Biomedical Imaging and Biophotonics
The Duke BME program is a world leader in development of novel biomedical imaging technologies, with translational and basic science applications.
In the past few decades, our faculty have pushed the boundaries of discovery and innovation in optics and photonics (e.g. optical coherence tomography and low-coherence interferometry), ultrasound (e.g. acoustic radiation force impulse based elasticity imaging), MRI, X-ray, and nuclear medicine-based imaging technologies, developing new diagnostic and treatment tools for ailments ranging from cancer to cardiovascular, neurological, and ophthalmic diseases.
Our research efforts span from advancing the physics and mathematical theory of imaging, image acquisition, and image processing to hardware design and clinical applications. We address longstanding problems in development of multi-dimensional and multi-modality imaging systems with unmatched image acquisition speed, resolution, and penetration depth. We investigate development of complex image-guided clinical tools (e.g., autonomous surgical robots) to cheap and robust image diagnostic technologies (e.g., cellphone cameras).
There are extensive collaborations between our biomedical imaging and Duke University Medical Center clinicians, resulting in rapid translation of numerous imaging technologies developed at Duke BME to the patient bedside and commercialization.
The Biomedical Imaging research community at Duke is supported and enhanced by numerous centers and programs, including the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics, the Duke Center for In Vivo Microscopy, the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies, and the Duke Medical Imaging Training Program.
Primary Faculty
Sina Farsiu
Paul Ruffin Scarborough Associate Professor of Engineering
Research Interests: Focused on medical imaging and machine learning to improve the overall health and vision outcome of patients with ocular and neurological diseases (e.g., age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, Alzheimer, and ALS) through earlier and personalized therapy.
Yiyang Gong
Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Recording and understanding brain activity by developing novel combinations of optical microscopy and genetically encoded sensors. Using these technologies, we wish to dissect neural circuit function and investigate how neural activity drives complex behaviors.
Joseph A. Izatt
Michael J. Fitzpatrick Professor of Engineering in the Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School of Engineering
Research Interests: Biophotonics and include coherence-based biomedical imaging and microscopy, novel technologies for ophthalmic imaging, and nanoscale studies of cellular morphology and dynamics.
David F. Katz
Nello L. Teer, Jr. Professor of Biomedical Engineering, in the Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School of Engineering
Research Interests: Methods for prophylaxis against STD's, emphasizing topical microbicides and contraception; biofluid mechanics; rheology and transport phenomena; biophysical aspects of mammalian sperm motility, sperm transport, and fertilization; and biomechanical functioning of the vitreous of...
Kathryn Radabaugh Nightingale
Theo Pilkington Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Ultrasonic and elasticity imaging, specifically nonlinear propagation, acoustic streaming and radiation force; the intentional generation of these phenomena for the purpose of tissue characterization; finite element modeling of normal and diseased tissue when exposed to...
Mark L. Palmeri
Associate Professor of the Practice in the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Ultrasonic imaging, specifically using acoustic radiation force to characterize the mechanical properties of tissue, and finite element analysis of soft tissue response to impulsive radiation force excitation. Other research interests include ultrasonic bioeffects and mechanical...
Nimmi Ramanujam
Robert W. Carr, Jr., Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Innovating on optical strategies to peer into the biological landscape of thick tissues. Technologies being developed in her lab leverage principles of optical spectroscopy, optical sectioning microscopy, and molecular imaging. Her research group is developing and applying these...
Gregg E. Trahey
Robert Plonsey Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Medical ultrasound, image guided surgery, adaptive imaging, imaging of tissue's mechanical properties, and radiation force imaging.
Tuan Vo-Dinh
R. Eugene and Susie E. Goodson Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Biophotonics, laser-excited luminescence spectroscopy, room temperature phosphorimetry, synchronous luminescence spectroscopy, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy, field environmental instrumentation, fiberoptics sensors, nanosensors, biosensors and biochips for the protection...
Olaf T. Von Ramm
Thomas Lord Professor of Engineering in the Edmund T. Pratt, Jr. School of Engineering
Research Interests: Diagnostic ultrasound imaging systems, IR imaging, medical instrumentation and their new applications.
Adam P. Wax
Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Optical spectroscopy for early cancer detection, novel microscopy and interferometry techniques.
Patrick D. Wolf
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Advanced instrumentation for diagnosis and treatment of electrophysiological problems. This research covers two primary organ systems: the heart and the brain. In the heart, Dr. Wolf is developing an image guided ablation system for treatment of arrhythmias. In the brain, he is...
Junjie Yao
Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Photoacoustic tomography (PAT) technologies, and translating PAT advances into diagnostic and therapeutic applications, especially in functional brain imaging and early cancer theranostics.
Secondary Faculty
Alexandra Badea
Associate Professor in Radiology
Research Interests: Brain Imaging, MRI, Connectivity, Multivariate Biomarkers, Image Analysis, Neurological Conditions, Alzheimer's Disease
Louis Edwin DeFrate
Frank H. Bassett III, M. D. Associate Professor
Mark Wesley Dewhirst
Gustavo S. Montana Professor of Radiation Oncology, in the School of Medicine
Research Interests: Dr. Dewhirst's research interests focus on the tumor microenvironment and how it influences treatment responses. Areas of particular focus are hypoxia, acidosis, angiogenesis and oxidative stress.
James T. Dobbins
Professor in Radiology
Research Interests: The research in my laboratory focuses on three main areas: (1) advanced imaging applications to improve diagnostic accuracy in clinical imaging, (2) the scientific assessment of image quality, and (3) developing lower cost imaging for the developing world. Projects in the area...
Anthony Nanlin Kuo
Associate Professor of Ophthalmology
Ehsan Samei
Professor of Radiology
Research Interests: Methods to develop image quality and dose metrics that are clinically relevant and that can be used to design and utilize advanced imaging techniques towards precise interpretive and quantitative performance.
Guillermo Sapiro
James B. Duke Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Research Interests: Image and video processing, computer vision, computer graphics, computational vision, biomedical imaging, brain imaging, cryo-tomography of viruses, computational tools in cryo-tomography, computational tools in early diagnosis of psychiatric disorders, differential geometry and...
William Paul Segars
Associate Professor in Radiology
Research Interests: Computer-generated phantoms and simulation techniques to investigate and optimize medical imaging systems and methods; development of computational models of patients and imaging devices.
Allen Wuming Song
Professor in Radiology
Research Interests: Song's research program is centered on high-resolution MRI methodological development to best depict and detect human brain structure and function.
Martin Paul Tornai
Associate Professor of Radiology
Cynthia Ann Toth
Joseph A.C. Wadsworth Professor of Ophthalmology
Research Interests: Translational research and early-application clinical trials with a focus on novel retinal imaging with spectral domain and swept source optical coherence tomography (SD and SSOCT)
Michael Rod Zalutsky
Jonathan Spicehandler, M.D. Professor of Neuro Oncology, in the School of Medicine
Research Interests: The development of novel radioactive compounds for improving the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Research Faculty
Cameron R. Bass
Associate Research Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Dr. Bass's research interests include the biomechanics of blast, blunt and ballistic trauma and pediatric trauma. His research focuses on injury risk from microscale to macroscale for the head, neck, thorax and extremities.
Paolo F Maccarini
Assistant Research Professor of the Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: By merging advanced circuit/antenna design with multiphysics modeling, Dr. Maccarini pioneered low-cost passive sensors to noninvasively measure deep temperature for various diagnostic applications. By combining novel engineering solutions with immunotherapy/thermo-drugs, his...
Emeritus Faculty
Stephen William Smith
Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Current research interests are the development and evaluation of improved medical ultrasound image quality for applications in cardiology, radiology and obstetrics. Advances in image quality result from improvements in the spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio of...