Acquisition of a Verasonics Vantage 256 Research Ultrasound Platform

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PROJECT SUMMARY This Shared Instrumentation Grant (SIG) proposal is for the acquisition of a state-of-the-art Verasonics Vantage 256 Research Ultrasound Platform. The Verasonics Vantage system is a unique, flexible, open platform for ultrasound innovation across many applications. It provides direct access to raw ultrasound data and the ability to perform high quality real-time imaging. The architecture of the system allows software-based beamforming and sequence control, instead of hardware-based beamforming. Many new acquisition schemes using unconventional transmit beams and transmit/receive sequences can be readily examined using the Vantage system, whereas such approaches typically cannot be implemented using conventional data flow architectures that are based on hardware beamformers. The instrument uses Pixel-Oriented Processing, GPU highly parallelized beamforming, very high frame rate imaging for plane wave transmit beams, data acquisition into local memory limited by acoustic travel time, up to 100,000 frames/second, and an extremely rapid RF signal data transfer to host computer. This research ultrasound platform has been at the heart of the development of several imaging modalities and algorithms now available in clinical ultrasound imaging systems because of its flexibility and portability to hardware-based platforms. There is currently no research ultrasound platform at the City University of New York (CCNY). With the acquisition of the Verasonics Vantage 256, faculty from different departments at our institution (BME, ME, Biology) will gain access to a state-of-the- art imaging platform for translational research in different fields at CCNY. This system will provide us with ultrasound research infrastructure to perform (1) high-resolution real-time imaging with dynamic beamforming, (2) speckle tracking, (3) algorithms for correction of aberration for bone tomography, (4) shear wave elastography in soft tissues, (5) low-intensity stimulation and thermography of brain and spinal cord tissues (6) Detection of microcracks in bone, (7) real-time 3D volume imaging, (8) Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound Imaging, (9) Vector flow imaging, etc. We expect this system will catalyze current research on ultrasound neuromodulation, assessment of osteoporosis and fracture risk, biomechanics of atheroma rupture, spinal cord injury therapy, etc. thus, positively impacting health care in general.