Register now After registration you will be able to apply for this opportunity online.
Ultrasound waveform optimization for Acoustic Droplet Vaporization
Acoustic Droplet Vaporization is the phase-change process of superheated droplets (usually micrometric or nanometric in size) triggered by the exposure to an ultrasound wave. This phenomenon can be greatly exploited in the biomedical field for application like drug delivery and embolotherapy. Ultrasound imaging is an effective way to study and characterize it, with the final goal to improve the safety and efficacy of this treatment.
Acoustic Droplet Vaporization is an emerging technique that employs ultrasound-activatable micron- and sub-micron-sized phase-change droplets to improve the specificity and safety of ultrasound-based therapies such as drug delivery and embolotherapy. The vaporization process can be studied using a conventional biomedical ultrasound system, but it does not typically allow for much user tunability in terms of properties of the transmitting acoustic waves and data processing techniques. This makes it difficult to accurately compare results obtained from different equipment and therefore perform systematic parametric studies.
ULtrasound Advanced-Open Platform (ULA-OP) is an open platform ultrasound system that can interface with clinical ultrasound probes. The platform itself allows for a large degree of control on both the transmitted signal and the postprocessing of the received signal.
Acoustic Droplet Vaporization is an emerging technique that employs ultrasound-activatable micron- and sub-micron-sized phase-change droplets to improve the specificity and safety of ultrasound-based therapies such as drug delivery and embolotherapy. The vaporization process can be studied using a conventional biomedical ultrasound system, but it does not typically allow for much user tunability in terms of properties of the transmitting acoustic waves and data processing techniques. This makes it difficult to accurately compare results obtained from different equipment and therefore perform systematic parametric studies.
ULtrasound Advanced-Open Platform (ULA-OP) is an open platform ultrasound system that can interface with clinical ultrasound probes. The platform itself allows for a large degree of control on both the transmitted signal and the postprocessing of the received signal.
The goal of this project is to methodically study the vaporization threshold of a monodisperse droplet population by varying relevant acoustic parameters using the ULA-OP. In particular, the harmonic content of the ultrasound excitation will be varied to assess the importance of superharmonics in terms of vaporization activity enhancement. The cavitation activity will be studied both by using B-Mode Imaging and by recording the acoustic emission of the cavitation cloud. The project will also include microfluidic generation of different sized monodisperse droplet samples (perfluoropentane droplets with a size range of 5 – 20 µm in diameter).
The goal of this project is to methodically study the vaporization threshold of a monodisperse droplet population by varying relevant acoustic parameters using the ULA-OP. In particular, the harmonic content of the ultrasound excitation will be varied to assess the importance of superharmonics in terms of vaporization activity enhancement. The cavitation activity will be studied both by using B-Mode Imaging and by recording the acoustic emission of the cavitation cloud. The project will also include microfluidic generation of different sized monodisperse droplet samples (perfluoropentane droplets with a size range of 5 – 20 µm in diameter).
For further information, please contact Samuele Fiorini (sfiorini@ethz.ch) via email.
For further information, please contact Samuele Fiorini (sfiorini@ethz.ch) via email.