Collaborative Research: Mechanical Characterization of Bio-Interfaces by Shear Wave Scattering

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The normal mechanical properties of the tissues of the human body are often different from those of cancerous tumors. A goal of this research project is to create a new approach to measuring the mechanical properties of body tissues in living patients. An existing method to measure mechanical properties called "magnetic resonance (MR) elastography" is attractive because it does not use damaging radiation. However, it is not now sufficiently accurate to measure the interface properties between tumors and normal tissue. One of the problems to overcome is that MR elastography is accurate when tissue is uniform, but it is inaccurate at the interface between normal tissue and tumor. This interface inaccuracy makes it more difficult to see small tumors, exactly those that need to be detected for early treatment. This research project will determine experimentally why the image is degraded at an interface, and then create a theory to improve the images. The new method will be tested using real data collected from patients to determine if it improves imaging not only for the experimental system, but also for the patients. The research will support NSF's mission of promoting progress of science and contribute to the goal of advancing national health by enabling advances in medical technologies. This project will provide outreach, training and mentoring opportunities as well for a diverse group of K12, undergraduate and graduate research students. The research team will also collaborate with the national and international media to disseminate the findings to the public. This project will provide a novel methodology for relating mechanical strength and compliance of bio-interfaces to noninvasive wave scattering data, and thus provide safe means for diagnostics of physicochemical nature of such interfaces. In particular, wave-propagation across cohesive-frictional interfaces will be modeled, and a wave-scattering-based characterization methodology will be developed to identify the mechanical properties of the interfaces. Moreover, an advanced laser vibrometry technique (multipoint laser vibrometry) will be utilized to measure shear wave scattering across soft synthetic interfaces. Those measurements will serve as validation datasets for the characterization methodology. Lastly, the efficacy of the methodology will be tested with MR Elastography measurements. This final step will reveal the current limitations in practice, and provide guidelines for the next-generation of MR-based diagnostics.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.