Highlights

Joining Forces to Combat Disease

The Pritzker Institute of Biomedical Science and Engineering, established in 1982, acts as an umbrella organization to enhance the biomedical science and engineering research activities on the IIT campus. The Institute has significantly expanded the scope of its collaborative research and education programs to include three new centers: Medical Imaging Research Center (MIRC), the Engineering Center for Diabetes Research and Education (ECDRE), and a joint Center with the University of Chicago the Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Neuroengineering Research (CINNR). In 2006, the Pritzker Institute established a seed grant program to motivate researchers in other IIT departments to focus their efforts in an area related to biomedical engineering. including the development of new modalities and techniques for acquisition, processing and analysis of medical images. Combining his background in electrical engineering, physics and medical physics, Professor Anastasio has developed an acclaimed research program in mathematical and numerical aspects of inverse problems in bioimaging, tomographic image reconstruction, wave physics-based imaging modalities, and theoretical image science.

Medical Imaging Research Center: New Frontiers in X-ray Imaging

Phase-contrast Tomographic Imaging
BME Associate Professor Mark Anastasio (EE'92) received a National Science Foundation CAREER award in support of his research on the development of new phase-contrast tomographic imaging techniques. Phase-contrast imaging permits the visualization of soft tissue structures that are undetectable using conventional X-ray radiographic methods and typically delivers a smaller radiation dose to the patient. The developed imaging methods will be implemented experimentally to investigate important biomedical applications including atherosclerotic plaque characterization. MIRC researchers are also exploring alternative methods for application in cancer and cartilage imaging.
IIT Partners: Brookhaven and Argonne National Laboratories

Medical Imaging Research Center: New Frontiers in X-ray Imaging

Content-based Image Retrieval for Mammography
ECE Associate Professor Yongyi Yang and MIRC Director Miles Wernick have developed computer-based methods to improve the diagnostic accuracy of mammographic interpretation. The MIRC data retrieval system, in effect, provides radiologists with an online atlas of images with known pathology. Such an approach can yield image retrieval results that closely match preferences of the user and improve the diagnostic accuracy of mammographic interpretation.
IIT Partner: University of Chicago Department of Radiology

Engineering Center for Diabetes Research and Education: Innovative Treatments for Diabetes Patients

Diabetic Wound Healing
BME Assistant Professor Eric Brey is investigating the mechanisms of wound healing in diabetics. Dr. Brey's lab is using quantitative models to investigate the effect of soluble and insoluble factors on wound healing using cells isolated from diabetic patients. The mechanical and chemical properties of cell scaffolds are modified to mimic pathologic conditions, providing insight into the mechanisms of altered wound healing. These studies are being combined with methods for preparing natural and synthetic biopolymers (hydrogels) for developing new tissue engineering methods for treating diabetic ulcers, peripheral vascular disease, and chronic wounds.
IIT Partners: Loyola University Medical Center, Hines V.A. Hospital

Engineering Center for Diabetes Research and Education: Innovative Treatments for Diabetes Patients

Diabetic Retinopathy
Retinopathy (blood vessel damage to the retina) is the leading cause of blindness in diabetic patients. Utilizing an animal model of diabetic retinopathy, Assistant Professor Jennifer Kang Derwent and her research group are seeking greater insight into the origins and developmental stages of this disease. Using a number of both established and leading edge tools to assess visual function and retinal blood flow, Dr. Kang Derwent's research results will provide a foundation for the development of possible treatments for diabetic retinopathy.
IIT Partner: University of Chicago

Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Neuroengineering: Innovation in Brain Interfaces

Alternative Treatment for Epilepsy
Epileptic seizures afflict more than 2.5 million Americans; more than 25% of these patients cannot be helped by antiepileptic drugs. Using brain electrophysiology, BME Associate Professor David Mogul is researching an alternative treatment for intractable epilepsy. The overall goal is to engineer a device similar in concept to an implantable cardiac defibrillator in that it would detect the earliest stages of a seizure and prevent or revert it using electrical stimulation.

IIT Partner:  Georgia Institute of Technology

Center for Integrative Neuroscience and Neuroengineering: Innovation in Brain Interfaces

Intracortical visual prosthesis
Phil Troyk, BME professor and CINNR director, leads a large multi-institutional, interdisciplinary team (including the University of Chicago) in the development of a cortical visual prosthesis based upon electrical stimulation of the primary visual cortex. In this approach, intracortical metal electrodes are used to inject stimulating currents directly into the visual cortex; penetrating microelectrodes would be distributed over the surface and medial face of the cortex.

IIT Partners: University of Chicago, Huntington Medical Research Institutes, EIC Laboratories, MicroProbe, Inc.