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

合作研究：通过剪切波散射对生物界面进行机械表征

• 批准号: 2225156
• 负责人: Mehmet Kurt
• 金额: $ 27.5万
• 依托单位: University of Washington
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-01-15 至 2023-07-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2225156&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Mechanical; Characterization; Bio

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.

人体组织的正常机械特性常常与癌性肿瘤的机械特性不同。 该研究项目的目标是创建一种新方法来测量活体患者身体组织的机械特性。 一种称为“磁共振（MR）弹性成像”的现有测量机械性能的方法很有吸引力，因为它不使用破坏性辐射。 然而，现在测量肿瘤和正常组织之间的界面特性还不够准确。 需要克服的问题之一是，当组织均匀时，磁共振弹性成像是准确的，但在正常组织和肿瘤之间的界面处则不准确。 这种界面的不准确性使得更难看到小肿瘤，而这些小肿瘤正是那些需要检测出来以进行早期治疗的肿瘤。 该研究项目将通过实验确定图像在界面处退化的原因，然后创建一种理论来改善图像。 新方法将使用从患者收集的真实数据进行测试，以确定它是否不仅可以改善实验系统的成像效果，还可以改善患者的成像效果。 该研究将支持 NSF 促进科学进步的使命，并通过推动医疗技术的进步，为促进国民健康的目标做出贡献。该项目将为 K12、本科生和研究生等多元化群体提供外展、培训和指导机会。研究团队还将与国内和国际媒体合作，向公众传播研究结果。该项目将提供一种新颖的方法，将生物界面的机械强度和顺应性与非侵入性波散射数据相关联，从而为此类界面的物理化学性质的诊断提供安全的手段。特别是，将对跨粘性摩擦界面的波传播进行建模，并将开发基于波散射的表征方法来识别界面的机械性能。此外，先进的激光测振技术（多点激光测振）将用于测量跨软合成界面的剪切波散射。这些测量结果将作为表征方法的验证数据集。最后，该方法的有效性将通过 MR 弹性成像测量进行测试。最后一步将揭示当前实践中的局限性，并为下一代基于 MR 的诊断提供指南。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。