News

2022

  • The Center for Imaging and Surgical Innovation held Open House at the Richardson IQ

    December 1, 2022

    The Center for Imaging and Surgical Innovation at the University of Texas at Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center had a successful open house at the Headquarters for the Richardson Innovation Quarter (IQ) on December 1, 2022. More than 200 faculty, students, and industry leaders attended the Richardson IQ Centers Open House. Thank UT Dallas Office of Research and Innovation and the City of Richardson for providing the facility and space at the Richardson IQ.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei served as the Chair for the NIH Study Section – ZRG1 MOSS-V

    November 3, 2022

    Review activities of the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) are organized into Review Branches (RBs). Each RB represents a cluster of study sections around a general scientific area. NIH grant applications generally are assigned first to an RB, and then to a specific study section within that RB for evaluation of scientific merit. An NIH study section consists of experts focused on a particular research field who are charged with reviewing NIH grant proposals. Special Emphasis Panels (SEPs) are held to review applications on special topics and members conflict applications.  The NIH Center for Scientific Review invited Dr. Fei to chair the NIH Study Section Special Emphasis Panel ZRG1 MOSS-V – Member Conflict: Musculoskeletal Sciences in November 2022.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei organized a Special Panel Session on Engineering Medicine at the BMES Meeting

    October 13, 2022

    At the Annual Meeting of the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES), Dr. Baowei Fei organized a Special Panel Session entitled “A new era of engineering medicine – how to educate the next generation of biomedical engineers” and invited national leaders in the space of bioengineering and engineering medicine to discuss the emerging trend on how to educate and train our next generation of biomedical engineers, how to shape and advance the science and technology of bioengineering through innovative research and inspiring education, and how to engage faculty, researchers, and students to play leading roles from basic science discovery to the creation, clinical evolution, and commercialization of new technologies, devices and therapies to improve human health. In a new era of precision medicine, engineering and medicine are converging to solve complex biological and medical problems. Biomedical engineering and computing will be a leading force where quantitative methods of engineering and systems sciences will have a pivotal role in disease detection, diagnostics, and treatment.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei organized the Inaugural Workshop on Imaging and Data Science

    October 7, 2022

    The Workshop on Imaging and Data Science brought together the investigators at the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas (UT Dallas) and built research collaborations between UT Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW). The workshop brought engineers, computer scientists, surgeons, radiologists, and clinicians together with the goal of translating innovative imaging and surgical technologies from our engineering laboratories at UT Dallas to clinical settings at UT Southwestern for improving human health. More information can be found from the Workshop website (https://imaging.utdallas.edu/workshop/).

    Congratulations to all the winners of the poster awards: 1) Undergraduate Student Poster Award –- Sahil Chilukri from UT Southwestern; 2) Graduate Student Poster Award First Place – Milad Almasian from UT Dallas; 3) Graduate Student Poster Award Second Place –- Chanda Bhandari from UT Dallas; 4) Graduate Student Poster Award Third Place –- Xinyuan Zhang from UT Dallas; 5) Postdoctoral Associate Poster Award – Tianyuan Wang from UT Southwestern.

  • Summer Undergraduate Student Received the Poster Award

    July 29, 2022

    The Summer Platform for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) is a unique, campus-wide symposium for students working on research at The University of Texas at Dallas. It is designed to be a “capstone” for student projects developed during the summer. The SPUR includes a number of on-going summer research programs at UTD, including the Clark Summer Research Program, the Bioengineering Undergraduate Research Scholars program, (NSF) Research Experiences for Undergraduates and others. Ofelia Azucena Gomez Chacon is an REU undergraduate student who worked in Dr. Baowei Fei’s research lab and won a Poster Award for her research work on hyperspectral imaging.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei served as the Chair for the NIH Study Section – ZRG1 SBIB-C (03)

    July 27, 2022

    Review activities of the NIH Center for Scientific Review (CSR) are organized into Review Branches (RBs). Each RB represents a cluster of study sections around a general scientific area. NIH grant applications generally are assigned first to an RB, and then to a specific study section within that RB for evaluation of scientific merit. An NIH study section consists experts focused on a particular research field who are charged with reviewing NIH grant proposals. The NIH Center for Scientific Review invited Dr. Fei to chair the NIH Study Section Special Emphasis Panel ZRG1 SBIB-C (03) – Member Conflict: Medical Imaging Investigations in July 2022

  • High School Students won the Science Education Award at the CAST-STEM Program

    July 6, 2022

    The CAST-STEM Program aims to create synergies in STEM education by providing high-school students hands-on study experience with current university professors at the University of Texas at Dallas for a consecutive 6 to 7 weeks. Four high school students, Riley Yuan, Eric Yi, Nancy Yan, and Rin Hayashi, conducted a research project under the direct supervision of Patric Bettati in Dr. Baowei Fei’s research laboratory. At the closing ceremony, the team won the Science Education Award for their project on augmented reality for medical applications.

  • High School Students won the Science Education Award at the CAST-STEM Program

    July 6, 2022

    The CAST-STEM Program aims to create synergies in STEM education by providing high-school students hands-on study experience with current university professors at the University of Texas at Dallas for a consecutive 6 to 7 weeks. Four high school students, Riley Yuan, Eric Yi, Nancy Yan, and Rin Hayashi, conducted a research project under the direct supervision of Mr. Patric Bettati in Dr. Baowei Fei’s research laboratory. At the closing ceremony, the team won the Science Education Award for their project on augmented reality for medical applications.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei delivered a keynote talk at the International Association for Spectral Imaging (IASIM) Biannual Conference in Denmark.

    July 4, 2022

    The objective of the International Association for Spectral Imaging (IASIM) is to provide a unified open and interactive forum for the exchange of information and ideas within the general spectral imaging community, regardless of the image spectral range (ultraviolet, visible, near, mid, or far infrared, or mass spectrometry) or spatial range (microscopic, macroscopic, remote sensing). The biannual conference brought together speakers, contributors, attendees and exhibitors from areas covering all aspects of spectral imaging (microscopic, macroscopic, remote sensing) and a large variety of spectroscopic techniques. Dr. Fei was invited to give a keynote talk on medical hyperspectral imaging at the international conference.

  • Undergraduate Student Received the SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship

    May 7, 2022

    International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) Optics and Photonics Education Scholarships are to support outstanding students located anywhere in the world, in high school (pre-university/secondary), community and technical, undergraduate and graduate programs, who are studying in a related field of optics and photonics. Armand Paul Rathgeb from Dr. Baowei Fei’s lab received the 2022 SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship in the amount of $3,000 to study optical imaging technologies.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei was nominated for the 2022 Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring at the University of Texas at Dallas

    May 1, 2022

    In appreciation of the exceptionally dedicated efforts of the UT Dallas faculty, the Office of Undergraduate Education and the Office of the Provost annually recognize an outstanding UT Dallas faculty member who excels in his/her undergraduate research mentoring efforts. The Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring seeks to formally acknowledge a faculty mentor who demonstrates superior leadership, support, and guidance towards the development of UT Dallas undergraduate students and their research endeavors. Dr. Baowei Fei is among the nine faculty members who were nominated for the 2022 Provost’s Award for Faculty Excellence in Undergraduate Research Mentoring at the University of Texas at Dallas.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei is recognized by the Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science and received the 2022 Faculty Award for exceptional research contributions.

    April 1, 2022

    The Faculty Research Awards recognize three Jonsson School faculty members (one assistant professor, one associate professor, and one full professor) for their outstanding research contributions and are given annually at the Recognition and Appreciation Banquet. Dr. Baowei Fei received the Faculty Research Award at the full professor level, which honors one senior faculty member of the Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Texas at Dallas, who has produced exceptional research.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei served as the Chair for the NIH Study Section – P41 NIBIB Review F-SEP

    March 5, 2022

    Dr. Fei chaired the NIH Study Section Panel (ZEB1 OSR-F M2) for the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB). The NIH Panel consisted of experts and leaders in the field of biomedical imaging and provided the scientific review for the NIBIB Center Grant applications.

  • Undergraduate Student, Ted Shi, won the 2022 Jonsson School Undergraduate Experience Research Award at the University of Texas at Dallas

    February 1, 2022

    The Undergraduate Research Awards at the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science offer engineering majors financial support to work with a top Jonsson School faculty member on relevant research projects. The $500 awards give students the opportunity to build practical experience that opens doors for graduate school, internships, and careers. Ted Shi, an undergraduate student from Dr. Baowei Fei’s lab, won the 2022 Jonsson School Undergraduate Experience Research Award.

  • Undergraduate Student, Jeff Young, won the 2022 Undergraduate Research Scholar Award (URSA) from the Office of Undergraduate Education at the University of Texas at Dallas

    February 1, 2022

    The Undergraduate Research Scholar Awards are a one-time competitive award made by the Office of Undergraduate Education at the University of Texas at Dallas, designed to reward the contributions and facilitate the professional development of undergraduate researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas. Students selected to receive an Undergraduate Research Scholar Award receive $500 and the certificate, awarded upon participation in the Undergraduate Research Scholar Award poster competition held in mid-April. Jeff Young, an undergraduate student from Dr. Baowei Fei’s lab, won the 2022 Undergraduate Research Scholar Award.

2021

  • Undergraduate Students, Patric Bettati and Ted Shi, won the 2021 Undergraduate Research Scholar Award (URSA) from the Office of Undergraduate Education at the University of Texas at Dallas

    February 1, 2021

    The Undergraduate Research Scholar Awards are a one-time competitive award made by the Office of Undergraduate Education at the University of Texas at Dallas, designed to reward the contributions and facilitate the professional development of undergraduate researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas. Students selected to receive an Undergraduate Research Scholar Award receive $500 and the certificate, awarded upon participation in the Undergraduate Research Scholar Award poster competition held in mid-April. Two undergraduate students, Patric Bettati and Ted Shi, from Dr. Baowei Fei’s lab, won the 2021 Undergraduate Research Scholar Award.

2020

  • PhD Dissertation won the 2020 PhD Thesis Award from the Editor-in-Chief of MDPI Sensors

    November 16, 2020

    The PhD Thesis Award is organized annually by the Editor-in-Chief of MDPI Sensors. One outstanding PhD thesis is selected as the winner from the applications worldwide. Dr. Martin Halicek, a PhD student from Dr. Baowei Fei’s lab, won the 2020 PhD Thesis Award. The title of his thesis is “Development of deep learning methods for head and cancer detection in hyperspectral imaging and digital pathology for surgical guidance”.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei is recognized by the Office of Research and Innovation at the University of Texas at Dallas and received the 2020 Federal Research Innovation and Expenditures Dynamo (FRIEND) Award.

    November 1, 2020

    Federal Research Innovation and ExpeNditures Dynamo (FRIENDs) of the Office of Research and Innovation are recognized based on achieving a cumulative level of federal research expenditures (CLFRE) in excess of $500,000 as either PI or co-PI for fiscal year 2020.  Dr. Baowei Fei was a recipient of the 2020 FRIEND Award that was signed by Dr. Joseph Pancrazio, the Vice President for Research, and Dr. Richard Benson, President of the University of Texas at Dallas.

  • Eight undergraduate students published their first papers

    October 28, 2020

    Congratulate 8 undergraduate students who published their first papers on their undergraduate research works in the lab in 2020. These papers are listed below and are published and indexed by PubMed. They are the first author and their names are in bold.  For motivated undergraduate students who want to do research in the lab, please contact Dr. Baowei Fei (bfei@utdallas.edu).

    1: James Huang, Halicek M, Shahedi M, Fei B. Augmented reality visualization of hyperspectral imaging classifications for image-guided brain tumor phantom resection. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2020 Feb;11315:113150U. doi: 10.1117/12.2549041. Epub 2020 Mar 16. PMID: 32606488; PMCID: PMC7325483. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32606488/

    2: Patric Bettati, Chalian M, Huang J, Dormer JD, Shahedi M, Fei B. Augmented Reality-Assisted Biopsy of Soft Tissue Lesions. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2020 Feb;11315:113150W. doi: 10.1117/12.2549381. Epub 2020 Mar 16. PMID: 32528216; PMCID: PMC7289183. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32528216/

    3: Matthew Pfefferle, Shahub S, Shahedi M, Gahan J, Johnson B, Le P, Vargas J, Judson BO, Alshara Y, Li Q, Fei B. Renal biopsy under augmented reality guidance. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2020 Feb;11315:113152W. doi: 10.1117/12.2550593. Epub 2020 Mar 16. PMID: 32476704; PMCID: PMC7261605. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32476704/

    4: Jose Vargas, Le P, Shahedi M, Gahan J, Johnson B, Dormer JD, Shahub S, Pfefferle M, Judson BO, Alshara Y, Li Q, Fei B. A complex dual-modality kidney phantom for renal biopsy studies. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2020 Feb;11319:113190J. doi: 10.1117/12.2549892. Epub 2020 Mar 16. PMID: 32476707; PMCID: PMC7261611. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32476707/

    5: Amol Mavuduru, Halicek M, Shahedi M, Little JV, Chen AY, Myers LL, Fei B. Using a 22-Layer U-Net to Perform Segmentation of Squamous Cell Carcinoma on Digitized Head and Neck Histological Images. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2020 Feb;11320:113200C. doi: 10.1117/12.2549061. Epub 2020 Mar 16. PMID: 32476709; PMCID: PMC7261613. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32476709/

    6: Abhishaike Mahajan, Dormer J, Li Q, Chen D, Zhang Z, Fei B. Siamese neural networks for the classification of high-dimensional radiomic features. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2020 Feb;11314:113143Q. doi: 10.1117/12.2549389. Epub 2020 Mar 16. PMID: 32528215; PMCID: PMC7288755.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32528215/

    7: Ka’Toria Edwards, Chhabra A, Dormer J, Jones P, Boutin RD, Lenchik L, Fei B. Abdominal muscle segmentation from CT using a convolutional neural network. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2020 Feb;11317:113170L. doi: 10.1117/12.2549406. Epub 2020 Feb 28. PMID: 32577045; PMCID: PMC7309562. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32577045/

    8: Chris Tran, Halicek M, Dormer JD, Tandon A, Hussain T, Fei B. Fully automated segmentation of the right ventricle in patients with repaired Tetralogy of Fallot using U-Net. Proc SPIE Int Soc Opt Eng. 2020 Feb;11317:113171M. doi: 10.1117/12.2549052. Epub 2020 Feb 28. PMID: 32476706; PMCID: PMC7261612. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32476706/

  • PhD student published 12 first-author papers and 20 co-author papers

    September 1, 2020

    Congratulate Martin Halicek for his successful PhD defense in March 2020. During his PhD study, Martin published 12 first-author papers. By collaborating with other students and scientists in the lab, Martin also published 20 co-author papers. Since he joined the Quantitative Bioimaging Laboratory for his PhD study, Martin authored a total of 32 papers, all of which are indexed by PubMed. Thanks Martin for his contribution and best wishes for his career development in the future.

  • Research paper was recognized as the Editor’s Choice Article from the MDPI Sensors

    August 1, 2020

    The research on hyperspectral imaging and image guided surgery was recoconized by the editor of MDPI Sensors as the Editor’s Choice Article. The full citation of the paper is listed as: Fabelo, H.; Halicek, M.; Ortega, S.; Shahedi, M.; Szolna, A.; Piñeiro, J.F.; Sosa, C.; O’Shanahan, A.J.; Bisshopp, S.; Espino, C.; Márquez, M.; Hernández, M.; Carrera, D.; Morera, J.; Callico, G.M.; Sarmiento, R.; Fei, B. Deep Learning-Based Framework for In Vivo Identification of Glioblastoma Tumor using Hyperspectral Images of Human Brain. Sensors 201919, 920. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19040920.

  • Undergraduate Student Selected as IEEE Regional Representative

    April 14, 2020

    MD Fiaz Islam Bhuiyan has been appointed the role of Regional Student Representative for IEEE Region 5 that encompasses  12 Southwestern States: CO, KS, MO, OK, AR, TX, LA, and parts of IL, WY, ND, SD, and NM. At the beginning of February, Fiaz had the honor to represent IEEE Region 5 at the 2020 IEEE global Student Activities Committee (SAC) meeting in Portland, Oregon. He gave voice to the needs of over 90 Student Branches in Region-5 and planned to organize events and competitions to engage the student branches in technical and leadership pursuits. Fiaz also worked with IEEE global SAC in creating a framework and opportunities for student engagement at the global scale through competitions like the IEEEXtreme programming contest and Virtual Speakers program. For more details about IEEE student activities visit: https://students.ieee.org/committee/

  • BME Undergraduate Student Won the Intuitive Best Student Paper Award at the International Conference of SPIE Medical Imaging

    February 18, 2020

    Undergraduate Student, Matthew Pfefferle and co-authors from Dr. Baowei Fei’s Lab in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Texas at Dallas won the Intuitive Best Student Paper Award at the International Conference of SPIE Medical Imaging, which is held in Houston, Texas on February 16-20, 2020. The SPIE Medical Imaging Conference is the internationally recognized premier forum for reporting state-of-the-art research and development in medical imaging. The title of the paper is “Renal biopsy under augmented reality guidance” by Matthew Pfefferle, Sarah Shahub, Maysam Shahedi, Jeffrey Gahan, Brett Johnson, Phuc Le, Jose Vargas, Blake O. Judson, Yasmeen Alshara, Qinmei Li, and Baowei Fei. This is a collaborative project between UT Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center.

  • Undergraduate Student to receive IEEE Region Outstanding Student Member Award

    February 4, 2020

    Undergraduate research assistant, MD Fiaz Islam Bhuiyan has been selected to receive the IEEE Region 5 Outstanding Student Member Award for his exceptional contributions of time and effort to the Student Branch, the Section, the Region, and the National IEEE to advance the principals of IEEE. Fiaz has demonstrated a high caliber not only through his contributions to the community but also in maintaining a strong academic standing and dedicated research work.

  • Undergraduate Students, Ka’Toria Edwards, Patric Bettati, and MD Fiaz Islam Bhuiyan, won the 2020 Undergraduate Research Scholar Award (URSA) from the Office of Undergraduate Education at the University of Texas at Dallas

    February 1, 2020

    The Undergraduate Research Scholar Awards are a one-time competitive award made by the Office of Undergraduate Education at the University of Texas at Dallas, designed to reward the contributions and facilitate the professional development of undergraduate researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas. Students selected to receive an Undergraduate Research Scholar Award receive $500 and the certificate, awarded upon participation in the Undergraduate Research Scholar Award poster competition held in mid-April. Three undergraduate students, Ka’Toria Edwards, Patric Bettati, and MD Fiaz Islam Bhuiyan, from Dr. Baowei Fei’s lab, won the 2020 Undergraduate Research Scholar Award.

2019

  • Exploring different imaging technologies for prostate cancer

    November 28, 2019

    Dr. Baowei Fei’s research on prostate cancer imaging has been featured by SciTech Europa Quarterly that provides opportunities to leading figures from across Europe to discuss current and future projects, policy change and future priorities within research and development, as well as being a platform for others to voice their opinions and showcase their results to Europe’s research community. For more information, read the PDF file of the article or visit the following websites:
    https://www.scitecheuropa.eu/exploring-different-imaging-technologies-for-prostate-cancer/98656
    https://www.scitecheuropa.eu/scitech-europa-quarterly-issue-33/98760/

  • Researchers at UT Dallas advance fight to end cancer

    October 24, 2019

    Community Impact Newspaper reported the cancer research work that were conducted at the University of Texas at Dallas. Community Impact Newspaper is vested in the communities and has dedicated reporters in each community who attend city council and school board meetings. Community Impact Newspaper distributes hyperlocal news and information to millions of local residents and business owners each day online and monthly by mail. For more information, read the article from the following website:
    https://communityimpact.com/guides/dallas-fort-worth/richardson/news/education/2019/10/24/researchers-at-ut-dallas-advance-fight-to-end-cancer/

  • Novel Imaging Technique and AI Create Smart Microscope for Cancer Surgery

    October 1, 2019

    Dr. Baowei Fei and his group have recently used a unique imaging technology and artificial intelligence (AI) to predict the presence of cancer cells in tissue samples. This hyperspectral imaging technique is effective in satellite imagery and orbiting telescopes. It could be used to quickly identify cancer cells in the operating room as well. Analyzing 293 tissue samples from 102 head and neck cancer surgery patients, Fei and colleagues found that hyperspectral imaging and AI could be used to predict cancer cell presence with 80-90% accuracy. Dr. Fei recently received a $1.6 million grant from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to continue improving this smart surgical microscope. Once this approach is fully developed, it would need to be tested in clinical studies before being used in the live healthcare environment. For more information, visit the following website:
    https://www.docwirenews.com/docwire-pick/novel-imaging-technique-and-ai-create-smart-microscope-for-cancer-surgery/

  • Building a brighter way for capturing cancer during surgery

    September 30, 2019

    The research work by Dr. Baowei Fei’s Lab has been featured by AAAS and EurekAlert!. In a study published in the Sept. 14 edition of the journal Cancers, Dr. Fei and colleagues showed that hyperspectral imaging and artificial intelligence could predict the presence of cancer cells with 80% to 90% accuracy in 293 tissue specimens from 102 head and neck cancer surgery patients. Dr. Fei recently received a $1.6 million grant from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to further develop the technology, called a smart surgical microscope. For more information, visit the following website:
    https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2019-09/uota-bab093019.php

  • New CPRIT Grant to Develop Smart Surgical Microscope and Artificial Intelligence

    September 30, 2019

    Dr. Baowei Fei, the Cecil H. and Ida Green Chair in Systems Biology Science at UT Dallas, is developing a smart surgical microscope that uses hyperspectral imaging and artificial intelligence to detect cancer cells during surgery. He recently received a $1.6 million grant from the Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to further develop the technology. Hyperspectral imaging, originally used in satellite imagery, orbiting telescopes and other applications, goes beyond what the human eye can see as cells are examined under ultraviolet and near-infrared lights at micrometer resolution. By analyzing how cells reflect and absorb light across the electromagnetic spectrum, experts can get a spectral image of cells that is as unique as a fingerprint. For more information, visit the following website:
    https://www.utdallas.edu/news/research/cancer-smart-surgical-microscope-fei-2019/

  • New NIH Grant to Support Research on Deep Learning for CT Image Standardization

    July 1, 2019

    Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death and one of the most common cancers among both men and women in the United States. Recent advances in high-resolution imaging set the stage for radiomics to become an active emerging field in cancer research. However, the promise of radiomics is limited by a lack of image standardization tools, because computed tomography (CT) images are often acquired using scanners from different vendors with customized acquisition parameters, posing a fundamental challenge to radiomic studies across sites. To overcome this challenge, especially for large-scale, multi-site radiomic studies, advanced algorithms are required to integrate, standardize, and normalize CT images from multiple sources. We propose to develop STAN-CT, a deep learning software package that can automatically standardize and normalize a large volume of diagnostic images to facilitate cross-site large-scale image feature extraction for lung cancer characterization and stratification. STAN-CT will enable a wide range of radiomic researches to identify diagnostic image features that strongly associated with lung cancer prognosis.

  • A New Technique for Targeted Prostate Cancer Biopsies

    June 19, 2019

    Dr. Baowei Fei’s research on prostate cancer biopsy has been featured by Scientia Global that is a series of outreach research publications. Scientia Global connects people: scientists and educators, policy-makers and researchers, and the public and private sectors, and helps researchers communicate their findings beyond their specialty and into the wider world. Scientia offers the research community significant visibility and accessibility to those both inside and outside the community to take an interest in science and research. Dr. Fei is pioneering a technique that merges positron emission tomography (PET) with ultrasound imaging to detect prostate cancer more accurately than before. For more information, read the PDF file of the article or visit the following websites:
    https://www.scientia.global/dr-baowei-fei-a-new-technique-for-targeted-prostate-cancer-biopsies/

  • Past Bonds, Future Enrichment Come Together at Investiture Ceremony

    May 23, 2019

    Considered the highest academic honor a university can bestow, chair and professorship endowments provide senior-level faculty with funds to advance their scholarly activities and support research at the University of Texas at Dallas. Investitures are among the oldest traditions in academia, dating back more than 500 years. During the ceremony, honorees and ceremonial participants don full academic regalia. The endowed chairs and professorships are made possible by philanthropic donations, with several established by or honoring the University’s founders and early leaders.
    https://www.utdallas.edu/news/faculty/investiture-coverage-2019/

  • Dr. Baowei Fei Honored at the University Investiture Ceremony

    April 25, 2019

    Dr. Baowei Fei is honored at the University Investiture Ceremony. President Richard C. Benson and Dr. Poras Balsara, interim dean of the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, presented a medallion to Dr. Baowei Fei, Cecil H. and Ida M. Green Chair in Systems Biology Science. Twelve faculty members who were formally honored hold professorships and chairs in the Office of Graduate Education, School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, Naveen Jindal School of Management and the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. Dr. Baowei Fei, an imaging scientist and cancer scholar whose work has transformed medical imaging and intervention for cancer care and who teaches in the Department of Bioengineering in the Jonsson School, is among those recognized at the ceremony.
    https://www.utdallas.edu/news/faculty/investiture-ceremony-to-honor-faculty-donors/

  • Bioengineer Recognized Among Top in His Field with AIMBE Honor

    April 1, 2019

    Dr. Baowei Fei, a distinguished bioengineer at The University of Texas at Dallas, has been elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), an honor that represents the top 2 percent of individuals in medical and biological engineering. The College of Fellows comprises more than 2,000 outstanding medical and biological engineers in academia, industry and government, including engineering and medical school chairs, research directors, professors, innovators and successful entrepreneurs.
    https://www.utdallas.edu/news/faculty/bioengineer-elected-aimbe-fellow-2019/

  • NBC News Featured Research Work on Molecular Imaging and Targeted Biopsy

    February 22, 2019

    NBC News featured the research work by Dr. Baowei Fei and his team. The technology that was developed in his research lab is called molecular imaging directed, 3D ultrasound-guided biopsy, which improved upon 2D systems by allowing for earlier detection of potentially cancerous cells in the prostate. The new technology has been evaluated by an early phase clinical trial and the clinical finds were published Journal of Urology (Fei et al, Feasibility and Initial Results: Fluciclovine Positron Emission Tomography/Ultrasound Fusion Targeted Biopsy of Recurrent Prostate Cancer. Journal of Urology. 2019;202(2):413-421). For more information, read the PDF file of the clinical paper or visit the following website for the NBC news.
    https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/researcher-finds-cancer-earlier-with-new-imaging-technology/9491/

  • Dr. Baowei Fei Named Fellow of International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE)

    February 18, 2019

    Dr. Baowei Fei was recently named a new Fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) and will be honored at the Plenary Session of the International Conference of SPIE Medical Imaging in San Diego, CA on February 18, 2019. The SPIE was founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. Serving more than 264,000 constituents from approximately 166 countries, the not-for-profit society advances emerging technologies through interdisciplinary information exchange, continuing education, publications, patent precedent, and career and professional growth. SPIE annually organizes and sponsors approximately 25 major technical forums, exhibitions, and education programs in North America, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific.
    https://be.utdallas.edu//about/news/professor-elected-as-fellow-of-the-international-society-for-optics-and-photonics/

  • Robert F. Wagner All Conferences Best Student Paper Award

    February 18, 2019

    Himar Fabelo, a PhD student from Dr. Baowei Fei’s Lab, received the Robert F. Wagner All Conference Best Student Paper Award – Runner-Up at the International Conferences of SPIE Medical Imaging in San Diego, California on February 18, 2018. The title of his paper is “Surgical aid visualization system for glioblastoma tumor identification based on deep learning and invivo hyperspectral images of human patients.” The Robert F. Wagner All Conference Best Student Paper Award (established 2014) is an acknowledgement of his many important contributions to the Medical Imaging meeting and his many important advances in the field of medical imaging and is co-sponsored The Medical Imaging Perception Society and SPIE. A first-place winner and runner-up were recognized with a cash prize ($1,000 and $500 respectively) and a certificate during the Plenary Session at the conference.

  • Undergraduate Student, Amol Mavuduru, won the 2019 Jonsson School Undergraduate Experience Research Award at the University of Texas at Dallas

    February 1, 2019

    The Undergraduate Research Awards at the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science offer engineering majors financial support to work with a top Jonsson School faculty member on relevant research projects. The $500 awards give students the opportunity to build practical experience that opens doors for graduate school, internships, and careers. Amol Mavuduru, an undergraduate student from Dr. Baowei Fei’s lab, won the 2019 Jonsson School Undergraduate Experience Research Award.

  • Undergraduate Student, James Huang, won the 2019 Undergraduate Research Scholar Award (URSA) from the Office of Undergraduate Education at the University of Texas at Dallas

    February 1, 2019

    The Undergraduate Research Scholar Awards are a one-time competitive award made by the Office of Undergraduate Education at the University of Texas at Dallas, designed to reward the contributions and facilitate the professional development of undergraduate researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas. Students selected to receive an Undergraduate Research Scholar Award receive $500 and the certificate, awarded upon participation in the Undergraduate Research Scholar Award poster competition held in mid-April. James Huang, an undergraduate student from Dr. Baowei Fei’s lab, won the 2019 Undergraduate Research Scholar Award.

  • Robert F. Wagner All Conferences Best Student Paper Award

    February 1, 2019

    Himar Fabelo, a PhD student from Dr. Baowei Fei’s Lab, received the Robert F. Wagner All Conference Best Student Paper Award – Runner-Up at the International Conferences of SPIE Medical Imaging in San Diego, California on February 18, 2019. The title of his paper is “Surgical aid visualization system for glioblastoma tumor identification based on deep learning and in vivo hyperspectral images of human patients.”  The Robert F. Wagner All Conference Best Student Paper Award (established 2014) is an acknowledgement of his many important contributions to the Medical Imaging meeting and his many important advances in the field of medical imaging and is co-sponsored The Medical Imaging Perception Society and SPIE.  A first-place winner and runner-up were recognized with a cash prize ($1,000 and $500 respectively) and a certificate during the Plenary Session at the conference.

2018

  • Dr. Baowei Fei serves as the Chair for the NIH Study Section: ZCA1 RPRB-N (J2) Integrating Biospecimens into Clinical Assay Development (U01)

    November 15, 2018

    This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) will support extramural research to investigate and mitigate challenges facing clinical assay development due to biopsy biospecimen preanalytical variability. The program will tie in with current efforts to optimize clinical biomarker assays utilized in NCI-sponsored clinical trials. Results from this research program will improve the understanding of how biopsy collection, processing, and storage procedures may affect all aspects of analytical performance for current and emerging clinical biomarkers, as well as expedite clinical biomarker assay development through the evidence-based standardization of biopsy handling practices. Critical information gained through these research awards may increase the reliability of clinical biomarker assays, reduce time requirements for assay development, and decrease assay failure during late-stage testing.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei serves as a Panel Member of the NIH Study Section: Biomedical Imaging Technology (BMIT-B)

    October 11, 2018

    The Biomedical Imaging Technology Study Sections both review applications involving basic, applied, and pre-clinical aspects of the design and development of medical imaging system technologies, their components, software, and mathematical methods for studies at the cellular, organ, small or large animal, and human scale.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei was appointed as Cecil H. and Ida Green Chair in Systems Biology Science by the University of Texas at Dallas

    September 10, 2018

    Provost Musselman of the University of Texas at Dallas appointed Dr. Baowei Fei to the endowed faculty position Cecil H. and Ida Green Chair in Systems Biology Science #3, one of the honorific appointment awarded by the University to its most distinguished faculty members.

  • Noted Cancer Scholar Joins Jonsson School’s Bioengineering Team

    September 10, 2018

    Dr. Baowei Fei, a professor of bioengineering, was previously an associate professor at Emory University School of Medicine and the Georgia Institute of Technology. “Dr. Fei is a world-class researcher in the area of image-guided intervention,” said Dr. Robert Rennaker, Texas Instruments Distinguished Chair in Bioengineering and head of the Department of Bioengineering. “Our ability to recruit faculty members of his caliber is what will propel UT Dallas to national prominence as we strengthen our partnership with UT Southwestern Medical Center. Dr. Fei has received numerous honors and awards, including the Distinguished Investigator Award from the Academy for Radiology & Biomedical Imaging Research and the Young Investigator Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging. In 2009 he was recognized as a Distinguished Cancer Scholar by the Georgia Cancer Coalition. He also served as the Conference Chair for the SPIE Medical Imaging: Image-guided Interventions, Robotic Interventions, and Modeling Conference 2017-2020.
    https://engineering.utdallas.edu//news/archive/2018-summer/world-class-imaging-scientist-cancer-scholar-joins-university/

     

  • World-Class Imaging Scientist, Cancer Scholar Joins University

    June 15, 2018

    Dr. Baowei Fei, an imaging scientist and cancer scholar whose work has transformed medical imaging and intervention for cancer care, recently joined the UT Dallas Department of Bioengineering. Dr. Fei was inspired by a speech by University President Richard C. Benson that he paraphrases: “‘We are still giving shape to this superb University, defining purpose and creating tradition that will last for 100 years and more. Put simply: you are founders,’” Dr. Fei’s group developed a technology called the molecular imaging directed, 3D ultrasound-guided biopsy system, which improves upon 2D systems by allowing for earlier detection of potentially cancerous cells in the prostate. Dr. Fei led the first clinical trial of positron emission tomography (PET) combined with ultrasound fusion targeted biopsy of the prostate. His research group also is investigating a technology called hyperspectral imaging for its potential use in biological and medical applications, such as real-time detection of cancer cells during surgery for complete removal of the tumor. The technology provides information about healthy and diseased tissues based on how they interact with various wavelengths of light.
    https://engineering.utdallas.edu//news/archive/2018-summer/world-class-imaging-scientist-cancer-scholar-joins-university/

  • Dr. Fei received a new NIH R01 grant on image-guided intravascular robotic system for mitral valve repair and implants.

    March 15, 2018

    Mitral regurgitation (MR) is one of the most common valve lesions, which affects 9 million Americans, and is known to increase morbidity and mortality. MR occurs due to leakage of blood through the mitral valve and induces volume overload on the left ventricle, elevates diastolic wall stress and causes rapid left ventricular dilatation, ultimately leading to congestive heart failure within 5 years and death. Timely and effective repair of MR is of utmost importance to halt the progression of heart failure, but current options are limited. Open- heart surgery is the current standard of care and has a relatively high risk of post-operative mortality. Transcatheter mitral valve repair, is a new class of technologies in which MR repair is performed on a beating heart using a catheter that is guided to the mitral valve to deploy reparative devices. However, the route to the mitral valve is a challenging path for existing catheters to follow. The complexity associated with their implantation in a beating heart, often leads to failed procedures and conversion to open heart surgery. We propose to develop a novel intravascular steerable robot that is guided to the mitral valve by multimodality imaging and deploys a novel, low profile device that can effectively repair MR of all forms. This highly innovative and interdisciplinary project combines expertise in surgical robotics, imaging and mitral repair devices. We envision that the intravascular steerable robot and implant, guided by multimodality imaging will significantly simplify Transcatheter mitral valve repair, increasing the procedural accuracy and control, and reducing failure rates.

  • Poster Awards at the International Conference of SPIE Medical Imaging

    February 12, 2018

    James Dormer, a Research Engineer from Dr. Baowei Fei’s Lab, won two Poster Award – Honorable at the International Conference of SPIE Medical Imaging. The first award is from the SPIE Medical Imaging: Biomedical Applications in Molecular, Structural, and Functional Imaging Conference. His paper is entitled “Heart chamber segmentation from CT using convolutional neural networks.” The second award is from the SPIE Medical Imaging: Ultrasonic Imaging and Tomography Conference. The title of his paper is “Ultrasound segmentation of rat hearts using a convolution neural network.”

  • Robert F. Wagner All Conferences Best Student Paper Award

    February 12, 2018

    Martin Halicek, a PhD student from Dr. Baowei Fei’s Lab, received the Robert F. Wagner All Conference Best Student Paper Award – Runner-Up at the International Conferences of SPIE Medical Imaging in Houston, Texas in February 12, 2018. The title of his paper is “Tumor margin classification of head and neck cancer using hyperspectral imaging and convolutional neural networks.” The Robert F. Wagner All Conference Best Student Paper Award (established 2014) is an acknowledgement of his many important contributions to the Medical Imaging meeting and his many important advances in the field of medical imaging and is co-sponsored The Medical Imaging Perception Society and SPIE. A first-place winner and runner-up were recognized with a cash prize ($1,000 and $500 respectively) and a certificate during the Plenary Session at the conference.

  • Martin Halicek, an MD/PhD student in Dr. Fei’s Lab received the Robert Jones Award

    January 4, 2018

    The Jones Award creates opportunities for advancement in patient care and the discovery of cures. Through a unique collaboration between Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology, the Jones Biomedical Engineering Fellows conduct groundbreaking research and lead the fight against debilitating diseases like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, and syringomyelia, the rare neurological condition Jones suffered from at the end of his life.  The Jones Award is to recognize a BME student in the Laney Graduate School at Emory University for exceptional research accomplishments as identified by the faculty.

2017

  • Dr. Baowei Fei served on the NIH Study Section ZRG1 SBIB-F (59)R on Imaging and Biomarker for Early Detection of Aggressive Cancer

    March 28, 2017

    The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to: (i) invite researchers to submit collaborative research project (U01) applications to improve cancer screening, early detection of aggressive cancer, assessment of cancer risk and cancer diagnosis aimed at integrating multi-modality imaging strategies and multiplexed biomarker methodologies into a singular complementary approach, and (ii) establish a Consortium for Imaging and Biomarkers (CIB) to perform collaborative studies, exchange information, share knowledge and leverage common resources. The research will be conducted by individual multi-disciplinary research teams, hereafter called Units. All Units are expected to participate in collaborative activities with other Units within the Consortium.

    For more information about this funding program, please visit  NIH Grants.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei was awarded a five-year NIH R01 grant

    January 2, 2017

    The project is to translate our positron emission tomography (PET)/transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) fusion guided technology into a commercially supported platform for improving the detection of prostate cancer. It has been reported that the long-term prostate cancer specific survival of patients initially managed with active surveillance (AS) or watchful waiting for low-risk prostate cancer ranges from 97% to 100%. However, among all men with indolent prostate cancer, the rate of aggressive treatment is as high as 64.3%. The costs for the treatment are $12 billion each year in the USA. One reason for aggressive treatment is due to the fact that the current standard diagnosis with transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy can miss up to 30% of cancers. A major concern for active surveillance is the risk of high-grade cancer that may be missed by the current diagnosis. This research is to develop innovative imaging technology that can improve the detection rate and distinguish aggressive cancer, which requires treatment, from the non-aggressive disease, which can be well-managed with active surveillance. The technology will provide clinicians a new imaging tool to select millions of low-risk prostate cancer patients for active surveillance instead of unnecessary treatment, therefore may help save billions of dollars in treatment costs and improve the care of prostate cancer patients.

2016

  • Workshop and Launch of the Integrative Cancer Imaging Research Program (iCIRP)

    October 28, 2016

    The Integrative Cancer Imaging Research Program (iCIRP) is a joint program between Emory University School of Medicine Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Georgia Tech/Emory Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, and Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University. This program will build on and synergize unique strengths inherent in Emory units and centers that foster multidisciplinary collaborations within and among the disciplines of imaging science, cancer biology, nanotechnology, biomarker development, computation, and clinical cancer research. The overarching goal of the iCIRP program is to advance cancer detection, diagnosis, prognosis, image-guided therapy, prediction of efficacy, and monitoring of treatment.

    Dr. Baowei Fei’s talk on the introduction of the Program: PDF File

    For more information about this program, please visit: http://feilab.org/publication_pdf/Fei_iCIRP.pdf

  • Dr. Baowei Fei served as Chair for NIH Study Section ZRG1 SBIB-F (56)R on Early Phase Clinical Trials in Imaging and Image-guided Interventions

    October 21, 2016

    This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is intended to support clinical trials conducting preliminary evaluation of the safety and efficacy of imaging agents, as well as an assessment of imaging systems, image processing, image-guided therapy, contrast kinetic modeling, 3-D reconstruction and other quantitative tools. As many such preliminary evaluations are early in development, this FOA will provide investigators with support for pilot (Phase I and II) cancer imaging clinical trials, including patient monitoring and laboratory studies. This FOA supports novel uses of known/standard clinical imaging agents and methods as well as the evaluation of new agents, systems, or methods. The imaging and image-guided intervention (IGI) investigations, if proven successful in these early clinical trials, can then be validated in larger studies through competitive R01 mechanisms, or through clinical trials in the Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPOREs), Cancer Centers and/or the NCI's National Clinical Trials Network. October 21, 2016

  • Guolan Lu successfully defended her PhD thesis and joined Stanford University

    October 14, 2016

    As an emerging optical modality, hyperspectral imaging (HSI) holds great promise for early cancer detection and image-guided surgery. The major advantage of HSI is that it is a noninvasive technology that doesn't require any contrast agent, and it combines wide-field imaging and spectroscopy to simultaneously attain both spatial and spectral information from an object in a non-contact way. Light delivered to the tissue surface undergoes multiple elastic scattering and absorption interactions, and part of it returns as diffuse reflectance carrying diagnostic information about the underlying tissue structure and composition. The biochemical and morphological properties of the tissue change during disease progression. Therefore hyperspectral images, which contain high-dimensional spectral information at each image point, can be analyzed for visualization, characterization, and quantification of the disease state in biological tissue.

    The overall goal of this dissertation was to investigate the potential of label-free HSI technology combined with machine learning methods as a noninvasive diagnostic tool for quantitative detection and delineation of head and neck cancer. More specifically, this dissertation work has two applications: the early detection of cancer, and surgical guidance. To achieve this, we had four different aims. The first two aims evaluated the diagnostic performance of HSI and machine learning algorithms at differentiating cancer from normal tissue in preclinical animal models, including a subcutaneous cancer model (Aim 1), and a chemically-induced tongue carcinogenesis model (Aim 2). The last two aims investigated the detection and delineation of head and neck cancer in a surgical animal model (Aim 3) and fresh surgical specimens of human patients (Aim 4).

  • FDA approves Emory-developed prostate cancer imaging probe (FACBC/Axumin)

    June 15, 2016

    A cancer imaging agent that was originally developed at Emory University was approved on Friday, May 27 by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Axumin, a PET (positron emission tomography) imaging agent, is indicated for diagnosis of recurrent prostate cancer in men who have elevated blood levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) after previous treatment. Axumin, now being commercialized by UK-based Blue Earth Diagnostics, is also known as 18F-fluciclovine or FACBC (an abbreviation for anti-1-amino-3-[18F]fluorocyclobutane-1- carboxylic acid). Imaging using axumin is expected to help doctors detect and localize recurrent prostate cancer, and could guide biopsy or the planning of additional treatment, says David Schuster, MD, director of the Division of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging and associate professor of radiology and imaging sciences at Emory University School of Medicine and Winship Cancer Institute. Fluciclovine was originally developed by Mark Goodman, PhD, professor of radiology and imaging sciences at Emory University School of Medicine and Winship Cancer Institute, and Emory Endowed Chair of Imaging Sciences, along with Timothy Shoup, PhD, now at Massachusetts General Hospital. Baowei Fei, PhD, EngD, is researching how to combine fluciclovine with ultrasound to guide prostate biopsy. Fei is associate professor of radiology and imaging sciences, a Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Cancer Scientist, and part of the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory.

    For more information about this news, please visit: http://news.emory.edu/stories/2016/06/fluciclovine_fda_approval/

    For more information about the targeted biopsy study, please visit: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02744534/

  • Guolan Lu Received the Outstanding Translational Research Award

    May 2, 2016

    This Outstanding Translational Research Award honors a graduate student who has demonstrated excellence in translational research as shown by publications in translation-focused journals, patents, clinical testing, achieving FDA clearance, etc. Guolan Lu received the 2016 Wallace B Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Annual Graduate Student Award – Outstanding Translational Research Award. Guolan is a Ph.D. candidate in the Quantitative BioImaging Laboratory and has performed her thesis research under the supervision of Prof. Baowei Fei in the Department of Radiology and Imaging at Emory University and in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology. Guolan’s research work on hyperspectral imaging demonstrated highly translational potential from animals to human patients for the applications in cancer detection and image-guided surgery. One of her papers on medical hyperspectral imaging has received national and international attentions, being cited more than 200 times in only two years and being the Top Download from Journal of Biomedical Optics. This prestigious award is to honor best and brightest among more than 150 Ph.D. students in the nationally top-ranked Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology. May 2, 2016

    For more information about the Award, please visit:

    http://www.gradadmiss.gatech.edu/hg/item/531711

    Top Downloads from Journal of Biomedical Optics:

    http://biomedicaloptics.spiedigitallibrary.org/journal.aspx

    Lu G and Fei B, "Medical hyperspectral imaging: a review", Journal of Biomedical Optics. 19(1), 010901 (Jan 20, 2014)

    http://biomedicaloptics.spiedigitallibrary.org/article.aspx?articleid=1816617

  • Ms. Guolan Lu, PhD Candidate at QBIL, won the Outstanding Translational Research Award at Georgia Tech

    April 15, 2016

    This Outstanding Translational Research Award honors a graduate student who has demonstrated excellence in translational research as demonstrated by publications in translation-focused journals, patents, clinical testing, achieving FDA clearance, etc. Guolan’s research work on hyperspectral imaging demonstrated highly translational potential from animals and human patients for cancer detection and image-guided surgery. This is a prestigious award among more than 150 PhD students in the top-ranked Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Emory University and Georgia Institute of Technology. – April 2016

    Lu G, Fei B, “Medical Hyperspectral Imaging: A Review”, Journal of Biomedical Optics, Jan. 2014, 10901 Full Text

  • Dr. Baowei Fei and Dr. Xulei Qin at QBIL were granted a U.S. patent on cardiac imaging

    April 15, 2016

    Systems, methods, and computer-readable storage media relate to segmenting an image series of at least one image of a region of interest of a subject. The methods, systems, and computer readable storage media can automatically segment interior and exterior boundaries relative to the region of interest (e.g., epicardial and endocardial boundaries with respect to a right ventricle) from an image series by combining sparse matrix transform, a training model, and a localized region based level set function. – April 2016

    Fei B, Qin X, “Systems, methods and computer readable storage media storing instructions for automatically segmenting images of a region of interest”, United States Patent , No. 9,142,030 B2 Full Text

  • Dr. Baowei Fei will serve as Conference Chair for SPIE Medical Imaging

    April 15, 2016

    Dr. Fei will serve as the Conference Chair for the International Conference of SPIE Medical Imaging – Image-Guided Procedures, Robotics Interventions, and Modeling from 2017-2020. SPIE is an international society advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light. Established in 1955, the not-for-profit society advances emerging technologies through interdisciplinary information exchange, continuing education, publications, patent precedent, and career and professional growth. The SPIE Medical Imaging Conference is the internationally recognized premier forum for reporting state-of-the-art research and development in medical imaging. The event focuses on the latest innovations found in underlying fundamental scientific principles, to technology developments, scientific evaluation, and clinical application. In 2017, the conference will offer a special track on Precision Medicine. The symposium covers the full range of medical imaging modalities including medical image acquisition, display, processing, analysis, perception, decision support, and informatics.

    For more information about SPIE Medical Imaging Conference, please visit: http://spie.org/MI/conferencedetails/image-guided-procedures/

  • Dr. Fei serves as Conference Chair for the International Conference of SPIE Medical Imaging: Image-Guided Procedures, Robotic Interventions, and Modeling in 2017-2020.

    April 10, 2016

    SPIE is an international society advancing an interdisciplinary approach to the science and application of light. Established in 1955, the not-for-profit society advances emerging technologies through interdisciplinary information exchange, continuing education, publications, patent precedent, and career and professional growth. The SPIE Medical Imaging Conference is the internationally recognized premier forum for reporting state-of-the-art research and development in medical imaging. The event focuses on the latest innovations found in underlying fundamental scientific principles, to technology developments, scientific evaluation, and clinical application. In 2017, the conference will offer a special track on Precision Medicine. The symposium covers the full range of medical imaging modalities including medical image acquisition, display, processing, analysis, perception, decision support, and informatics.

    For more information, please visit the conference website:
    https://spie.org/MI/conferencedetails/image-guided-procedures/

    Call-for-Papers

2015

  • Dr. Zhiqiang Tian at QBIL won the Second Place for the MICCAI PROMISE12 Challenge

    July 15, 2015

    The MICCAI ‘Prostate MR Image Segmentation Challenge (PROMISE12) is to compare interactive and (semi)-automatic segmentation algorithms for MRI of the prostate. The results of the challenge were presented in conjunction with a live challenge, evaluating the algorithms on unseen data. Eighteen teams (research groups, companies, etc.) who are developing a segmentation algorithm registered and downloaded multi-center, multi-vendor training data from the PROMISE12 website to train their algorithms. Test data were also be supplied. The segmentation results of the algorithms on the test data were submitted through the website, including a short paper explaining the algorithm. The segmentations were automatically evaluated against the reference standard. The results of the algorithms were then ranked and shown in the results section of the website. Among the 18 research teams from the international community, the QBIL team from Emory University won the second place for this MICCAI PROMISE12 Challenge.– July 2015

    For more information about the MICCAI PROMISE12 Challenge, please visit: http://promise12.grand-challenge.org/details

2014

  • Dr. Baowei Fei received a grant from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Research Centers

    July 15, 2014

    The project is to investigate cardiac fiber orientation and is supported by the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Research Centers – Center for Cardiovascular Biology. (Co-Pls: Baowei Fei and Mary Wagner. – July 2014

    For more information about the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, please visit: http://www.choa.org

  • Dr. Baowei Fei was invited to give the C. Dayton Riddle Distinguished Lecture at Clemson University

    March 15, 2014

    Dr. Fei was invited to give this distinguished lecture on multimodality imaging and image-guided intervention in the Department of Bioengineering at Clemson University. This lecture was jointly supported by CUBEInC and Clemson University Biomedical Engineering Innovation Programs. – March 2014
    For more information about Clemson University, please visit: http://www.clemson.edu

2013

  • Dr. Baowei Fei was named as a Distinguished Investigator by the Academy of Radiology Research

    June 15, 2013

    The award is to recognize individuals for their accomplishments in imaging research. The program is intended to especially encourage those who have achieved scientific excellence while still being involved in clinical care, but it is not limited to clinician scientists only. Recipients of this award will become a member of the Council of Distinguished Investigators of the Academy of Radiology Research. The Academy of Radiology Research is an alliance of 28 professional imaging societies. Established in 1995, the Academy was the catalyst for creating the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), for supporting its growth and development, for accelerating investment in vital imaging research areas by other NIH institutes, and for building support for radiology and imaging in Congress and the Executive Branch. The Academy is the umbrella organization to the Coalition for Imaging and Bioengineering Research (CIBR) and the Academic Council (ARRAC).– June 2013

    For more information about Academy of Radiology Research, please visit: http://www.acadrad.org

  • Dr. Baowei Fei was invited to serve in an AAPM Technology Assessment Committee – Work Group on Image-Guided Interventions

    April 15, 2013

    The American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) is a scientific, educational, and professional organization of medical physicists. The AAPM promotes the application of physics to medicine and biology, encourage interest and training in medical physics and related fields. The AAPM has convened a task group on robotic-assisted interventions, which is coordinated by the Cancer Imaging Program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institute of Health (NIH).

  • Dr. Baowei Fei was granted another U.S. patent for detecting cardiovascular diseases

    April 14, 2013

    A method is provided that comprises receiving a first digital radiography (DR) image of at least a portion of a body of a patient, receiving a second DR image of the at least a portion of a body of a patient, the first DR image being captured at a different energy level than the second DR image, and determining common control point locations for both the first and second DR images. The method further comprises generating an optimized DR image by moving portions of a selected one of the first and second DR images with its associated control points to locations that correspond to similar portions of the other of the first and second DR images, applying deformable transformation to one of the first and second DR images and performing a log subtraction on the first and second DR image to generate a dual-energy digital radiography (DEDR) image. – April 2013

    Fei B, Gilkeson R, “Systems and methods for generating images for identifying diseases”, United States Patent , No. 8,422,757 Full Text

  • Dr. Baowei Fei’s research on prostate biopsy is featured by the cover of Diagnostic Imaging Europe

    January 15, 2013

    In the January issue of Diagnostic Imaging Europe (DI Europe), the QBIL paper entitled “PET directed, 3D ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy” made the cover of the magazine that is published by DI Europe Ltd., an independent European-based publishing house. DI Europe is distributed to approximately 17 000 readers throughout Europe, which is published eight times a year and covers all the main imaging topics and sub-specialties. The readers are all clinicians or medical professionals in the radiology/medical imaging field. – Jan. 2013

    Fei B, Nieh PT, Schuster DM, Master VA, “PET directed, 3D ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy”, Diagnostic Imaging Europe, Pages: 12-15, 2013 Full Text

    To read the January issue of Diagnostic Imaging Europe, please visit: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4225556/

2012

  • QBIL’s research work made the cover of Medical Physics

    June 15, 2012

    In the June issue of Medical Physics, the QBIL paper entitled “3D ultrasound image segmentation using wavelet support vector machines” made the cover of the journal. Medical Physics is an official science journal of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine.

    Akbari H, Fei BW (corresponding author). 3D ultrasound image segmentation using wavelet support vector machines, Medical Physics 2012;39:2972-2984. Full Text

    To read the June issue of Medical Physics, please visit: http://online.medphys.org/resource/1/mphya6/v39/i6

  • Dr. Baowei Fei was invited to the NIH Biomedical Imaging Technology (BMIT) Study Section.

    February 15, 2012

    Dr. Fei was invited to the NIH Biomedical Imaging Technology (BMIT) Study Section. The BMIT Study Section reviews grant applications involving basic, applied, and pre-clinical aspects of the design and development of medical imaging system technologies, their components, software, and mathematical methods for studies at the cellular, organ, small or large animal, and human scale.

2011

  • Dr. Baowei Fei was granted a U.S. patent for detecting cardiovascular diseases

    December 15, 2011

    Systems and methods for generating images for identifying diseases are provided. In one embodiment, a method comprises receiving a first digital radiography (DR) image of at least a portion of a body of a patient, receiving a second DR image of the at least a portion of a body of a patient, the first DR image being captured at a different energy level than the second DR image, and determining common control point locations for both the first and second DR images. The method further comprises generating an optimized DR image by moving portions of a selected one of the first and second DR images with its associated control points to locations that correspond to similar portions of the other of the first and second DR images, applying deformable transformation to one of the first and second DR images and performing a log subtraction on the first and second DR image to generate a dual-energy digital radiography (DEDR) image. – Dec. 2011

    Fei B, Gilkeson R, “Systems and methods for generating images for identifying diseases”, United States Patent , No. 8,073,230 Full Text

  • Congratulations to Andrew Chi for being admitted to the 2015 Class of the Medical College of Georgia.

    February 15, 2011

    On February 4, 2011, Andrew Chi received the admission letter to the 2015 Class from the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Health Sciences University. Andrew is scheduled to graduate from Emory College in May of 2011 with a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry and Bachelor’s of Arts in East Asian Studies.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei received an Award for a Developmental Research Project from the Emory SPORE in Head and Neck Cancer.

    February 15, 2011

    Emory University Winship Cancer Institute (Emory WCI) Head and Neck Cancer Specialized Program of Research Excellence (SPORE) is funded by the NIH/NCI. The overall goal of the Emory WCI HNC SPORE is to improve prevention and treatment of head and neck cancer with emphasis on new discoveries, rapid translation to patients who are suffering, disability and morbidity caused by the disease. In this Developmental Research Project, Dr. Fei will collaborate with Drs. Georgia Chen, Dong Shin, and Ronald Voll and develop molecular imaging technology and photodynamic therapy for treatment of head and neck cancer in animal models.

  • QBIL’s research Work received the Cum Laude Poster Award at the 2011 SPIE Medical Imaging Conference.

    February 15, 2011

    Prostate image segmentation research received the Cum Laude Poster Award at the SPIE Medical Imaging: Visualization, Image-guided Procedures and Modeling Conference in Orlando, Florida on February 14, 2011. The research work was entitled “Automatic 3D segmentation of ultrasound images using atlas registration and statistical texture prior”. Authors contributed to this work include X. Yang, D. Schuster, V. Master, P. Nieh, A. Fenster and B. Fei at Emory University.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei received a five-year NIH R01 grant on molecular image-directed, 3D ultrasound image guided biopsy.

    January 15, 2011

    Prostate cancer affects 1 in 6 men in the USA. Every man over the age of 45 is at risk for prostate cancer. Systematic transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided biopsy is the standard method for a definitive diagnosis of prostate cancer. More than 1.2 million prostate biopsies are performed annually and the medical cost is more than two billion dollars each year. However, this technique has a significant sampling error and is characterized by low sensitivity (39-52%). The current biopsy approach can miss up to 30% of prostate cancers. As a negative biopsy does not preclude the possibility of a missed cancer, both the physicians and patients face challenges in making treatment decisions. Due to the increasing number of younger men with potentially early and curable prostate cancer, this problem must be addressed in order to improve cancer detection rate. This project is to develop a molecular image-directed, 3D ultrasound-guided system for targeted biopsy of the prostate. If completely developed, the multimodality molecular image-guided system will be able to be used not only for biopsy but also for brachytherapy, radiofrequency thermal ablation, cryotherapy, and photodynamic therapy. The research could improve prostate cancer detection by using novel molecular imaging technology and by using a new three-dimensional image-guided biopsy device. The molecular image-guided system can be used not only for improved biopsy of diseases but also for minimally invasive therapy of cancers.

2010

  • Dr. Baowei Fei’s research is highlighted by Emory Magazine: Double Vision – By Mary J. Loftus

    October 15, 2010

    “The combined system can provide opportunities for basic research and can open a new window to studying diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, drug addiction, cancer, and cardiovascular disease,” says Assistant Professor of Radiology Baowei Fei, a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Scholar. Dr. Fei’s team is working to develop and improve imaging software for the hybrid system. – Autumn 2010

    For more information, please visit: http://www.emory.edu/EMORY_MAGAZINE/2010/autumn/scanner.html

  • Dr. Baowei Fei’s work on MR/PET is highlighted as a featured innovation at the Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) at Emory University

    October 14, 2010

    Magnetic resonance imaging (MR) shows details about the soft tissues of the body, such as every curve and indentation in the brain, while positron emission tomography (PET) records processes, such as how much energy is being used or how much blood is flowing into a region. When these imaging techniques were combined in the same scanner a few years ago, a real challenge since the MRI’s strong magnetic field and the PET’s detector and electronics tend to interfere with each other scientists started thinking about the potential wealth of information that could be provided.

    For more information, please visit:
    When Two is Better Than One: Perfecting the Combined MR/PET

  • Dr. Baowei Fei received a Coulter Translational Research Award to develop quantification tools for combined MR/PET

    July 28, 2010

    PET (Positron Emission Tomography) provides insight into the metabolic and functional alterations related to pathologic process, and CT (Computed X-Ray Tomography) and MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) reveal anatomical changes due to diseases. The combination of two imaging modalities significantly expands their utility, improving sensitivity and specificity for disease detection and diagnosis. With this grant from the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University Dr. Fei and his team will develop image quantification tools that include image registration, classification, segmentation, and attenuation correction for potential use in combined MR/PET.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei received a Young Investigator Award from the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM)

    June 28, 2010

    At the 57th Annual Meeting of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) in Salt Lake City, Utah in June 2010, Dr. Baowei Fei received the Young Investigator Award for his research on Image Quantification and Attenuation Correction for Combined MRI/PET from the SNM. Dr. Fei received the 1st place award from the SNM Computer and Instrumentation Council. He and his co-colleagues have developed tools for image registration, classification, segmentation and attenuation correction for the potential use in combined MRI/PET. Other colleagues who contributed to this work include Mr. X. Yang, Dr. J. Nye, Ms. M. Jones, Dr. J. Aarsvold, Ms. N. Raghunath, Dr. C. Meltzer and Dr. J. Votaw.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei’s work on photodynamic therapy and nanoparticle-based drug delivery was highlighted by Nature Materials

    January 15, 2010

    Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a promising method for treating several cancers that uses photosensitizers. The photosensitizer accumulates in target tissue and is excited using light, generating reactive oxygen species that induce cell death. To enter the target area PDT drugs need to be lipophilic, however this presents problems: lack of solubility in the physiological conditions experienced en route to the target means that they usually take at least 24 hours to get to the tumour. Baowei Fei, Clemens Burda and co-workers have synthesized a PDT drug complex that significantly decreases the delivery time and enables quantitative monitoring of the process. Polyethylene glycol (PEG; a compound approved for human intravenous applications) is attached to gold nanoparticles functionalized with the PDT drug, silicon phthalocyanine-4. Chains of PEG wrap around the drug allowing the system to disperse in aqueous conditions. Free silicon phthalocyanine-4 takes 1-2 days to accumulate in a tumour site; using the new complex this is reduced to less than two hours in vivo in cancer-bearing mice with the tumour reducing in size within one week of treatment.

    For more information, please visit:
    http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v7/n9/full/nmat2268.html

2009

  • Dr. Baowei Fei received a Pilot grant from the NIH-funded Emory Molecular and Translational Imaging Center

    September 28, 2009

    We envision that molecular imaging can detect cancer at the cellular level, can monitor drug distribution in vivo, can guide therapy to the target, and can evaluate efficacy immediately after therapy. Dr. Fei and his team will develop and evaluate multimodality imaging methods (fluorescence imaging, PET and MR imaging) for early detection of therapeutic response in pre-clinical cancer models.

  • Dr. Baowei Fei was selected as a Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar

    June 15, 2009

    The Georgia Cancer Coalition established the Distinguished Cancer Clinicians and Scientists program as the cornerstone of its research agenda. The goal of the program is to recruit to Georgia leading and nationally renowned cancer clinicians and scientists who are engaged in the most promising areas of cancer research. The selection of the scholars is closely aligned with the National Cancer Institute’s “Extraordinary Opportunities in Cancer Research,” which has identified areas of discovery that hold promise for making significant progress against all cancers. This competitive and prestigious award carries with it a five-year grant payable to Emory University to support Dr. Fei’s research on cancer imaging. – June 15, 2009

    For more information about Georgia Cancer Coalition, please visit: http://www.georgiacancer.org

  • Dr. Baowei Fei received a URC grant to fund his research project entitled “Motion Correction and Quantitative Image Analysis for Kidney MR Imaging.”

    May 12, 2009

    The project is supported by the NIH sponsored Atlanta Clinical and Translational Institute (A-CTSI). (Co-Pls:Baowei Fei and Diego Martin. Co-investigator: John Votaw)

    For more information about the Atlanta Clinical and Translational Institute, please visit: http://www.atlantactsi.org

    For more information about the University Research Committee (URC), please visit: http://www.urc.emory.edu