Research is conducted on the University's River Campus as well as at the Medical Center. Among the Center's objectives are: (1) Research interactions, joint laboratories, technical discussion in formal meetings, and communication through a Center newsletter and annual research report. In addition, interaction with industry, government and foundations provide an assessment of the needs of the field and helps to develop mutually beneficial research programs and fellowships. (2) Education, including graduate level courses in biomedical ultrasound and closely related fields and highly specialized short courses open to the international biomedical ultrasound community.
The University of Rochester has a long history of leadership and innovation in biomedical ultrasound. For more than two decades, there has been steady progress in the quality of images of organs within the body which are reconstructed from the echoes of very short pulses of ultrasound. In the late 1960s, Center Member Raymond Gramiak led a team that became the first to report use of an ultrasound contrast agent. At that time, agitated liquids were injected via a catheter while performing an ultrasound of the heart and great vessels. A dramatic increase in echoes was produced from the highly reflective air bubbles contained within the injected solution.
Work has progressed through the years in this and other areas. Current projects include: nonlinear acoustics, contrast agents, 3D sonoelastography, ultrasound and MRI fusion, scattering, bioeffects, therapeutics, advanced imaging systems, and other areas.
Diane Dalecki , Ph.D.,
Director
Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Associate Director
Professor of Radiology and Surgery