Introduction: My group is focused on the development of X-Ray imaging techniques for clinical and research applications. In the US 72% of medical imaging procedures involve X-rays such as radiography, angiography, CT and image guided interventional procedures. We tackle two major challenges shared by these modalities, which are the lack of tissue specificity and the concern of ionizing radiation exposure. We take advantage of the wave nature of x-rays to add two new dimensions to the image contrast. These are wave scattering and refractive bending. Wave scattering reveals microscopic structures which is independent from the conventional attenuation contrast. Materials that are indistinguishable by x-ray attenuation can be separated in the scattering dimension, similar to the benefit of 2D versus 1D gel electrophoresis. Refractive bending, or phase contrast, offers the potential of significant dose reduction since it arises from the refractive index variations in the body and does not require energy absorption. The wave nature of x-ray also opens avenues for shaping the x-ray beam with advanced optics in ways that enhance resolution and reduce dose exposure to the subject. Our accomplishments: We have discovered a new optics phenomenon which lead to a new type of x-ray and neutron interferometer. An interferometer is a device that can be used to measure or image the wave characteristics of a light or matter beam. Future plan: We entered into collaboration with the Walter Reed Medical Center Breast Imaging Center and Dr. Robert Lederman's lab in NHLBI to explore clinical applications of the technologies we created in our lab.
| George, Alex; Chen, Peter Y; Morales-Martinez, Alejandro et al. (2017) Geometric calibration and correction for a lens-coupled detector in x-ray phase-contrast imaging. J Med Imaging (Bellingham) 4:013507 |
| Miao, Houxun; Chen, Lei; Mirzaeimoghri, Mona et al. (2016) Cryogenic Etching of High Aspect Ratio 400 nm Pitch Silicon Gratings. J Microelectromech Syst 25:963-967 |
| Miao, Houxun; Panna, Alireza; Gomella, Andrew A et al. (2016) A Universal Moiré Effect and Application in X-Ray Phase-Contrast Imaging. Nat Phys 12:830-834 |
| Miao, Houxun; Gomella, Andrew A; Harmon, Katherine J et al. (2015) Enhancing Tabletop X-Ray Phase Contrast Imaging with Nano-Fabrication. Sci Rep 5:13581 |
| Nayak, Krishna S; Nielsen, Jon-Fredrik; Bernstein, Matt A et al. (2015) Cardiovascular magnetic resonance phase contrast imaging. J Cardiovasc Magn Reson 17:71 |
| Harmon, Katherine J; Miao, Houxun; Gomella, Andrew A et al. (2015) Motionless electromagnetic phase stepping versus mechanical phase stepping in x-ray phase-contrast imaging with a compact source. Phys Med Biol 60:3031-43 |
| Harmon, Katherine J; Bennett, Eric E; Gomella, Andrew A et al. (2014) Efficient decoding of 2D structured illumination with linear phase stepping in X-ray phase contrast and dark-field imaging. PLoS One 9:e87127 |
| Wen, Han; Gomella, Andrew A; Patel, Ajay et al. (2014) Boosting phase contrast with a grating Bonse-Hart interferometer of 200 nanometre grating period. Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci 372:20130028 |
| Miao, Houxun; Gomella, Andrew A; Chedid, Nicholas et al. (2014) Fabrication of 200 nm period hard X-ray phase gratings. Nano Lett 14:3453-8 |
| Wen, Han; Wolfe, Douglas E; Gomella, Andrew A et al. (2013) Interferometric hard x-ray phase contrast imaging at 204 nm grating period. Rev Sci Instrum 84:013706 |
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