, D. G. Kirsch, G. A. Johnson, and C. T. Badea. “Bridging the translational gap: Implementation of multimodal small animal imaging strategies for tumor burden assessment in a co-clinical trial.” PLoS One 14, no. 4 (2019): e0207555. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207555.
  • Clark, Darin P., Matthew Holbrook, Chang-Lung Lee, and Cristian T. Badea. “Photon-counting cine-cardiac CT in the mouse.” PLoS One 14, no. 9 (2019): e0218417. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0218417.
  • Ashton, Jeffrey R., Katherine D. Castle, Yi Qi, David G. Kirsch, Jennifer L. West, and Cristian T. Badea. “Dual-Energy CT Imaging of Tumor Liposome Delivery After Gold Nanoparticle-Augmented Radiation Therapy.” Theranostics 8, no. 7 (2018): 1782–97. https://doi.org/10.7150/thno.22621.
  • Clark, Darin P., Chang-Lung Lee, David G. Kirsch, and Cristian T. Badea. “Spectrotemporal CT data acquisition and reconstruction at low dose.” Med Phys 42, no. 11 (November 2015): 6317–36. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.4931407.
  • Ashton, Jeffrey R., Jennifer L. West, and Cristian T. Badea. “In vivo small animal micro-CT using nanoparticle contrast agents.” Front Pharmacol 6 (2015): 256. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2015.00256.
  • Clark, D. P., and C. T. Badea. “Micro-CT of rodents: state-of-the-art and future perspectives.” Phys Med 30, no. 6 (September 2014): 619–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmp.2014.05.011.
  • Badea, C. T., and D. Panetta. “High-Resolution CT for Small-Animal Imaging Research.” In Comprehensive Biomedical Physics, edited by A. Brahme, 2. X-Ray and Ultrasound Imaging:221–42. Oxford: Elsevier, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-444-53632-7.00210-0.
  • Lee, Chang-Lung, Hooney Min, Nicholas Befera, Darin Clark, Yi Qi, Shiva Das, G Allan Johnson, Cristian T. Badea, and David G. Kirsch. “Assessing cardiac injury in mice with dual energy-microCT, 4D-microCT, and microSPECT imaging after partial heart irradiation.” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 88, no. 3 (March 1, 2014): 686–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2013.11.238.
  • Ashton, Jeffrey R., Darin P. Clark, Everett J. Moding, Ketan Ghaghada, David G. Kirsch, Jennifer L. West, and Cristian T. Badea. “Dual-energy micro-CT functional imaging of primary lung cancer in mice using gold and iodine nanoparticle contrast agents: a validation study.” PLoS One 9, no. 2 (2014): e88129. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0088129.
  • Ashton, Jeffrey R., Nicholas Befera, Darin Clark, Yi Qi, Lan Mao, Howard A. Rockman, G Allan Johnson, and Cristian T. Badea. “Anatomical and functional imaging of myocardial infarction in mice using micro-CT and eXIA 160 contrast agent.” Contrast Media Mol Imaging 9, no. 2 (2014): 161–68. https://doi.org/10.1002/cmmi.1557.
  • Moding, Everett J., Darin P. Clark, Yi Qi, Yifan Li, Yan Ma, Ketan Ghaghada, G Allan Johnson, David G. Kirsch, and Cristian T. Badea. “Dual-energy micro-computed tomography imaging of radiation-induced vascular changes in primary mouse sarcomas.” Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 85, no. 5 (April 1, 2013): 1353–59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrobp.2012.09.027.
  • Clark, Darin P., Ketan Ghaghada, Everett J. Moding, David G. Kirsch, and Cristian T. Badea. “In vivo characterization of tumor vasculature using iodine and gold nanoparticles and dual energy micro-CT.” Phys Med Biol 58, no. 6 (March 21, 2013): 1683–1704. https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/58/6/1683.
  • Clark, Darin, Alexandra Badea, Yilin Liu, G Allan Johnson, and Cristian T. Badea. “Registration-based segmentation of murine 4D cardiac micro-CT data using symmetric normalization.” Phys Med Biol 57, no. 19 (October 7, 2012): 6125–45. https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/57/19/6125.
  • Johnston, Samuel M., G Allan Johnson, and Cristian T. Badea. “Temporal and spectral imaging with micro-CT.” Med Phys 39, no. 8 (August 2012): 4943–58. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.4736809.
  • Badea, C. T., X. Guo, D. Clark, S. M. Johnston, C. D. Marshall, and C. A. Piantadosi. “Dual-energy micro-CT of the rodent lung.” Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol 302, no. 10 (May 15, 2012): L1088–97. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajplung.00359.2011.
  • Clark, D., G. A. Johnson, and C. T. Badea. “Denoising of 4D Cardiac Micro-CT Data Using Median-Centric Bilateral Filtration.” In Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng, Vol. 8314, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.911478.
  • Guo, Xiaolian, Samuel M. Johnston, Yi Qi, G Allan Johnson, and Cristian T. Badea. “4D micro-CT using fast prospective gating.” Phys Med Biol 57, no. 1 (January 7, 2012): 257–71. https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/57/1/257.
  • Badea, Cristian T., Khannan K. Athreya, Gabriela Espinosa, Darin Clark, A Paiman Ghafoori, Yifan Li, David G. Kirsch, G Allan Johnson, Ananth Annapragada, and Ketan B. Ghaghada. “Computed tomography imaging of primary lung cancer in mice using a liposomal-iodinated contrast agent.” PLoS One 7, no. 4 (2012): e34496. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0034496.
  • Badea, C. T., I. N. Stanton, S. M. Johnston, G. A. Johnson, and M. J. Therien. “Investigations on X-ray luminescence CT for small animal imaging.” In Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng, 8313:83130T, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.911465.
  • Zhang, Xiaofeng, Cristian Badea, Greg Hood, Arthur Wetzel, Yi Qi, Joel Stiles, and G Allan Johnson. “High-resolution reconstruction of fluorescent inclusions in mouse thorax using anatomically guided sampling and parallel Monte Carlo computing.” Biomed Opt Express 2, no. 9 (September 1, 2011): 2449–60. https://doi.org/10.1364/BOE.2.002449.
  • Badea, Cristian T., Samuel M. Johnston, Yi Qi, and G Allan Johnson. “4D micro-CT for cardiac and perfusion applications with view under sampling.” Phys Med Biol 56, no. 11 (June 7, 2011): 3351–69. https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/56/11/011.
  • Ghaghada, Ketan B., Cristian T. Badea, Lohitash Karumbaiah, Nicole Fettig, Ravi V. Bellamkonda, G. A. Johnson, and Ananth Annapragada. “Evaluation of tumor microenvironment in an animal model using a nanoparticle contrast agent in computed tomography imaging.” Acad Radiol 18, no. 1 (January 2011): 20–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acra.2010.09.003.
  • Badea, Cristian T., Laurence W. Hedlund, Yi Qi, Brian Berridge, and G Allan Johnson. “In vivo imaging of rat coronary arteries using bi-plane digital subtraction angiography.” J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods 64, no. 2 (2011): 151–57. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vascn.2011.05.008.
  • Lin, MingDe, Yi Qi, Antonia F. Chen, Cristian T. Badea, and G Allan Johnson. “Phenylephrine-modulated cardiopulmonary blood flow measured with use of X-ray digital subtraction angiography.” J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods 64, no. 2 (2011): 180–86. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vascn.2011.08.001.
  • Badea, Cristian T., Laurence W. Hedlund, James Cook, Brian R. Berridge, and G Allan Johnson. “Micro-CT imaging assessment of dobutamine-induced cardiac stress in rats.” J Pharmacol Toxicol Methods 63, no. 1 (2011): 24–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vascn.2010.04.002.
  • Johnston, S. M., B. A. Perez, D. G. Kirsch, and C. T. Badea. “Phase-selective image reconstruction of the lungs in small animals using Micro-CT.” Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng 7622 (February 15, 2010): 76223G.1-76223G.9. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.844359.
  • Badea, Cristian T., Samuel M. Johnston, Ergys Subashi, Yi Qi, Laurence W. Hedlund, and G Allan Johnson. “Lung perfusion imaging in small animals using 4D micro-CT at heartbeat temporal resolution.” Med Phys 37, no. 1 (January 2010): 54–62. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.3264619.
  • Zhang, Xiaofeng, Cristian T. Badea, Greg Hood, Arthur W. Wetzel, Joel R. Stiles, and G Allan Johnson. “Free-space fluorescence tomography with adaptive sampling based on anatomical information from microCT.” In Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng, Vol. 7757, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.841891.
  • Lin, MingDe, Craig T. Marshall, Yi Qi, Samuel M. Johnston, Cristian T. Badea, Claude A. Piantadosi, and G Allan Johnson. “Quantitative blood flow measurements in the small animal cardiopulmonary system using digital subtraction angiography.” Med Phys 36, no. 11 (November 2009): 5347–58. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.3231823.
  • Zhang, Xiaofeng, and Cristian Badea. “Effects of sampling strategy on image quality in noncontact panoramic fluorescence diffuse optical tomography for small animal imaging.” Opt Express 17, no. 7 (March 30, 2009): 5125–38. https://doi.org/10.1364/oe.17.005125.
  • Zhang, Xiaofeng, Cristian Badea, Mathews Jacob, and G Allan Johnson. “Development of a noncontact 3-D fluorescence tomography system for small animal in vivo imaging.” In Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng, 7191:nihpa106691, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.808199.
  • Samei, Ehsan, Robert S. Saunders, Cristian T. Badea, Ketan B. Ghaghada, Laurence W. Hedlund, Yi Qi, Hong Yuan, Rex C. Bentley, and Srinivasan Mukundan. “Micro-CT imaging of breast tumors in rodents using a liposomal, nanoparticle contrast agent.” Int J Nanomedicine 4 (2009): 277–82.
  • Badea, C. T., S. Johnston, B. Johnson, M. Lin, L. W. Hedlund, and G Allan Johnson. “A dual micro-CT system for small animal imaging.” In Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng, 6913:691342, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.772303.
  • Lin, Ming de, Lutao Ning, Cristian T. Badea, Nilesh N. Mistry, Yi Qi, and G Allan Johnson. “A high-precision contrast injector for small animal x-ray digital subtraction angiography.” IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 55, no. 3 (March 2008): 1082–91. https://doi.org/10.1109/TBME.2007.909541.
  • Song, Jiayu, Qing H. Liu, G Allan Johnson, and Cristian T. Badea. “Sparseness prior based iterative image reconstruction for retrospectively gated cardiac micro-CT.” Med Phys 34, no. 11 (November 2007): 4476–83. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.2795830.
  • Nahrendorf, Matthias, Cristian Badea, Laurence W. Hedlund, Jose-Luiz Figueiredo, David E. Sosnovik, G Allan Johnson, and Ralph Weissleder. “High-resolution imaging of murine myocardial infarction with delayed-enhancement cine micro-CT.” Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 292, no. 6 (June 2007): H3172–78. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.01307.2006.
  • Badea, Cristian T., Laurence W. Hedlund, Ming De Lin, Julie S Boslego Mackel, Ehsan Samei, and G Allan Johnson. “Tomographic digital subtraction angiography for lung perfusion estimation in rodents.” Med Phys 34, no. 5 (May 2007): 1546–55. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.2717384.
  • De Lin, Ming, Ehsan Samei, Cristian T. Badea, Terry T. Yoshizumi, and G. Allan Johnson. “Optimized radiographic spectra for small animal digital subtraction angiography.” Med Phys 33, no. 11 (November 2006): 4249–57. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.2356646.
  • Oldham, Mark, Harshad Sakhalkar, Tim Oliver, Ying Min Wang, John Kirpatrick, Yiting Cao, Cristian Badea, G Allan Johnson, and Mark Dewhirst. “Three-dimensional imaging of xenograft tumors using optical computed and emission tomography.” Med Phys 33, no. 9 (September 2006): 3193–3202. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.2217109.
  • Mukundan, Srinivasan, Ketan B. Ghaghada, Cristian T. Badea, Chen-Yu Kao, Laurence W. Hedlund, James M. Provenzale, G Allan Johnson, Emmanuel Chen, Ravi V. Bellamkonda, and Ananth Annapragada. “A liposomal nanoscale contrast agent for preclinical CT in mice.” AJR Am J Roentgenol 186, no. 2 (February 2006): 300–307. https://doi.org/10.2214/AJR.05.0523.
  • Badea, Cristian T., Elizabeth Bucholz, Laurence W. Hedlund, Howard A. Rockman, and G Allan Johnson. “Imaging methods for morphological and functional phenotyping of the rodent heart.” Toxicol Pathol 34, no. 1 (2006): 111–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/01926230500404126.
  • Badea, Cristian T., Laurence W. Hedlund, Ming De Lin, Julie F. Boslego Mackel, and G Allan Johnson. “Tumor imaging in small animals with a combined micro-CT/micro-DSA system using iodinated conventional and blood pool contrast agents.” Contrast Media Mol Imaging 1, no. 4 (2006): 153–64. https://doi.org/10.1002/cmmi.103.
  • Maï, Wilfried, Cristian T. Badea, Charles T. Wheeler, Laurence W. Hedlund, and G Allan Johnson. “Effects of breathing and cardiac motion on spatial resolution in the microscopic imaging of rodents.” Magn Reson Med 53, no. 4 (April 2005): 858–65. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.20400.
  • Badea, Cristian T., Boma Fubara, Laurence W. Hedlund, and G Allan Johnson. “4-D micro-CT of the mouse heart.” Mol Imaging 4, no. 2 (2005): 110–16. https://doi.org/10.1162/15353500200504187.
  • Badea, C., L. W. Hedlund, and G. A. Johnson. “Micro-CT with respiratory and cardiac gating.” Med Phys 31, no. 12 (December 2004): 3324–29. https://doi.org/10.1118/1.1812604.
  • Badea, Cristian, and Richard Gordon. “Experiments with the nonlinear and chaotic behaviour of the multiplicative algebraic reconstruction technique (MART) algorithm for computed tomography.” Phys Med Biol 49, no. 8 (April 21, 2004): 1455–74. https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/49/8/006.
  • Buliev, Ivan G., Cristian T. Badea, Zoi Kolitsi, and Nicolas Pallikarakis. “Estimation of the heart respiratory motion with applications for cone beam computed tomography imaging: a simulation study.” IEEE Trans Inf Technol Biomed 7, no. 4 (December 2003): 404–11. https://doi.org/10.1109/titb.2003.821336.
  • Soimu, Delia, Cristian Badea, and Nicolas Pallikarakis. “A novel approach for distortion correction for X-ray image intensifiers.” Comput Med Imaging Graph 27, no. 1 (2003): 79–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0895-6111(02)00055-1.
  • Buliev, I., C. Badea, and N. Pallikarakis. “Logarithmic amplifier for computed tomography tasks using fluoroscopic projections.” J Med Eng Technol 26, no. 6 (2002): 247–52. https://doi.org/10.1080/03091900210156832.
  • Badea, C., Z. Kolitsi, and N. Pallikarakis. “Image quality in extended arc filtered digital tomosynthesis.” Acta Radiol 42, no. 2 (March 2001): 244–48. https://doi.org/10.1080/028418501127346585.
  • Messaris, G., Z. Kolitsi, C. Badea, and N. Pallikarakis. “Three-dimensional localisation based on projectional and tomographic image correlation: an application for digital tomosynthesis.” Med Eng Phys 21, no. 2 (March 1999): 101–9. https://doi.org/10.1016/s1350-4533(99)00015-6.
  • Badea, C., Z. Kolitsi, and N. Pallikarakis. “A wavelet-based method for removal of out-of-plane structures in digital tomosynthesis.” Comput Med Imaging Graph 22, no. 4 (1998): 309–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0895-6111(98)00037-8.
  • Badea, C., Z. Kolitsi, N. Pallikarakis, and A. Papapanagiotou. “Medical device surveillance world-wide.” Stud Health Technol Inform 28 (1996): 157–74.