Under Construction
Sophisticated Phantoms
Testing in laboratory settings of new developments in imaging technologies takes place with studies on phantoms. These are inanimate objects that in the most cases test the technical specifications of the imaging instrument such as spatial, contrast and temporal resolutions. In M3I we work on highly advanced phantoms that mimic not only the morphology of the human body part or organ but also attempt to replicate some aspects of the pathophysiology of the tissue which is intended to be measured by the imaging technology. Using these sophisticated phantom models, new and improved imaging technologies can be tested and optimized early in the development trajectory to prepare the ground for success in the next step of carefully designed human studies.
Research directions
There are several examples in the group regarding design, fabrication, characterization and validation of sophisticated phantoms for imaging. Here they are grouped per modality, application area or organ/disease:
1) Phantoms for modelling dynamic tissue perfusion (breast tissues, myocardial tissues, limbs, brain)
2) Phantoms for Photoacoustic/Ultrasound Breast Imaging
3) Phantoms for applications in Vascular imaging
4) Phantoms for mimicking image guidance in Radio-frequency ablation monitoring in the thyroid