Research at BME

With support from the Danish Advanced Technology Foundation, The Center for Fast Ultrasound Imaging has continued the efforts towards development of the ultrasound scanners of the future with better spatial resolution, image contrast and depth penetration in human soft tissues.

The research is centered on the new highly flexible research scanner, SAURUS, at present operating with 192 channels out of the impressive 1024 channels planned to be reached in 2011. With this end goal, the scanner is expected to be the most advanced in the world generating raw ultrasound data at about 140 GB/s. CFU collaborates with Rigshospitalet and the Danish company BK Medical, a major player within medical diagnostic ultrasound.

Within MRI, our group is involved in the establishment of the first Scandinavian ultra-high field scanner of 7 tesla located at the Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance (DRCMR) at Hvidovre Hospital. The facility is expected to be ready in early 2013, and will greatly improve basic and clinical research based on MRI, not least regarding the function of healthy and diseased brains.

Another trailblazing initiative is our new MR research lab for hyperpolarization in close collaboration with DRCMR and GE Healthcare. The lab aims at creating a groundbreaking new method in MRI which will allow doctors to non-invasively follow biochemical pathways in e.g. cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The lab is equipped with two unique prototype polarizers for research on hyperpolarization of nuclear spins and has a 400 MHz NMR and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance at 1.3 and 10 GHz. The research aims at hyperpolarizing biological molecules with relevance for metabolic studies.

Our Biomedical Signal Processing Research group specializes in automatic multimodal and multichannel signal acquisition, analysis, classification and interpretation for monitoring, detection, and improved diagnosis of abnormal biomedical events. Applications are within monitoring and detection of epileptic seizures, and monitoring and early detection of neurodegenerative diseases (Parkinson, narcolepsy, Alzheimer’s, dementia).

These projects are conducted in collaboration with Rigshospitalet, Glostrup University Hospital, Epilepsy Hospital Filadelfia, Copenhagen University, HypoSafe A/S, and the pharmaceutical company Lundbeck A/S. A large research initiative on wearable biomedical systems is being launched now to design intelligent signal interpretation algorithms for implementation in minimalistic wearable devices for pervasive health care in daily life.

Brain-computer interface (BCI) technology enables old-aged, disabled and people with severely impaired motor systems to communicate with the outside world effectively. By implementing robust BCI systems, sitting on a wheelchair, users might be able to use a computer, thus enabling the elderly to live longer and independently at their home with minimal support.

In cellular information processing we aim at uncovering the molecular basis of selected cellular signaling processes and use this knowledge to understand and control collective cellular behavior. This involves describing the molecular basis for protein signaling, binding and aggregation which is at the heart of bacterial biofilm formation as well as protein misfolding diseases, including Alzheimer, Parkinson and Type II diabetes. This is done in collaboration with ISIM, Centre of Bioinformatics and Biocomplex Lab all University of Copenhagen as well as iNano, Aarhus University.