Over the course of this summer, I have been
fortunate enough to work in the Photoacoustics laboratory under the mentorship
of Dr. Parag Chitnis. I am currently researching and developing a novel
all-optical ultrasound transducer. The purpose of this project is to create a
transducer that does not rely on the standard piezoelectric crystals, but
rather employs the photoacoustic effect to image the body. The photoacoustic
effect is the generation of sound waves from the absorption of light and
subsequent thermal expansion of a material. This type of design will allow
faster non-invasive scanning while producing high resolution 3D images deep
within the body. I believe this project has the potential to revolutionize the
medical imaging world and that is something I am very excited to contribute to.
When I chose my major as bioengineering, I had
hopes of making medical imaging my profession. With that in mind, I began
looking for ways to learn about the various imaging modalities outside of the
classroom. My search led me to Dr. Chitnis who introduced me to this idea of
creating an all new type of transducer for ultrasound imaging. I was fascinated
by the idea from the beginning and I knew this would be the perfect opportunity
to learn more about medical imaging as well as acquire some excellent research
experience in the field. One thing led to another and now I am a funded OSCAR
Researcher working with both undergraduate and graduate researchers at the
Krasnow Institute.
On a weekly basis I spend my time reading
published papers on optical transducers and performing experiments on the
designs I have formulated. My design has two major parts: acoustic wave
generation and acoustic wave detection. I am currently working on the
generation portion. The lab where I work at has a very powerful high frequency
pulsed laser system that I use to test the ability of certain materials to
generate strong high frequency pressure waves. These experiments are tedious
and, at times, frustrating but if there is one thing I have learned from this
project is that research is rarely a straight path towards success. Even if my
design does not work by the end of the research period, I would have left the
lab with much more knowledge than I had when I first entered. That is a lesson
that is constantly reinforced every week.
