Seminar: Photoacoustic Imaging for Biomedical Applications by Adam de la Zerda (Stanford) -- Feb. 4, 1pm.

Please see the seminar announcement below:

"Photoacoustic Imaging for biomedical applications"
Speaker: Adam de la Zerda, Gambhir lab, Stanford University 

Wednesday, February 4, 2009
1:00 – 1:45 pm, Packard Building, Room 202 

Abstract:
Photoacoustic imaging is a new medical imaging technology with tremendous clinical and commercial potential. This non-invasive imaging technique allows for very high resolution imaging of deep structures in the body. The technique utilizes the 'photoacoustic effect' – the conversion of short light pulses into ultrasound waves and their detection outside the body with sensitive ultrasound microphones (transducers). 

In the talk I will present our experimental photoacoustic system, reviewing its various aspects including: optics, electronics, ultrasound, image processing, nanoparticle chemistry, biology and medicine. Finally, I will present a number of medical needs we attempt to solve with this technology, including cancer early detection, sentinel lymph node mapping and others. 

Note - we look for students to join a Stanford-based start-up doing photoacoustic imaging. If you may be interested, please stay after the seminar for more details. 

References:
de la Zerda et al., Nature Nanotechnology 2008; 3(9): 557-62.
"New Imaging Technique Could Spot Early Cancers", Forbes Magazine (2008)  

About the speaker:
Adam de la Zerda is a PhD candidate at the department of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. His work in the Gambhir lab has pioneered the field of Photoacoustic Molecular Imaging and its applications on cancer imaging. Adam has won numerous awards including the Best Photoacoustic Poster Presentation at SPIE Photonics West 2009, the Young Investigator Award at the Molecular Imaging Congress 2008, the DoD Breast Cancer Research Fellowship Award of 2008, the Bio-X Graduate Student Fellowship, the Bay Area Entrepreneurship Contest and others. He holds a number of patents and publications in various journals including Nature Nanotechnology, PNAS and Nano Letters.