*** Please note that, due to scheduling conflicts with two graduate courses, all remaining BME Seminars this semester will be held from 5:30 - 6:30 pm unless otherwise noted.
This week's BME Seminar will include talks by two graduate students in the BME program. Please see below for details.
Speaker #1: Essi Shams, MSc Candidate (University of Manitoba BME Graduate Program)
Title: MR compatible PET detectors, performance and stability
Time: 5:30-6:00 PM
Date: Thursday, September 25, 2014
Location: E2-330 Engineering Building (Fort Garry Campus)
Abstract: The Biomedical Imaging Lab at the U of M is building a MR compatible PET system to enable simultaneous PET-MR imaging of small animals inside a 7T animal MR imaging system. The output and characteristics of detectors in this system vary with temperature and supply voltage. I this talk, I will describe the evolution of MR-compatible PET systems and make a case for the development of a control system to monitor the detector in such an imaging system and stabilize their output. Results from our MR compatible PET system will be presented.
Biosketch: Essi Shams is a M.Sc. student in biomedical engineering with a background as a computer engineer. Before joining the biomedical engineering program, he has worked as a technical support engineer, lead technical trainer and system developer. At the University of Manitoba, he has been working on a network-based control system for a MR compatible PET insert.
Speaker #2: Vanessa Palmer, MSc Candidate (University of Manitoba BME Graduate Program)
Title: A Proposed Solution to the 'Clinical - Radiological Paradox' associated with Multiple Sclerosis
Time: 6:00-6:30 PM
Date: Thursday, September 25, 2014
Location: E2-330 Engineering Building (Fort Garry Campus)
Abstract: Multiple sclerosis (MS), the most common neurological disease affecting young adults in Canada, is a demyelinating disease that is unpredictable and often disabling. Despite considerable research effort, the etiology of the disease is unknown and there is no known cure. A reason for this gap in knowledge is the “clinical-radiological paradox,” or limited correlation between the clinical signs and symptoms of MS and the changes seen on conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Quantitative MRI such as diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) and multicomponent T2 analysis (mcT2) show promise in understanding changes in white matter integrity associated with MS but more work is needed to understand the correlations between the MRI metrics and the pathological changes. We hypothesize that the correlations between MRI findings and clinical status can be improved through correlations between qMRI metrics and pathological changes. Understanding how these MRI metrics vary with changes in white matter integrity improves our understanding of demyelinating diseases such as MS allowing us to understand what processes need to be targeted for treatments.
Biosketch: Vanessa received her BSc in Physics from the University of Winnipeg in 2013 and entered the University of Manitoba Biomedical Engineering Graduate Program as an MSc student at the beginning of the year.
Sandwiches and refreshments will be provided after the seminar.
To see the list of next scheduled BME seminars, please go to: http://umanitoba.ca/biomedical_engineering/courses/bme_seminars.html