
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign \| Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering \| Department of Bioengineering Department of Statistics \| Coordinated Science Laboratory \| Beckman Institute \| Food Science and Human Nutrition \| Division of Nutritional Sciences \| College of Engineering	Monday, March 17th, 2025


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	Bioengineering Research Partnership

William D. O'Brien, Jr. publications: Michael L. Oelze publications: Aiguo Han publications:

About the Bioacoustics Research Lab

The faculty members of the Bioacoustics Research Laboratory deal with the interaction of ultrasound with biological materials and ultrasound imaging in biology and medicine milieu. Interaction studies include measurements of the properties of tissues that affect ultrasonic propagation, determination of thresholds for biological effects and the physical mechanisms responsible, ultrasound exposure measurements and dosimetry studies, and the development of ultrasound systems for specific applications such as hyperthermia treatment, high intensity precision surgery and ablation, and tissue characterization in cancer diagnosis and treatment. Imaging studies include the development of flow and perfusion techniques (local blood brain perfusion), diffraction tomography, phase aberration assessment to improve image resolution, edge detection in speckle images and machine-dependent assessment of image features, acoustic microscopy (brain tissue contrast, for example), and tissue motion and elasticity techniques in cancer diagnosis. Results of these studies relate to the use of ultrasound in clinical imaging for diagnosis and in therapeutic treatment and surgery and contribute to the theme areas of Biological Intelligence and Human-Computer Intelligent Interaction.

The ultrasonic propagation properties in tissue, including attenuation, absorption, speed, impedance, and nonlinearity parameter, appear to be largely associated with the macromolecular constituents and, to a lesser extent, to the higher level tissue structure. Thus, the dependence of these properties on tissue constituents such as water, protein and fat have been investigated. The results of these studies contribute to our understanding of Molecular Nanostructures and their role in the determination of ultrasonic propagation parameters.

Ultrasonically produced heat and cavitation can cause damage to tissues at high exposure levels. Thus, even though no damage in patients at levels used for clinical diagnosis has ever been reported, the role of overlying tissues on ultrasound exposure to deep structures, such as the fetus, and possible biological effects on patients must continue to be investigated. Cavitation can also be used for the benefit of humans in cleansing applications.

Researchers in this group all have their primary departmental appointments in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. All are members of the Bioengineering Faculty and some have joint appointments in Biophysics, Medicine or Nutritional Sciences.