The broad research base developed by Medical Physics provides considerable flexibility to promote and accommodate the rapid influx of new discoveries and technological developments in physics. As a result, we have ongoing research in every major area of the application of physics to medicine. These areas include:
- Advanced Dosimetry and Radiation Oncology – image processing science combined with sophisticated radiation field calculating applied to the field of dosimetry and radiation oncology.
- Biomagnetism – Weak magnetic fields produced naturally by the body are detected and formed into images to study function.
- Laboratory for Optical and Computational Instrumentation – Center for Biophotonics and Image Informatics with the mission of developing advanced optical and image analysis approaches that can be use in multi-modality, multiscale imaging efforts of cancer and other biomedical studies.
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) – the ability to generate 3-D images with arbitrary orientation of the image planes and with image contrast based on a broad variety of parameters; current projects include functional MRI and MRI flow visualization and quantitation.
- Molecular Imaging (WICMIC) Multi-disciplinary research focused on discovering, developing and translating molecular imaging technologies into clinical practice.
- Molecular Imaging and Nanotechnology Research is focused on two areas: 1) the development of molecularly-targeted agents for early diagnosis of diseases and monitoring the efficacy of therapeutic intervention; 2) nanotechnology where nanomaterials are for imaging and/or therapeutic applications.
- Neutron/Proton Metrology – Use of energetic protons in cancer therapy
- Nuclear Medicine/PET – a diagnostic technique where a radioactively labeled compound is used to noninvasively trace its stable counterpart through the body in man or an experimental animal. We have one of the best PET facilities in the nation, including a PET trace cyclotron for isotope production, chemistry synthesis modules, and PET imaging systems.
- Radiation Metrology/Radiation Calibration – We operate a NIST accredited secondary calibration laboratory that provides state-of-the-art metrology for national and international researchers and irradiation facilities. This includes quality assurance testing of medical imaging equipment.
- Radiation Therapy – the treatment of cancer by radiation dose delivery, especialy innovative beam delivery techniques, some of which were developed entirely by our faculty.
- Ultrasound – development of quantitative acoustic imaging; ultrasound scatter measurement; mathematical modelling of gray scale image generation; B-mode image texture analysis; design of materials which mimic the acoustic and MR properties of tissues and the inclusion of these materials in geometries which simulate certain aspects of patients.
- Diagnostic X-Ray Imaging – quantitative measurements of cardiac wall motion and myocardial perfusion using dual energy imaging; use of phosphor plate receptors with X-ray capillary optics for breast imaging; methods for evaluating the performance of X-ray imaging devices.
