Tentatively November 2024
Leads
Lei S. Li (Rice ECE), Pabel Ali Miah (BCM) ., Pablo Valdes (UTMB Neurosurgery)
Confirmed Participation from Institutes and Centers
Rice 360, Rice Neuroengineering Initiative, PATHS-UP ERC
Seeking Collaborations
MD Anderson Cancer Center, UTHealth Houston, University of Texas Medical Branch, Ken Kennedy Institute
Seeking Funds
Rice has awarded $10K towards the workshop. We are seeking an additional $20K for a total budget of $30K.
Background
Bio-imaging is a vital component of modern healthcare, as it enables the visualization, diagnosis, and treatment of various diseases and conditions. Bio-imaging ranges from the simple heart rate monitor on smartwatches to multi-million-dollar machines like MRI, fMRI, PET, and everything in between (microscopes, ultrasound, portable x-rays, etc.). As a core part of Digital Health, bio-imaging provides crucial data in diverse ways, such as offering a non-invasive and real-time way to monitor various biological parameters and processes, enabling the evaluation and validation of digital health interventions, supporting the development and innovation of digital health technologies, by providing data and feedback for design, optimization, and testing of new devices, algorithms, and applications. However, pushing the frontiers of bio-imaging is up against a number of challenges, including fundamental physics, engineering, economics, accessibility, data privacy, etc. We need a community of researchers, practitioners, companies, and healthcare professionals to come together to move the entire field forward.
Rationale
Bio-imaging receives nearly $500M across NIH, NSF, DARPA, and ARPA-H. While many PIs successfully secure these funds, there are no coordinated efforts to tap into large funding opportunities. Houston is an ideal location to build a strong bio-imaging community thanks to the nexus of Texas Medical Center, Rice University, and a budding industry. This workshop will address this gap and develop a coherent community. Bio-imaging is fundamental to many clinical workflows in nearly all medical specialties (cardiology, surgery, neurology, pediatrics, oncology, robotic surgery, etc.) and is hence extensively used and researched in TMC. Houston and the broader Texas region are home to numerous companies and startups, like Seno Medical Instruments, PhotoSound Technologies, and TomoWave Laboratories, commercializing cutting-edge imaging technologies like photoacoustic tomography and laser ultrasound. Lastly, Rice University is a leading institution in digital health, with faculty from various departments advancing imaging for health with their collaborators at TMC, such as Drs. Rebecca Richards-Kortum (BioE), Tomasz Tkaczyk (BioE), Ashok Veeraraghavan (ECE), and Xiao Han (Chemistry).
Topics
This 1.5-day workshop will explore bio-imaging's current and future directions and foster interdisciplinary collaboration among researchers, clinicians, and industry partners. The workshop will be hosted in November 2024 at Rice University and will cover a broad range of topics in bioimaging:
- Emerging technologies and applications of bio-imaging for digital health. This topic will explore the latest developments and innovations in bio-imaging for digital health, including
- Artificial intelligence and machine learning for image enhancement, analysis, and interpretation
- Wearable imaging devices for continuous and remote monitoring and for delivering feedback and interventions
- Molecular imaging and theranostics for personalized imaging and therapy
- (4) Multimodal and multiscale imaging for integrating and correlating information from different imaging sources and scales.
- Translating bio-imaging from bench to bedside. This topic will discuss the challenges and opportunities of translating bio-imaging technologies from the laboratory to the clinic and how to bridge the gap between engineering innovations and clinical practice. The key aspects include
- Conducting clinical trials and studies in human subjects and complying with ethical requirements
- Implementing and disseminating bio-imaging technologies in clinical settings and evaluating their impact on health outcomes
- Engaging and educating stakeholders, such as patients, clinicians, and the public, and addressing their needs, expectations, and concerns.
- Practices of commercializing bio-imaging technologies. This topic will examine the strategies and best practices for commercializing bio-imaging technologies and how to create and capture value from bio-imaging innovations. The key aspects may include
- Identifying and assessing market opportunities and customer needs
- Securing and managing intellectual property rights and licenses and protecting and exploiting bio-imaging inventions
- Raising and allocating funds and resources and managing financial and operational risks, such as using tools like crowdfunding, venture capital, and bootstrapping.
- Education and training in bio-imaging for digital health. This topic will explore the current and future needs and trends of education and training in bio-imaging for digital health, how to prepare and empower the bio-imaging workforce and users, and promote and support lifelong learning of the latest developments of medical imaging technologies for medical practitioners.
Potential Speakers:
The keynote speakers include academic pioneers, program directors from federal funding agencies and industry innovators in biomedical imaging. Potential speakers:
Academic
Samuel Achilefu, Nigerian-born scientist, NAE member, and professor at UT Southwestern, developing wearable goggles to guide cancer surgeries.
Hao F. Zhang, professor at Northwestern University, developing and commercializing visible light OCT for ophthalmology.
Federal
Shumin Wang, director of Division of Applied Science & Technology (Bioimaging) and Bio-Electromagnetic Technologies at NIBIB.
Carolina Salvador Morales, program director for the NCI Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis
Ale Lukaszew, program director of NSF ECCS.
Corporate
Jess Lee, president and CEO of Sentons, industry leader for wearable health monitoring devices based on ultrasound, two of his startups were acquired by Apple.
In addition to keynote speakers, workshop attendees will have the opportunity for 15-minute presentations relating to their expertise, research interests, and what kinds of collaborations they are looking for. Workshop attendees will include faculty and researchers at Rice and TMC, clinicians at TMC, and local industrial partners.
Post-Workshop Plan
To encourage collaborations, we will announce multi-PI seed grant funding opportunities for new collaborations related to clinical translation and education/training in bio-imaging. The ENRICH, Rice 360, and PATHS-UP ERC have all agreed to pitch in funds. We plan to fund two to three proposals. To facilitate the cross-institute collaborations, the teams must include at least one PI from the Rice and at least one PI from the TMC.
Additional Confirmed Participating Faculty and Companies
Ashutosh Sabharwal (ECE), Ashok Veeraraghavan (ECE), Kaiyuan Yang (ECE), Guha Balakrishnan (ECE), Vaibhav Unhelkar (CS), Xia Hu (CS), Vladimir Braverman (ECE), Tomasz Tkaczyk (BioE), Rebecca Richards-Kortum (BioE), Han Xiao (Chemistry), PhotoSound Technology Inc., Tomowave Laboratories Inc, Seno Medical.
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We plan to maximize the cross-pollination of ideas across disciplines with the goal of forming new collaborations between researchers, clinicians, and industrial partners. The 1.5-day workshop held in November 15-16 2024 will have five keynote presentations (30 minutes each) and five sessions (1.5 hours each) corresponding to the key areas of interest. Each session consists of the following: a)Introduction (5 mins). This will complement introductory material sent in advance to facilitate discussion across areas. b)Broad directions of interest (60 mins). Four 15-min talks by invited speakers. c)Panel discussion (25 mins). Exchange of ideas and experiences between the audience and speakers. |
Day 1 | |
| 8:30a - 9a | Breakfast | |
| 9a-9:15a | Opening | |
| 9:15a - 9:45a | Keynote 1 | |
| 9:45a – 10a | Coffee break | |
| 10a – 11:30a | Session 1 | |
| 11:30a - 1p | Lunch | |
| 1p - 1:30p | Keynote 2 | |
| 1:30p - 3p | Session 2 | |
| 3p - 3:15p | Coffee break | |
| 3:15p – 3:45p | Keynote 3 | |
| 3:45p – 5:15p | Session 3 | |
| 5:15p – 6:30p | Poster | |
| Day 2 | ||
| 8:30a - 9a | Breakfast | |
| 9a-9:30a | Keynote 4 | |
| 9:30a - 11a | Session 4 | |
| 11a – 11:30a | Keynote 5 | |
| 11:30a - 1p | Lunch | |
| 1p - 2:30p | Session 5 | |
The breakfast, lunch, and poster sessions will serve as time for discussion and bonding to foster collaborations.