Conferences

Three Abstracts Accepted to SPIE



Three PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted to SPIE conferences this year.

SPIE Photonics West took place January 27- February 1, 2024, and the following work was presented by Jiaxin Zhang.

SPIE Medical Imaging is taking place February 18-22, 2024, and the following work was presented by Md Ashikuzzaman. 

In addition to the above papers, Prof. Bell was invited to be a session chair at SPIE Photonics West for the the Advanced Biomedical and Clinical Diagnostic and Surgical Guidance Systems XXII, Session 6: Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy on January 28th from 11:00 AM-12:20 PM PST.

Prof. Bell Elected Fellow of Optica (formerly OSA)

Congratulations to Prof. Bell on being elected as a Fellow of Optica!

Optica, formerly the Optical Society of America (OSA), is the oldest preeminent professional society in the field of optics and photonics, uniting and educating scientists, engineers, educators, technicians and business leaders, with over 22,000 members from more than 180 countries and 45 Nobel Laureates in its ranks.

Optica Fellows are members who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics through distinguished contributions to education, research, engineering, business, and society. Fellows are selected by the society’s board of directors for this distinction, recognition, and honor, which is annually limited to approximately 0.5% of the society’s membership total at the time of election. 

Prof. Bell is honored specifically  “for pioneering contributions to photoacoustic imaging techniques and applications for surgical guidance.”

Optica News Release (Prof. Bell appears under surname “Lediju Bell” in this news release)

Meet the 2024 Fellows

ECE Department News

Malone Center Announcement

Optics and Photonics News

Three Abstracts Accepted to IEEE IUS 2023 & Invited Talk by Prof. Bell


The following PULSE Lab abstracts have been accepted for presentation during the 2023 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) to be held September 3-8, 2023 in Montreal, Canada.

  1. Demonstrating the Impact of Wavelength and Skin Tone on Photoacoustic Breast Imaging to be presented by Guilherme S. Pilotto Fernandes in the Poster session “A2P-17: MPA-P: Clinical Applications of Photoacoustic Imaging” on Sep 4, 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM EDT
  2. Real-Time Coherence Imaging of Suspicious Breast Masses to be presented by Arunima Sharma in the Lecture session “C1L-01: MIM: Novel Applications of Ultrasound Imaging” on Sep 6, 8:00 AM to 9:30 AM EDT
  3. Application of CohereNet to Photoacoustic Data for Non-Invasive in Vivo Subcutaneous Imaging to be presented by José Antonio Timaná Torres in the Poster session “C2P-20: MPA-P: Photoacoustic Image Processing” on Sep 6, 9:30 AM to 4:30 PM EDT

Congrats to Arunima, Guilherme, and José!

In addition to co-authoring the above publications:

Symposium website: https://2023.ieee-ius.org/

(This post was updated on September 4, 2023)

Prof. Bell Elected SPIE Fellow

Congratulations to Prof. Bell on being elected as a Fellow of SPIE! SPIE Fellows are are members of distinction who have made significant scientific and technical contributions in the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics, and imaging and are honored for their technical achievements, service to the general optics community, and service to SPIE.

Prof. Bell was recognized for her “achievements in photoacoustic imaging techniques and applications for surgical guidance.” She is a regular attendee and author of two SPIE communities and was honored as a new 2023 Fellow within both communities. Prof. Bell received her SPIE Fellow pin and certificate at SPIE Photonics West, presented by Symposium Chair Jennifer Barton and SPIE President Bernard Kress. Three weeks later, she was honored with a Fellow certificate presentation at SPIE Medical Imaging, delivered by Symposium Chair Despina Kontos.

New SPIE Fellows Announcement

WSE Announcement

Khadijat Kokumo Wins SPIE Best Paper Award

Congratulations to PULSE Lab summer undergraduate student Khadijat Kokumo, who won the Best Paper Award runner up at the 2023 SPIE Physics of Medical Imaging conference! This conference features a student paper award specifically to recognize outstanding papers in development and application of medical imaging and diagnosis.

Khadijat’s first-author paper, entitled “Theoretical basis and experimental validation of harmonic coherence-based ultrasound imaging for breast mass diagnosis,” describes and summarizes research she completed in summer 2022 as a CSMR REU student from Northwestern University.

The award is sponsored by Konica Minolta, and it was presented to Khadijat by John Sabol from Konica Minolta Healthcare Americas, Inc. Lifeng Yu (Mayo Clinic) and Rebecca Fahrig (Siemens Healthcare GmBH) are the conference chairs. Prof. Bell is the senior author of the paper.

Four Abstracts Accepted to SPIE



Two PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted to SPIE conferences this year.

SPIE Photonics West is taking place January 28- February 2, 2023, and the following work was presented by Jiaxin Zhang.

SPIE Medical Imaging will take place February 20-24, 2023, and the following work will be presented by Khadijat Kokumo. 

The PULSE Lab also contributed to the following two collaborative works, which will also be presented at SPIE Medical Imaging.

In addition to the above papers, Prof. Bell was invited to be a session chair at SPIE Photonics West for the the Advanced Biomedical and Clinical Diagnostic and Surgical Guidance Systems XXI, Session 8: Novel Techniques on January 29th from 3:40-5:20 PM PST and for Multiscale Imaging and Spectroscopy IV, Session 7: Emerging Sources of Multiscale Contrast II on January 29th from 1:20 – 3:10 PM PST.

Prof. Bell Wins IEEE Ultrasonics Early Career Investigator Award

Prof. Muyinatu Bell (center) with UFFC-S Awards Chair, Prof. Jafar Sanie (left) and UFFC-S President, Prof. Mark Schaffer (right).

Prof. Bell was selected to receive the 2022 IEEE Ultrasonics Early Career Investigator Award, which was announced on  at the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium in Venice, Italy. This award recognize the achievements of a young researcher in the area of ultrasonics and its applications. Prof. Bell was recognized for “pioneering contributions to spatial coherence beamforming theory and deep learning methods for ultrasound and photoacoustic image formation.”

WSE Announcement

Seven Abstracts Accepted to IEEE IUS 2022


The following PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted for presentation during the 2022 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) to be held October 10-13, 2022 in Venice, Italy.

  1. Phocospace: An Open-Source Simulation Package to Implement Photoacoustic Spatial Coherence Theory to be presented by Prof. Bell in the session entitled Imaging Methods and Quality Assessment Oct 12, 11:00-11:18am CEST
  2. A Flexible Array Transducer for Photoacoustic-Guided Surgery to be presented by Jiaxin Zhang in the session entitled Photoacoustic Imaging II Oct 12, 12:12-12:30pm CEST
  3. Binary and Random Inputs to Rapidly Identify Overfitting of Deep Neural Networks Trained to Output Ultrasound Images to be presented by Jiaxin Zhang in the session entitled Image Formation Oct 11,
  4. Distinguishing Fluid and Solid Breast Masses with Fundamental and Harmonic Amplitude- and Coherence-Based Ultrasound Beamforming to be presented by Arunima Sharma in the session entitled Ultrasound Methods for Characterizing Cancer and Monitoring Therapy II Oct 11,
  5. COVID-19 Feature Detection with Deep Neural Networks Trained on Simulated Lung Ultrasound B-mode Images to be presented by Lingyi Zhao in the session entitled Lung Ultrasound Oct 13,
  6. Predicting Generalized Contrast-to-Noise Ratios in Frame-Averaged Photoacoustic Images to be presented by Mardava Gubbi in the session entitled Ultrasound Devices, Systems and Methods II Oct 12, and
  7. Impact of Skin Pigmentation on Photoacoustic Imaging Using Linear Array Transducer: A Pilot In Vivo Study to be presented by Guilherme S. Pilotto Fernandes in the session entitled Photoacoustic Imaging and Instrumentation Oct 13,

Congrats to Prof. Bell, Jiaxin, Arunima, Lingyi, Mardava, and Guilherme!

In addition to co-authoring the above publications:

  •  Prof. Bell will chair the session entitled MBB – Beamforming III Thursday, October 13

Symposium website: https://2022.ieee-ius.org/

Alycen Wiacek Wins AIUM New Investigator Award

Congratulations to Alycen Wiacek for winning the New Investigator Award from the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine (AIUM)! Alycen was selected to present her research in the New Investigator Scientific Session Plenary at the AIUM 2022 Annual Meeting. She discussed her three first-author papers on the clinical implications of spatial coherence features for breast ultrasound:

  1. Wiacek A, Rindal OMH, Falomo E, Myers K, Fabrega-Foster K, Harvey S, Bell MAL, Robust Short-Lag Spatial Coherence Imaging of Breast Ultrasound Data: Initial Clinical Results, IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control, 66(3):527-540, 2019 [pdf]
  2. Wiacek A, Oluyemi E, Myers K, Mullen L, Bell MAL, Coherence-based beamforming increases the diagnostic certainty of distinguishing fluid from solid masses in breast ultrasound exams, Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology, 46(6):1380-1394, 2020 [pdf]
  3. Wiacek A, Oluyemi E, Myers K, Mullen L, Bell MAL, Coherence-based beamforming improves the diagnostic certainty of breast ultrasound exams, Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, Virtual, September 6-11, 2020 [pdf]

Alycen was selected as the winner of this symposium, alongside Prof. Brooks Lindsey from Georgia Institute of Technology.

Four Abstracts Accepted to SPIE

Four PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted to various SPIE conferences this year.

SPIE Photonics West took place January 22-27, 2022, and the following work was presented by Michelle and Eduardo.

SPIE Medical Imaging will take place February 20-24, 2022, and the following work will be presented by Ben Frey.

In addition, Prof. Bell was invited to speak at SPIE Optics + Photonics, which will take place August 22-25, 2022, where she will deliver the presentation:

  • Bell MAL, Ultrasound Image Formation in the Deep Learning Age, SPIE Optics + Photonics, Emerging Topics in Artificial Intelligence, San Diego, California, August 22-25, 2022

Five Abstracts Accepted to IEEE IUS 2021 & Prof. Bell Co-Hosts Annual WIE Event


The following PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted for presentation during the 2021 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) to be held on September 11-16, 2021 online (due to COVID-19).

  1. A Beamformer-Independent Method to Predict Photoacoustic Visual Servoing System Failure from a Single Image Frame to be presented by Eduardo González in the session entitled Imaging & Image Enhancement & Decluttering II (PM) to
  2. Comparison of Compressional and Elastic Photoacoustic Simulations for Planning, Imaging, and Guidance of Neurosurgeries to be presented by Michelle Graham in the session entitled Photoacoustic Imaging III (PM) to
  3. Quantifying the Impact of Breast Density on the Lag-One Coherence of Hypoechoic Masses to be presented by Alycen Wiacek in the session entitled Beamforming Methodologies & Devices (PM) to
  4. A Method to Estimate the Spatial Coherence of Photoacoustic Channel Data Without Access to Channel Data to be presented by Kelley Kempski & Mardava Gubbi in the session entitled Beamforming Methodologies & Devices (PM)  to
  5. Extending CohereNet to Retain Physical Features When Classifying Benign or Malignant Breast Masses to be presented by Alycen Wiacek in the session entitled Tissue Characterization II (PM) to

Congrats to Alycen, Eduardo, Michelle, Kelley, and Mardava!

In addition to co-authoring the above publications:

Symposium website: https://2021.ieee-ius.org

Reese Dunne Wins Goldwater Scholarship

Congratulations to Reese Dunne, our 2020 summer REU student, who was recently selected to receive the 2021 Barry S. Goldwater Scholarship! The Goldwater Scholarship Program is one of the oldest and most prestigious national scholarships in the natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics in the United States. This program seeks to identify and support college sophomores and juniors who show exceptional promise of becoming the nation’s next generation of research leaders.

After completing summer research in the PULSE Lab through our NSF-Funded CSMR REU Program, Reese returned to complete his undergraduate studies at Mississippi State University. Reese is now his university’s only Goldwater Scholar in 2021 and his university’s 6th winner since 2012. Reese’s additional successes since departing from our program and winning the program’s 2nd Best Presentation Award include winning the 2nd place award in the Biological Sciences and Engineering category at his school’s Fall 2020 Undergraduate Research Symposium and winning the Best Oral Presentation award in the STEM category at his state-wide Mississippi Honors Undergraduate Conference. Reese presented his summer research with us to secure these outstanding wins.

JHU Hub Story

Mississippi State University News (re: Goldwater)

Mississippi State University News (re: Undergraduate Research Symposium)

Peer-Reviewed Paper Accepted to ICRA

Congratulations to Mardava Gubbi! His paper, Deep Learning-Based Photoacoustic Visual Servoing: Using Outputs from Raw Sensor Data as Inputs to a Robot Controller, was accepted for presentation at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA),  Xi’an, China, May 30 – June 5, 2021. This peer-reviewed paper was also accepted for inclusion in the conference proceedings.

ICRA is the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society’s flagship conference and the premier international forum for robotics researchers to present and discuss their work.

Congrats again on this significant achievement, recognition, and milestone, Mardava!

Early Career Achievement Award Celebration, Invited Talk, and Five PULSE Lab Abstracts Accepted to SPIE Photonics West 2021

Five PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted to SPIE Photonics West. This conference is taking place virtually, March 6-11, 2021.

  1. Graham M, Dunne R, Bell MAL, Investigating the effects of compressional and elastic photoacoustic waves to predict transcranial photoacoustic image quality for guidance of minimally invasive neurosurgeries, Proceedings of SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, CA, March 6-11, 2021
  2. Graham M, Creighton F, Bell MAL, Validation of eyelids as acoustic receiver locations for photoacoustic-guided neurosurgery, Proceedings of SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, CA, March 6-11, 2021
  3. Wiacek A, Wang KC, Wu H, Bell MAL, Parking sensor-inspired approach to photoacoustic-guided hysterectomy demonstrated with human cadavers, Proceedings of SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, CA, March 6-11, 2021
  4. González E, Jain A, Bell MAL, Photoacoustic differentiation of cortical from cancellous bone in the lumbar vertebrae of an intact human cadaver to prevent bone breaches during spinal fusion surgeries, Proceedings of SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, CA, March 6-11, 2021
  5. Kempski KM, Graham MT, Wiacek A, Gubbi MR, Bell MAL, Generalized contrast-to-noise ratio as a metric of photoacoustic image quality, Proceedings of SPIE Photonics West, San Francisco, CA, March 6-11, 2021

This work spans two tracks within the SPIE Photonics West BiOS Conference:

In addition to these five PULSE Lab contributions:

  1. Prof. Bell was invited to present on the topic Photoacoustic vision for surgical guidance.
  2. Pof. Bell’s Early Career Achievement Award was celebrated in a live presentation by 2021 SPIE President David Andrews. The recording of this presentation will be available soon.

Alycen and Kelley Receive MICCAI Student Participation Award


Alycen Wiacek and Kelley Kemspki were selected to receive the MICCAI Student Participation Award! The MICCAI Society provided 50 of these awards non-author student member registrations to support online participation from diverse members of the global scientific community, considering the virtual nature of the MICCAI 2020 conference this year. The award selection committee included representation from the MICCAI Student Board, the MICCAI Society Diversity Working Group, Women in MICCAI, and the MICCAI 2020 Conference Organization. This selection committee was chaired by the MICCAI awards coordinator. Congrats to Alycen and Kelley on their selection!

Eight Abstracts Accepted to IEEE IUS 2020 and Invited Talk by Prof. Bell

The following PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted for presentation during the 2020 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) to be held on September 6-11, 2020 online (due to COVID-19).

  1. Theory-Based Predictions of Generalized Contrast-to-Noise Ratios for Photoacoustic Images to be presented by Mardava Gubbi in the session entitled Technical Advances in Photoacoustic Imaging on Tuesday, September 8, 11:30 – 1:30 PM (PDT), 2:30 – 4:30 PM (EDT)
  2. Multi-task learning for ultrasound image formation and segmentation directly from raw in vivo data to be presented by Kelley Kempski in the session entitled Segmentation & Registration on Wednesday, September 9, 4:15 – 6:15 AM (PDT), 7:15 – 9:15 AM (EDT)
  3. Dual-Wavelength Photoacoustic-Guided Hysterectomy Demonstration with a Human Cadaver to be presented by Alycen Wiacek in the session entitled Photoacoustic Ultrasound Frequency Analysis & Image Guided Interventions on Wednesday, September 9, 4:15 – 6:15 AM (PDT), 7:15 – 9:15 AM (EDT)
  4. Experimental Cadaver Investigation of Ocular Receiver Location for Photoacoustic Imaging of Intracranial Blood Vessels  to be presented by Michelle Graham in the session entitled Photoacoustic Ultrasound Frequency Analysis & Image Guided Interventions on Wednesday, September 9, 4:15 – 6:15 AM (PDT), 7:15 – 9:15 AM (EDT)
  5. Acoustic Frequency-Based Multispectral Differentiation of Photoacoustic Signals from Surgical Biomarkers to be presented by Eduardo González in the session entitled Photoacoustic Ultrasound Frequency Analysis & Image Guided Interventions on Wednesday, September 9, 4:15 – 6:15 AM (PDT), 7:15 – 9:15 AM (EDT)
  6. Coherence-Based Beamforming Improves the Diagnostic Certainty of Breast Ultrasound Exams to be presented by Alycen Wiacek in the session entitled Machine Learning Approaches & Applications on Thursday, September 10, 7:45 AM (PDT), 10:45 AM (EDT)

Congrats to Alycen, Eduardo, Michelle, Kelley, and Mardava!

Prof. Bell also collaborated with colleagues on the following work that will be presented at IEEE IUS 2020:

  • Enhancing the Detectability of Highly Coherent Targets in Short-Lag Spatial Coherence Images with Multi-Line Transmission by Giulia Matrone[3}, Muyinatu Lediju Bell{1}, Alessandro Ramalli{2}
    {1}Johns Hopkins University, United States; {2}University of Florence, Italy; {3}University of Pavia, Italy to be presented in the session entitled Enhancing Images Through Novel Beamforming II on Thursday, September 10, 4:15 – 6:15 AM (PDT), 7:15 – 9:15 AM (EDT)
  • Challenge on Ultrasound Beamforming with Deep Learning (CUBDL) by Muyinatu Bell{2}, Jiaqi Huang{2}, Dongwoon Hyun{3}, Yonina Eldar{4}, Ruud van Sloun{1}, Massimo Mischi{1}
    {1}Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands; {2}Johns Hopkins University, United States; {3}Stanford University, United States; {4}Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel to be presented in the session entitled Deep Learning in Beamforming on Thursday, September 10, 4:15 – 6:15 AM (PDT), 7:15 – 9:15 AM (EDT)
  • CUBDL Live Session (winner announcement) on Friday, September 11, 9:45 – 10:15 AM (PDT), 12:45 – 1:15 PM (EDT)

In addition to the above presentations, Prof. Bell will give an invited lecture on the topic:

  • Photoacoustic Vision for Surgical Guidance in the Advanced Imaging Technologies and Techniques Special Session on Wednesday, September 9, 6:30 – 8:00 AM (PDT), 9:30 AM – noon (EDT) [full list of invited speakers]

Symposium website: https://2020.ieee-ius.org

SPIE Photonics West Recap

The PULSE Lab recently returned from SPIE Photonics West 2020, after enjoying multiple opportunities for exposure throughout various aspects of this grand annual event with 23,000+ attendees. First, Professor Bell was invited to give a Hot Topics presentation during the conference Plenary session. She was selected as the inaugural Journal of Biomedical Optics speaker for having the most impactful paper in 2019.

We are live at the 2020 #SPIEBiOS Hot Topics with Muyinatu Lediju Bell (Johns Hopkins University)! Watch her tech talk on photoacoustic imaging assistants for minimally invasive surgeries, sponsored by the Journal of Biomedical Optics.

Posted by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics on Saturday, February 1, 2020

Three PULSE Lab students additionally presented aspects of their work on this hot topic.

Michelle Graham presented “Photoacoustic image guidance and robotic visual servoing to mitigate fluoroscopy during cardiac catheter interventions”

Alycen Wiacek presented “Dual-wavelength photoacoustic imaging for guidance of hysterectomy procedures”

Eduardo Gonzalez presented “A GPU approach to real-time coherence-based photoacoustic imaging and its application to photoacoustic visual servoing”

    In addition to these four technical presentations, PULSE Lab members who were involved in the first known in vivo demonstration of photoacoustic image guidance for abdominal surgeries were featured in the Show Daily Weekend Edition (see pg. 3).

    SPIE Event Highlights

    Optics Show Daily

    ECE Department Announcement

    LaserFocusWorld Announcement (see first paragraph & “Hot Topics and Other Plenaries” section)

    SPIE Newsroom

    Hot Topics Plenary Talk by Prof. Bell & Three PULSE Lab Abstracts Accepted to SPIE Photonics West 2020

    Three PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted to SPIE Photonics West. This conference will take place February 1-6, 2019 at the The Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.

    1. A GPU approach to real-time coherence-based photoacoustic imaging and its application to photoacoustic visual servoing
      Eduardo Gonzalez, Mardava Gubbi, Muyinatu Bell
      4 February 2020 • 6:00 – 8:00 PM
    2. Dual-wavelength photoacoustic approach to guide hysterectomies
      Alycen Wiacek, Karen C. Wang, Muyinatu Bell
      4 February 2020 • 11:40 AM – 12:00 PM
    3. Photoacoustic image guidance and robotic visual servoing to mitigate fluoroscopy during cardiac catheter interventions
      Michelle Graham, Fabrizio Assis, Derek Allman, Alycen Wiacek, Eduardo Gonzalez, Mardava Gubbi, Huayu Hou, Jinxin Dong, Sarah Beck, Jonathan Chrispin, Muyinatu Bell
      4 February 2020 • 12:00 – 12:20 PM

    This work spans two tracks within the SPIE Photonics West BiOS Conference:

    In addition to these three PULSE Lab contributions, Prof. Bell was invited to present her research during the BiOS Hot Topics Plenary Event on Saturday, February 1, 2020.

    8:15 PM – 8:25 PM
    Photoacoustic Imaging Assistants for Minimally Invasive Surgeries and Procedures

    LaserFocusWorld Announcement (see first paragraph & “Hot Topics and Other Plenaries” section)

    ECE Department Announcement

    Show Daily Weekend Edition

    IEEE IUS 2019 Recap

    The PULSE Lab recently returned from an inspiring and memorable 2019 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS), which took place in Glasgow, Scotland this year.

    The following highlights from our trip include a series of oral and poster presentations, contributions to a panel discussion with legendary photoacoustic experts, and a wonderful dose of Scottish cultural immersion during the Gala Dinner at Merchant Square:

    • Alycen Wiacek presented “CohereNet: A Deep Learning Approach to Coherence-Based Beamforming”
    • Arun Nair presented “One-Step Deep Learning Approach to Ultrasound Image Formation and Image Segmentation with a Fully Convolutional Neural Network”
    • Eduardo González presented “GPU Implementation of Coherence-Based Photoacoustic Beamforming for Autonomous Visual Servoing” 
    • Michelle Graham presented “Simulations and experimental assessment of optimal receiver locations for Photoacoustic image guidance during minimally invasive neurosurgeries”
    • Prof. Bell contributed her perspectives on surgery and deep learning applications for photoacoustic imaging in a one-of-a-kind panel discussion with an international swath of photoacoustic pioneers, including Paul Beard from University College London, Lihong Wang from California Institute of Technology, Stanislav Emelianov from Georgia Institute of Technology, and Matthew O’Donnell from University of Washington. The discussion was moderated by Michael Kolios from Ryerson University. 
    • Alycen Wiacek
    • Arun Nair
    • Eduardo González
    • PULSE Lab with bag piper
    • Michelle Graham
    • Michael Kolios
    • Photoacoustics Panel
    • Prof. Bell shares her perspectives

    Thanks to Kelsey Kubick from Georgia Institute of Technology and Eno Hysi from Ryerson University for providing pictures of the panel discussion!

    REU Abstract Accepted to BMES

    Congratulations to Kendra Washington, our summer Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) student and Leadership Alliance Scholar from Georgia Institute of Technology. Her first-author abstract to the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) meeting was accepted as as part of the Undergraduate Research & Design track. She will present in the Biomedical Imaging and Instrumentation session.

    Title:
    Effect of Raw Ultrasound Data Downsampling on Small Cyst Segmentation with Deep Neural Networks
    Authors:
    Kendra Washington, Arun Nair, Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell

    https://www.bmes.org/program_agenda

    Eduardo González Receives Student Travel Award to IEEE IUS 2019

    PULSE Lab grad student Eduardo González was selected by the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium Organization Committee to receive a Student Travel Award to attend the 2019 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium taking place October 6-9, 2019 at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow, Scotland. Eduardo will give an oral presentation on his work entitled GPU implementation of coherence-based photoacoustic beamforming for autonomous visual servoing of a needle tip. Congratulations Eduardo!

    Paper Accepted to Journal of Biomedical Optics

    Congratulations to Kelley Kempski! Her first author paper entitled, In vivo photoacoustic imaging of major blood vessels in the pancreas and liver during surgery, was accepted to the Journal of Biomedical Optics. This work is the first to demonstrate in vivo blood vessel visualization with possible applications to a range of photoacoustic-guided pancreatic and liver surgeries.

    Special thanks to Alycen Wiacek, who mentored Kelley on this project in her role as Kelley’s graduate student mentor through the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Computational Sensing and Medical Robotics (CSMR) summer program. This program was recently renewed with 3 more years of funding support from the National Science Foundation.

    Citation: Kempski K, Wiacek A, Graham M, González E, Goodson B, Allman D, Palmer J, Hou H, Beck S, He J, Bell MAL, In vivo photoacoustic imaging of major blood vessels in the pancreas and liver during surgery, Journal of Biomedical Optics, 24(12):121905, 2019 [pdf]

    Related News:

    Kelley Kempski Wins Best Presentation Award

    SPIE Photonics West 2019 Recap

    Kelley Kempski Wins NSF GRFP Fellowship

    The Research Experience for Undergraduates in Computational Sensing and Medical Robotics program receives a three-year grant from NSF

    Prof. Bell Invited to Speak at AAPM in San Antonio, TX

    Prof. Muyinatu Bell will present an invited talk on in the Advanced Ultrasound Imaging in Clinical Applications session at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) annual meeting in San Antonio, TX, July 14-18, 2019. The title of her talk is Novel Ultrasound Imaging Methods to Distinguish Cancer and Improve Surgery. A recording of this talk will be available after the conference.

    Prof. Bell to Deliver Keynote Presentation at Medical Imaging with Deep Learning Conference in London, UK

    Prof. Muyinatu Bell will travel to London, UK to deliver a keynote presentation at the International Conference on Medical Imaging with Deep Learning, taking place July 8-10, 2019 at Imperial College’s South Kensington Campus. Her talk, entitled Ultrasound Image Formation in the Deep Learning Age, will take place on Day 2 of the conference (Tuesday, July 9) and will be live streamed on YouTube.

    Four Abstracts Accepted to IEEE IUS 2019

    Four PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted for presentation during the 2019 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) to be held on October 6-9, 2019, at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow, Scotland.

    1. CohereNet: A deep learning approach to coherence-based beamforming to be presented by Alycen Wiacek in the session entitled Deep Learning Beamformers on Monday, October 7, 4:00-4:15pm
    2. GPU implementation of coherence-based photoacoustic beamforming for autonomous visual servoing of a needle tip to be presented by Eduardo Gonzalez in the session entitled Hardware Acceleration on Monday October 7, 11:00-11:15am
    3. Simulation and experimental assessment of optimal receiver locations for photoacoustic image guidance during minimally invasive neurosurgeries  to be presented by Michelle Graham in the session entitled Machine Learning and Image Reconstruction Approaches in Photoacoustics on Monday, October 7, 9:30am-4:00pm
    4. One-Step Deep Learning Approach to Ultrasound Image Formation and Image Segmentation with a Generative Adversarial Network to be presented by Arun Nair in the session entitled Image Fusion and Registration on Tuesday, October 8, 9:30am-4:00pm

    Congrats to Alycen, Eduardo, Michelle, and Arun!

    Symposium website: https://attend.ieee.org/ius-2019/

    SPIE Photonics West 2019 Recap

    The PULSE Lab just returned from a rousing and invigorating SPIE Photonics West conference in San Francisco, CA, which took place February 2-7, 2019 (see more details below photos).

    • Alycen Wiacek
    • Alycen Wiacek
    • Derek Allman
    • Derek Allman
    • Eduardo González
    • Michelle Graham
    • Kelley Kempski 

    PULSE Lab attendees presented a combined total of six oral and poster presentations: 

    1. Kelley Kempski gave an oral presentation entitled “In vivo demonstration of photoacoustic-guided liver surgery”
    2. Michelle Graham gave an oral presentation entitled “Simultaneous visualization of nerves and blood vessels with multispectral photoacoustic imaging for intraoperative guidance of neurosurgeries”
    3. Derek Allman presented his poster “A deep learning-based approach to identify in vivo catheter tips during photoacoustic-guided cardiac interventions”
    4. Alycen Wiacek presented her poster “Techniques to distinguish the ureter from the uterine artery in photoacoustic-guided hysterectomies”
    5. Eduardo González presented his poster “Visualization of custom drill bit tips in a human vertebra for photoacoustic-guided spinal fusion surgeries”

    6. Dr. Bell gave an oral presentation entitled “Deep Learning the Sound of Light to Guide Surgeries” (photo unavailable). She also served as session chair and as a member of the Technical Program Committee of Advanced Biomedical and Clinical Diagnostic and Surgical Guidance Systems XVII.

    This work was presented in the following two tracks within the BiOS Conference:

    Photonics West BiOS Conference website: https://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/photonics-west/bios

    Prof. Bell to Deliver Keynote Presentation at OSA-Sponsored Conference in Sydney, Australia

    Prof. Muyinatu Bell will travel to Sydney, Australia to deliver an invited plenary talk and keynote presentation at the OSA-Sponsored IONS Conference on Optics, Atoms, and Laser Applications (KOALA), taking place December 4-8, 2018 at Macquarie University.

    IEEE IUS 2018 Recap

    The PULSE Lab just returned from Kobe, Japan, the location of the 2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS).

    Arun Nair presented his paper entitled “A fully convolutional neural network for beamforming ultrasound images“

     

    Prof. Bell served on the 2018 IUS Organizing Committee as the Communications Chair. She received a certificate  from the UFFC Society President, Nazanin Bassiri-Gharb. Prof. Bell is also the newly appointed Women in Engineering (WIE) Ultrasonics Representative, and she organized the first IEEE WIE Elevator Pitch Event at IUS.

    Derek Allman (photo unavailable) presented his poster entitled, “Using deep neural networks to remove photoacoustic reflection artifacts in ex vivo and in vivo tissue”

    Alycen Wiacek (photo unavailable) presented her paper entitled, “Clinical feasibility of coherence-based beamforming to distinguish solid from fluid hypoechoic breast masses”

    Eduardo González (photo unavailable) presented his paper entitled, “Segmenting bone structures in ultrasound images with Locally Weighted SLSC (LW-SLSC) beamforming”

    Arun Nair additionally collaborated to contribute to the paper entitled “The Ultrasound File Format (UFF)“

    IEEE UFFC-S Newsletter

    ECE Department Announcement

    Five Abstracts Accepted to SPIE Photonics West

    Five PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted to SPIE Photonics West. This conference will take place February 2-7, 2019 at the The Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.

    1. Simultaneous visualization of nerves and blood vessels with multispectral photoacoustic imaging for intraoperative guidance of neurosurgeries
      Michelle Graham, Joanna Guo, Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell

      4 February 2019 • 11:30 – 11:50 AM

    2. Techniques to distinguish the ureter from the uterine artery in photoacoustic-guided hysterectomies
      Alycen Wiacek, Karen Wang, Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell

      5 February 2019 • 6:00 – 8:00 PM

    3. Visualization of custom drill bit tips in a human vertebra for photoacoustic-guided spinal fusion surgeries
      Eduardo Gonzalez, Alycen Wiacek, Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell

      5 February 2019 • 6:00 – 8:00 PM

    4. In vivo demonstration of photoacoustic-guided liver surgery
      Kelley Kempski, Alycen Wiacek, Jasmin E. Palmer, Michelle Graham, Eduardo Gonzalez, Bria Goodson, Derek Allman, Huayu Hou, Sarah Beck, Jin He, Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell

      5 February 2019 • 6:00 – 8:00 PM

    5. A deep learning-based approach to identify in vivo catheter tips for photoacoustic-guided cardiac interventions
      Derek Allman, Fabrizio Assis, Jonathan Chrispin, Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell

      5 February 2019 • 6:00 – 8:00 PM

    This work spans two tracks within the BiOS Conference:

    Photonics West BiOS Conference website: https://spie.org/conferences-and-exhibitions/photonics-west/bios

    Alycen Wiacek Receives Student Travel Award to IEEE IUS 2018

    PULSE Lab grad student Alycen Wiacek was selected by the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium Organization Committee to receive a Student Travel Award to attend the 2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium taking place October 22-25, 2018 at the Portopia Hotel, in Kobe, Japan. Alycen will give an oral presentation on her work entitled Clinical Feasibility of Coherence-Based Beamforming to Distinguish Solid from Fluid Hypoechoic Breast Masses. Congratulations Alycen!

    Four Abstracts Accepted to IEEE IUS 2018

    Four PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted for presentation during the 2018 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) to be held on October 22-25, 2018, at the Portopia Hotel in Kobe, Japan.

    1. A fully convolutional neural network for beamforming ultrasound images to be presented by Arun Nair in the session entitled Deep Neural Networks for Ultrasound Image Formation at 2:15 PM to 2:30 PM on Thursday, October 25 (label: 1J-4)
    2. Clinical feasibility of coherence-based beamforming to distinguish solid from fluid hypoechoic breast masses to be presented by Alycen Wiacek in the session entitled  Beamforming for Other Applications from 9:00 AM to 9:15 AM on Thursday, October 25 (label: 4H-5)
    3.  Segmenting bone structures in ultrasound images with Locally Weighted SLSC (LW-SLSC) beamforming  to be presented by Eduardo Gonzalez in the session entitled  Beamforming for Other Applications from 8:00 AM to 8:15 AM on Thursday, October 25 (label: 4H-1)
    4. Using deep neural networks to remove photoacoustic reflection artifacts in ex vivo tissue to be presented by Derek Allman in the session entitled All-Optical Photoacoustic Imaging and Computational Approaches on Tuesday, October 23 (label: P2-A6-4)

    Congrats to Arun, Alycen, Eduardo, and Derek!

    Symposium website: http://sites.ieee.org/ius-2018/

    Prof. Bell selected to participate in the National Academy of Engineering’s US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium

    Prof. Bell is one of 84 “outstanding early career engineers” selected to meet for an intensive 2-1/2 day symposium to discuss cutting-edge developments in four engineering areas at the National Academy of Engineering’s 2018 US Frontiers of Engineering Symposium. This symposium will be hosted by MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington, Massachusetts, September 5-7, 2018.

    ECE Department Announcement

    Malone Center Announcement

    NAE Announcement

    Arun Presents A Deep Learning Based Alternative to Beamforming Ultrasound Images at IEEE ICASSP 2018

    Congrats to Arun on the successful presentation of his research paper entitled “A Deep Learning Based Alternative to Beamforming Ultrasound Images” at IEEE ICASSP 2018 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. This work is the first to propose deep learning as an alternative to the traditional ultrasound beamforming process and it was implemented for a single plane wave transmission. Check out  our associated conference paper for more details!

    Citation: Nair AA, Tran T, Reiter A, Bell MAL, A deep learning based alternative to beamforming ultrasound images, IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, April 15-20, 2018 [pdf]

    Five PULSE Lab Abstracts Accepted to UITC 2018

    PULSE Lab members will present the following five talks at the International Symposium on Ultrasonic Imaging and Tissue Characterization, May 30 – June 1, 2018:

    1. Application of robust short-lag spatial coherence beamforming to breast ultrasound data, Alycen Wiacek, Ole Marius Hoel Rindal, Kelly Fabrega-Foster, Susan Harvey, Muyinatu
      A. Lediju Bell, Johns Hopkins U. and U. Oslo
    2. Implications of theoretical photoacoustic spatial covariance for short-lag spatial coherence imaging, Michelle T. Graham, Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell
    3. Deep learning alternative to beamforming ultrasound images, Arun Asokan Nair, Trac D. Tran, Austin Reiter, Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell
    4. Deep learning for photoacoustic source detection and reflection artifact removal, Derek M. Allman, Austin Reiter, Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell
    5. Comparative study of CT-US registration performance with DAS and SLSC ultrasound beamforming techniques, Eduardo Gonzalez,  Michelle Graham,  Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell

    Symposium website: http://uitc-symposium.org/

    Paper Accepted to IEEE ICASSP

    Congratulations to Arun Nair on the acceptance of his manuscript to the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP).

    Paper ID: 3434
    Title: A DEEP LEARNING BASED ALTERNATIVE TO BEAMFORMING ULTRASOUND IMAGES
    Session Title: ‘SAM Poster Session 4: Beamforming’
    Authors: AA Nair, T Tran, A Reiter, MAL Bell

    This conference will take place 15–20 April 2018.

    [Preprint Available]

    Brooke Wins Second Place in Undergrad Poster Competition

    Congratulations to PULSE Lab undergraduate student Brooke Stephanian on her 2nd place win in the Optics and Photonics Conference at JHU! She presented a poster that summarized the work she completed this semester on the topic “Theoretical Simulation to Optimize Short-Lag Spatial Coherence (SLSC) Photoacoustic Image Quality”.

    Conference website: https://engineering.jhu.edu/ece/osa/hopkins-photonics-conference/

    Two PULSE Lab abstracts accepted to OSA Optics and Photonics Conference at JHU

    Congrats to undergraduate student Brooke Stephanian and PhD student Derek Allman! Their abstracts were accepted to the 2017 Optics and Photonics Conference at Johns Hopkins University.

    Brooke will present a poster entitled: Theoretical Simulation to Optimize Short-Lag Spatial Coherence (SLSC) Photoacoustic Image Quality 

    Derek will give a presentation entitled: Using convolutional neural networks to eliminate reflection artifacts in experimental photoacoustic images

    Conference details: https://engineering.jhu.edu/ece/osa/hopkins-photonics-conference/

    Free registration: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/optics-and-photonics-conference-at-johns-hopkins-university-tickets-39142374897?aff=es2

    Optics and Photonics Conference at Johns Hopkins University

    The student chapter of the Optical Society of America at Johns Hopkins is hosting a day-long optics and photonics conference on Monday December 11, 2017.

    The goal of this conference is to bring together leaders in the optical sciences from a wide range of subjects, to foster learning, collaboration, and to emphasize the impact optics and photonics have on a plethora of disciplines.

    The conference will feature invited talks by the following researchers in various optics and photonics areas:

    Nader Engheta
    H. Nedwell Ramsey Professor, University of Pennsylvania

    Jay Guo
    Professor of Electrical Electronics and Computer Science, University of Michigan

    Michelle Sander
    Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering Department, Boston University

    Audrey Bowden
    Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering Department, Stanford University

    Giuliano Scarcelli
    Assistant Professor, The Fischell Department of Bioengineering, University of Maryland

    For more details: https://engineering.jhu.edu/ece/osa/hopkins-photonics-conference/

    To register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/optics-and-photonics-conference-at-johns-hopkins-university-tickets-39142374897?aff=es2

    SPIE Medical Imaging Paper Accepted

    Our paper, “Feasibility of photoacoustic guided hysterectomies with the da Vinci robot,” was accepted for Oral presentation at SPIE Medical Imaging in the Image-Guided Procedures, Robotic Interventions, and Modeling conference.

    Session 2
    Keynote and Medical Robotics

    Tuesday 13 February 2018
    10:10 AM – 12:10 PM

    Feasibility of photoacoustic guided hysterectomies with the da Vinci robot
    Paper 10576-9
    Authors: Margaret Allard, Joshua Shubert, Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell

    Congrats to Margaret, Josh, and Prof. Bell!

    Three Abstracts Accepted to SPIE Photonics West

    Three PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted to SPIE Photonics West in the BiOS Conference Track: Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2018 (Conference 10494). This conference track will take place Sunday- Wednesday  January -28-31, 2018 at the The Moscone Center in San Francisco, California.

    1. A novel drill design for photoacoustic guided surgeries 
      Paper 10494-18
      Authors: Joshua Shubert, Muyinatu Bell
      Session 3: Therapy Monitoring and Guidance II
      Sunday 28 January 2018
      1:30 PM – 2:45 PM
    2. Using convolutional neural networks to eliminate reflection artifacts in experimental photoacoustic images
      Paper 10494-190
      Authors: Derek Allman, Austin Reiter, Muyinatu Bell
      Session PTue: Posters-Tuesday
      Tuesday 30 January 2018
      6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
    3. Development and validation of a short-lag spatial coherence theory for photoacoustic imaging
      Paper 10494-193
      Authors: Michelle Graham, Muyinatu Bell
      Session PTue: Posters-Tuesday
      Tuesday 30 January 2018
      6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

    Congrats to  Josh, Derek, and Michelle!

    Conference track website: https://spie.org/PWB/conferencedetails/photons-plus-ultrasound

    IEEE IUS 2017 Recap

    We just returned from a successful, invigorating, and inspiring IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) held in Washington, DC at the Omni Shoreham Hotel. Some photograph highlights of our involvement appear below.

    Joshua Shubert presented his poster entitled “Photoacoustic Based Visual Servoing of Needle Tips to Improve Biopsy on Obese Patients”

    Derek Allman presented his poster entitled “A Machine Learning Method to Identify and Remove Reflection Artifacts in Photoacoustic Channel Data“

    Prof. Bell served on the 2017 IUS Organizing Committee as the Communications Chair. She received a certificate  from the UFFC Society President (Clark Nguyen, left) and Vice President for Ultrasonics (Jafar Saniie, right) in appreciation of her service.

    Michelle Graham (photo unavailable) also presented her poster entitled “Theoretical Application of Short-Lag Spatial Coherence to Photoacoustic Imaging.”

    PULSE Lab members additionally collaborated to contribute to the following papers:

     

    Three Abstracts Accepted to IEEE IUS 2017

    Three PULSE Lab abstracts were accepted for presentation during the 2017 IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) to be held on September 6-9, 2017 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington D.C., USA.

    1. “Theoretical Application of Short-Lag Spatial Coherence to Photoacoustic Imaging” to be presented by Michelle Graham in the MBB: Non linear and coherence imaging poster session, 3-4 pm on Thursday, September 7, 2017. (Abstract ID: 1526)
    2. “Photoacoustic Visual Servoing of Needle Tips to Improve Biopsy Targeting in Obese Patients” to be presented by Joshua Shubert in the MPA: Technical Developments in Photoacoustic Imaging poster session, 3-4 pm  on Friday, September 8, 2017. (Abstract ID: 1088)
    3. “Identification and removal of reflection artifacts in photoacoustic images using convolutional neural networks” to be presented by Derek Allman in the MIM: Machine learning poster session, 9:30-10:30 am on Saturday, September 9, 2017. (Abstract ID: 1523)

    Congrats to Michelle, Josh, and Derek!

    Symposium website: http://ewh.ieee.org/conf/ius/2017/

    Four PULSE Lab Presentations at UITC 2017

    PULSE Lab members presented the following four talks at the International Symposium on Ultrasonic Imaging and Tissue Characterization, June 5-7, 2017:

    1. Principal component short-lag spatial coherence imaging (PC-SLSC), Arun Asokan Nair, Trac D. Tran and Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell
    2. Photoacoustic-based visual servoing of needle tips to improve surgery on obese patients, Joshua Shubert and Muyinatu Bell
    3. Theoretical application of short-lag spatial coherence to photoacoustic imaging, Michelle Graham and Muyinatu Lediju Bell
    4. Evaluation of a convolutional neural network for identifying reflection artifacts in photoacoustic imaging, Derek M. Allman, Austin Reiter and Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell

    Michelle (left) and Derek (right) giving their first PULSE Lab research presentations:

    Symposium website: http://uitc-symposium.org/

    Three Abstracts Accepted to SPIE Photonics West

    Three abstracts from the PULSE Lab were accepted to SPIE Photonics West, which will take place January 28 – February 2, 2017 in San Francisco, California:

    • Paper 10064-18: A machine learning approach to identifying point source locations in photoacoustic data (29 January 2017 • 5:30 – 7:30 PM)
    • Paper 10064-101: Optimizing light delivery for a photoacoustic surgical system (29 January 2017 • 3:00 – 3:15 PM)
    • Paper 10064-125: Accuracy of a novel photoacoustic-based approach to surgical guidance performed with and without a da Vinci robot (29 January 2017 • 5:30 – 7:30 PM)

    SPIE Newsroom Announcement

    SPIE Press

    Full Conference Program

    BioRob Paper Accepted

    Our paper, Feasibility of photoacoustic image guidance for telerobotic endonasal transsphenoidal surgery, which describes the first telesurgical photoacoustic image-guided navigation system setup implemented on a research da Vinci Surgical System, has been accepted as an oral presentation at the 6th IEEE RAS/EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, June 26-29, 2016, in University Town, Singapore.