UCL MEDICAL PHYSICS AND BIOENGINEERING
Medical Physics and Bioengineering
Annual Newsletter 2014
Transforming technology into healthcare
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UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Welcome
I AM VERY PLEASED TO WELCOME YOU TO THE 2014
EDITION OF THE ANNUAL NEWSLETTER OF THE UCL
DEPARTMENT OF MEDICAL PHYSICS & BIOENGINEERING.
Once again our Newsletter features some of the new and
exciting research activity in the department, and includes
miscellaneous news items which we hope will be of particular
interest to former students and staff.
In this issue we report on new advances in several medical
imaging technologies, including magnetic resonance, x-ray,
optical, and electrical impedance imaging. We also highlight
some of our translational work, including application of new
research methodologies to surgery, the study of autism, and
understanding of the newborn infant brain. Articles are also
included on our innovations in education and training, such
as our new biomedical engineering degree programme, our
distance-learning MSc, and the launch of a new Centre for
Doctoral Training in Medical Imaging. We hope you enjoy
our Newsletter. If you have any questions or comments,
we would be delighted to hear from you, via
medphys.newsletter@ucl.ac.uk.
Jeremy C. Hebden | Head of Department
CONTACTS
Department of Medical Physics & Bioengineering
University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
Web: www.ucl.ac.uk/medphys
Tel: 020 7679 0200
Email: medphys.newsletter@ucl.ac.uk
Twitter: @UCLMedphys
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UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Departmental news
JOEL LECTURE
The Joel Chair is the oldest chair in the world in the field of
Medical Physics. It was established in 1920 following a large
donation to the Middlesex Hospital Medical School by the
Barnato-Joel family in 1913. An annual lecture to celebrate the
importance of the Chair in Medical Physics was established in
2012 and this year’s lecture will be given by Professor Molly
Stevens from Imperial College London. Professor Stevens will
speak about the latest efforts in the design of new materials
to heal the body and will describe the development of biofunctionalised nanoparticles for ultrasensitive biosensing for
detection of cancer and infectious diseases. Her lecture is
entitled ‘Designing Materials for Regenerative Medicine
and Ultrasensitive Biosensing’.
If you would like to watch the previous Joel Lectures please
follow this link https://www.ucl.ac.uk/medphys/dept/
history/joellecture
INFRASTRUCTURE CHANGES
The last 12 months has been yet another period of
significant growth in the department, resulting from
unprecedented levels of research income from research
councils, charities, and industry. The subsequent
increased demand on space and other resources has been
exacerbated by record numbers of undergraduates in
the department as we continue to expand our teaching
activity. Fortunately our department has been assigned
temporary new space in Wolfson House, adjacent to
Euston Station, about six minutes walk from the Malet
Place Engineering Building. Wolfson House is now
home to a major part of the Centre for Medical Image
Computing (CMIC), as well as our Incontinence &
Skin Technology Group and our Biomedical Ultrasound
Group. Later this year our Implanted Devices Group will
be moving into a refurbished “biomaterials” laboratory
in the adjacent Roberts Building.
Other major moves are imminent, as another part of
CMIC prepare to vacate 66–72 Gower Street prior to
its refurbishment. Since Wolfson House is very likely to
be demolished as part of the development for the HS2
Project (a high-speed rail link between London and the
West Midlands), further moves are inevitable.
NEW NATIONAL FRAMEWORK FOR
MSC COURSES
Dr Jamie Harle was the lead author of the new 2014 IPEM
accreditation framework for Masters courses in Medical
Physics and Biomedical Engineering. This launches in Spring
2014 for UK-based universities and 2015 for overseas higher
education institutes. It replaces the now-obsolete IPEM
Training Prospectus for relevant MSc courses. As well as
updating the educational standards and learning outcomes for
M-level courses in Medical Physics and Bioengineering, the
new framework maps student learning to subsequent routes for
Chartered Engineer and Chartered Scientist, and so appeals to
industry, academia and hospital-based employment routes.
PINT OF SCIENCE
Dr Adam Gibson and Paul Doolan took part in a ‘Pint of
Science’ event focusing on biotechnology. The Pint of Science
is a pub-science festival aimed at the general public where
researchers can talk about their work in a friendly and relaxed
environment. Adam and Paul spoke about how light, particularly
fluorescence, can be used in radiotherapy. The event was a
great success!
For images of the event please see the Gallery on page 29.
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UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Departmental news
UCL MEDICAL PHYSICISTS AND A SCIENCE FAN
SUPPORT WOMEN’S COLLECTIVE IN GAMBIA
CONTINENCE PRODUCT ADVISOR
WEBSITE LAUNCHED
You may remember Professor Clare Elwell’s article from last
year’s newsletter describing her team’s work in Keneba in
rural Gambia in February 2013, where the use of a novel
neuroimaging technique was used to investigate the effects
of undernutrition on brain development in African infants.
During this time the researchers visited the village where the
mothers and infants travelled from to participate in the study.
There they were shown the work which had been done by a
local women’s collective, known as the Kaafo, to transform
a barren patch of land into a garden. The researchers were
impressed by the dedication and hard work of the women and
upon hearing that they had recently secured a larger plot of
land, they were keen to raise funds to help the Kaafo farm this
larger plot. Some weeks later the researchers were participating
in a ‘Pint of Science’ event where they told the London pub
audience of the Kaafo’s needs and asked for donations. In
stepped city financier, Peter Brewer, who was in the audience
and contributed a cheque for the whole amount needed to
transform the land into a workable farming space complete
with proper fencing and a solar powered pump to supply
water from a borehole.
The Continence Product Advisor (http://www.
continenceproductadvisor.org/ ) was developed by nurses
and scientists at UCL and University of Southampton, led
by Professor Alan Cottenden of UCL Medical Physics &
Bioengineering and Professor Mandy Fader of the Faculty of
Health Sciences, University of Southampton with web support
from the International Continence Society. Building on their
experience with patients and with the design of incontinence
products, it’s hoped that users of the website will give researchers
the information they need to develop better solutions, as well as
sharing their advice and experiences with each other.
OTHER NEWS
New Arrivals
Tom Vercauteren – Senior Lecturer.
Pilar Garcia Souto – Teaching Fellow,
Biomedical Engineering BEng/MEng programme.
Rebecca Yerworth – Teaching Fellow,
Biomedical Engineering BEng/MEng programme.
William Dennis – Teaching Assistant,
Distance Learning MSc programme.
Lucy Braddick – Senior Research and Finance Administrator
Promotions
Alessandro Olivo – Professor of Applied Physics.
Terence Leung – Senior Lecturer.
Jenny Nery – Project Manager, Wellcome Trust &
EPSRC Innovative Engineering for Healthcare grant.
Liz Zuzikova – Office Administrator.
Clare was welcomed back to Keneba on International Women’s
Day, 8th March 2014 to see the opened farm which has enabled
the Kaafo to farm all year round and have the freedom to grow
what they need. If you would like to read more on this story
and to see some pictures of the new farm, please visit:
www.ucl.ac.uk/medphys/dept/athenaswan/successes
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Research highlights
UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training
in Medical Imaging at UCL
AUTHOR: SEBASTIEN OURSELIN
Our vision is to train the medical imaging
leaders of the future to tackle the most critically
important healthcare challenges with the
most innovative engineering solutions.
Over 100 academic engineers and clinical scientists across UCL
are partnering to co-supervise a new type of scientists who will
transform healthcare and build UK industry in this area.
We are creating the EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in
Medical Imaging (www.ucl.ac.uk/imaging-cdt), building
on our successful Doctoral Training Programme in Medical
and Biomedical Imaging and integrating directly with
UCL’s three NIHR Biomedical Research Centres (BRCs)
and Biomedical Research Unit (BRU) in Dementia.
The UK is a leader in the development of medical imaging
technologies in magnetic resonance imaging, optical imaging,
medical image computing and their applications in neuroscience,
cardiology and oncology. This leadership position has led to
significant inward investment from medical engineering
multi-nationals and from the pharmaceutical industry.
A vibrant UK SME community is emerging but further progress
in the UK in academia and industry is currently hampered
by a severe shortage of trained UK scientists. Most leading
UK laboratories and companies are recruiting heavily from
abroad at the postdoctoral level. Our Centre for Doctoral
Training in Medical Imaging is directly addressing this need
through a close involvement of industrial partners, structured
internships and leadership and entrepreneurship courses.
The central vision of our CDT is to create a unique
interdisciplinary environment to train translational medical and
biomedical imaging scientists of the future. We are running
a four year Masters by Research (MRes)+PhD individually
tailored programme that integrates rigorous engineering training
with an immersive exposure to relevant clinical disciplines and
entrepreneurship. This interdisciplinary training approach is
essential to nurture and develop the next generation of UK
leaders, filling a critical gap identified in academia and the
pharmaceutical and medical devices industries and delivering
internationally competitive research. Our innovative training has
a strong focus on new image acquisition technologies, novel data
analysis methods and integration with computational modeling.
In partnership with our NIHR Biomedical Research Centres
& Unit, PhD projects are strongly multi-disciplinary, bridging
the gap between engineering, clinical sciences and industry.
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Image above: Our EPSRC Centre for Doctoral
Training in Medical Imaging is embedded into the
clinical excellence of the UCLH/UCL, GOSH/ICH,
and Moorfields/UCL BRCs and BRU in Dementia.
It provides a unique vehicle for clinical impact and
research priority for our students, co-supervised between
an engineer and a clinician from the BRCs/BRU.
A method for providing directionality
for ionising radiation detectors – RadICAL
AUTHORS: GEORGE RANDALL AND ROBERT SPELLER
There are many detection systems available for
identifying the presence of radioactive/nuclear materials
but many applications require both the presence and
the location of the source to be found. This can be
achieved by using heavy collimators (Gamma cameras)
or complex electronics (Compton cameras) but such
systems are not portable, offer a limited field of view
and are too expensive to be considered for in-field
deployment. An inexpensive and portable alternative
is in development at UCL – the RadICAL detector
(Radiation Imaging Cylinder Activity Locator).
A variety of modelling techniques have been utilised and
several prototype detectors have been built. The prototype
detectors have been extensively tested using a variety of different
gamma radiation sources at UCL and at a number of external
facilities. The study involves optimising the detector design for
maximum sensitivity and efficiency and minimising the time
required for an acquisition. This involves investigating different
detector setups including various scintillator geometries and
materials and different data processing methods.
An ongoing development involves replacing the rotating detector
with a number of fixed geometries to allow for instantaneous
acquisitions. By comparing data from a limited number of
identical detectors, separated by known angles, the count rates
can be fitted to a standard response curve shape to determine the
direction of a source. This increases the abilities of the detector
by allowing the detection of short lived events and the tracking
of moving objects.
Image above right: the RadICAL detector in action
What is the RadICAL detector?
The RadICAL concept provides directional sensitivity
by rotating a sheet of scintillator material, such as caesium
iodide, through 360° around a central axis. The scintillator
converts energy deposited from ionising radiation into
visible light and this is detected by a photodetector such
as a photomultiplier. As the scintillator is rotated it
presents a different area, and a different attenuation depth,
to the source of the radiation and so a fluctuating signal
is produced. The count rate is least when the detector is
end on to the source and the area presented is minimised.
As the detector rotates the area presented to the source
becomes greater and the count rate increases.
This characteristic signal can be used to find the direction
of the source of radiation. The detector has potential in
any environment where it is important to monitor ionising
radiation. A range of possible applications are being
investigated.
These include:
• Nuclear decommissioning and clean-up operations.
• Nuclear medicine investigations such as scintigraphy,
PET and SPECT.
• Border control, cargo screening and other security
applications.
• Monitoring well controlled environments such as
research laboratories and hospitals.
• Oil well logging.
• Monitoring large areas for nuclear activity.
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UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Electrical Impedance Tomography
of the brain
AUTHORS: KIRILL ARISTOVICH, GUSTAVO SATO DOS SANTOS AND DAVID HOLDER
Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is an emerging
medical imaging method which enables images of the
internal impedance of an object to be produced with
external electrodes. Our group has been developing
its use for imaging brain function and pathological
conditions. Impedance changes in the brain occur in
two main ways: “slow” and “fast”. “Fast” changes occur
during neuronal activity due to the opening of ion
channels. They have a time course of a few milliseconds.
“Slow” changes are analogous to functional MRI and
occur over tenths of a second. These are caused by
movement of water from the extracellular space into
cells following ischemia or energy supply failure
(e.g., following an epileptic seizure). Similarly, blood
flow, volume and temperature changes due to intense
neuronal activity may cause “slow” resistance changes.
What is EIT?
EIT systems usually comprise a box of electronics and
a PC. Connection to the subject is made by coaxial cables
and ECG-type electrodes are placed on the body part of
interest, see image below. The current applied is insensible
and has no known ill effects. A single impedance
measurement from 2 or 4 electrodes forms the basis of the
data set which is used to reconstruct an image. A series
of measurements of the transfer impedance of the subject
may be transformed into a tomographic image employing
a Finite Element Model of the subject.
Over the past two decades, our group has developed EIT
hardware and software able to produce images in anatomically
realistic liquid filled tanks which resemble the adult or
neonatal head and in animal models. We have also shown that
reproducible functional images may be acquired during evoked
brain activity, stroke and epileptic seizures. To image these
changes over milliseconds, our group has pioneered a method
able to produce 500 images per second with a spatial resolution
of ~100um in the rat and <5 mm in the human brain.
Epilepsy imaging
About 400,000 people suffer from recurrent seizures in
the UK, and 20-30% of this population does not respond
adequately to the existing anti-epileptic drugs. For many
of these, surgical removal of the brain tissue generating the
seizures is the best treatment option for becoming seizure-free.
However, with the existing methods it is very difficult to map
the seizure pathways in the brain and localise the onset zone
(the “focus”) with precision. EIT has great potential to localise
the focus more accurately, using the same EEG electrodes
employed in routine clinical practice. Recent developments in
our group allowed 3D tomographic imaging of the changes
due to neuronal activity and cell swelling occurring during
an epileptic seizure, allowing identification of the focus of
the epileptic activity and its subsequent evolution (see image
opposite, bottom). We are now set to test this method in
epilepsy patients. If successful, EIT imaging will directly
benefit pre-surgical diagnosis in the short-to-medium term
and also help develop an understanding of the disease causes.
Imaging “fast” neural activity in the sensory area of
the rat brain.
Image above: UCL EIT system
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Electrical impedance changes across neuronal assemblies in
the brain as ion channels open during activity. Thus, EIT has
the unique potential to provide true tomographic images of
impedance changes related to activity throughout the brain.
We have recently produced EIT images of functional activity
throughout the rat somatosensory cortex (see image opposite,
top). Our results are the first demonstration of high-resolution
tomographic imaging of neural activity, acquired over a large
volume within mammalian cortex, using non-penetrating
Image below: Left – 3D image of peak fast neural activity occurring at 10ms after stimulating the rat whisker.
Right – Functional connectivity in the somatosensory cortex of the rat in response to mechanical stimulation of whiskers.
The timing of activation over milliseconds is colour-coded.
electrodes. Our novel method was cross-validated with the
established techniques of mapping with intrinsic optical
imaging and direct recording of local field potentials with a
multi-contact electrode in the brain. Our technique reveals the
functional connectivity in the cortex, as it enables tracing the
vertical and lateral propagation of activity throughout the layers
of the cortex, in a fashion which has never been achieved before.
We are currently working to extend this method to provide the
same functional connectivity data throughout the entire brain.
Image right: EIT images consistently revealed the region
of synchronous activity and/or cell swelling around the
seizure focus. Left (top and bottom) – 3D image of peak
fast neural activity occurring during epileptic seizure in rat.
Right (top and bottom) – 3D image of the subsequent
cell swelling.
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UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Imaging neonatal brain with MRI
at University College Hospital (UCH)
AUTHOR: ERNEST CADY
The first in-vivo magnetic resonance (MR) spectrometer
(1.9 Tesla (T), 20cm bore) at UCL was installed in 1982.
With it, we pioneered neonatal MR brain research and
acquired the first in-vivo human brain spectrum which
gave measurements of the relative concentrations of
biomolecules containing phosphorus. We showed for the
first time that birth-asphyxiated infants often had brain
metabolism which initially appeared normal; but after
about 12h, there were significant concentration changes
in some phosphorus-containing molecules involved in
energy metabolism. Moreover, the bigger the changes,
the worse the clinical outcome. We called this “secondaryenergy-failure” (SEF).
What is Diffusion tensor imaging?
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) manipulates the MRI
pulsed gradient magnetic fields such that images are
sensitive to the distance water molecules diffuse in a given
time before coming up against biological barriers such
as cell walls. Water diffusion can be directional: consider
water in an axon which can diffuse a long distance along
the axon but only a short distance across the axon. We are
developing new DTI methods called TBSS and NODDI,
which image axon bundles in brain white matter.
At UCH we installed higher field strength MR scanners in
1990 which enabled also proton (1H) MR spectroscopy
and imaging for studies of both human newborn babies and
piglets. In the first days after serious birth-asphyxia, 1H MR
spectroscopy also showed metabolic abnormalities. We were
able to link these changes to prognosis and predict the level
of brain damage in later life. Later, we examined the use of brain
cooling as a method of treating brain injury caused by reduced
cerebral oxygen and glucose during birth (birth asphyxia)
and were delighted in 2010 when NICE recommended
this treatment as best practice.
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Image above: 2.4T 1H brain spectra: (A) a healthy infant,
(B) an infant with mild brain injury, (C) severe injury.
Each peak corresponds to a different molecule involved
in brain metabolism. The peak height depends on the
molecule’s concentration in the brain, several of which
change according to the level of brain damage. Note the
increased lactate in severe injury (C).
UCH now has around 7 MR scanners which we in MRI Physics
are able to use for research. Soon we will use identical systems
for experimental and clinical work for both MR imaging and
spectroscopy. Ongoing research includes: very early (~2h age)
injury-severity biomarkers; 3T MR spectroscopy/MRI of
infants born preterm and of term birth-asphyxiated infants and
diffusion tensor imaging. A a clinical trial of xenon/hypothermia
therapy will soon finish.
Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) manipulates the MRI pulsed
gradient magnetic fields such that images sensitise to the distance
water molecules diffuse in a given time before coming up against
biological barriers e.g. cell walls. Such water diffusion can be
directional - e.g. consider water in an axon which can diffuse a
long distance along the axon but only a short distance across the
axon. We are developing new DTI methods called TBSS and
NODDI, which image axon bundles in brain white matter.
We are continuing our work on assessing therapies for birth
asphyxia by combining hypothermia with e.g. inhaled argon
or applying brief episodes of leg hypoxia/ischaemia after the
main asphyxial episode of reduced oxygen and glucose. MR
spectroscopy and imaging are combined with near infra-red
spectroscopy (NIRS) in these studies in order to obtain more
detailed information about metabolism in the newborn brain.
Image: The UCH 3T Philips Achieva MRI scanner which is used for neonatal MR imaging and spectroscopy.
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UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Hard X-ray dark-field imaging
AUTHOR: MARCO ENDRIZZI ON BEHALF OF THE UCL XPCI GROUP
Absorption has been the only mechanism at the basis
of radiography for many years – since the discovery
of X-rays. After its introduction in the ‘60s, X-ray
phase-contrast imaging (XPCI) has been under intense
development since the mid ‘90s. Among the different
approaches competing for translation of its extremely
high potential into mainstream applications, the edgeillumination method developed by the UCL XPCI
group is arguably the one with the highest potential.
In this framework, a new contrast mechanism has been
recently introduced, expanding the effectiveness of
edge-illumination imaging systems beyond the already
proven capability to extract phase and amplitude under
extremely weak coherence conditions. It allows for the
retrieval of a third representation of the sample that is
related to its microscopic structure, providing previously
inaccessible information on a scale smaller than the
detector pixel size.
Among available XPCI techniques, edge-illumination offers
unique flexibility and robustness, key aspects with respect
to the translation of XPCI into mainstream applications.
The technique, under continuous development by the UCL
XPCI group, has proven effective in phase and absorption
retrieval with incoherent radiation, effectively working with
an experimental setup based on a rotating anode X-ray tube
and a commercial X-ray detector. More recently, a new data
acquisition scheme and analysis enabled performing hard
X-ray dark-field imaging by means of an edge illumination
XPCI setup. X-ray dark-field contrast is based on ultra-small
angle X-ray scattering generated by non-homogeneous regions
in the sample. In analogy with visible light microscopy, the
unscattered radiation is excluded from the image, which means
that the image background is dark, and the brightness of the
sample details depends on the amount of scattered radiation.
Example images of a demonstrative phantom, realized with one
of the two laboratory-based prototypes in the Radiation Physics
Lab, are shown on page 11. Beside transmission and differential
phase, related to the sample’s absorption and phase shift, the
dark-field image offers a representation of the sample based on
ultra-small-angle X-ray scattering. This provides complementary
and otherwise inaccessible information about the sample at the
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sub-pixel length scale. Typical pixel sizes for medical applications
are between 50 and 100 micrometres, while the dark-field
signal is generated by density variations on a much shorter
length scale (one micrometre and below). An interesting aspect
of the method, which has primary importance for medical
applications, is its efficiency with respect to the dose. The images
of a breast tissue specimen shown on page 11 were obtained
with entrance dose levels comparable to those imposed by
clinical practice. The extension and optimization of the method
are currently under development, considering its potential
application in other fields such as materials science, chemical
engineering, small animal imaging and cultural heritage.
What is phase-contrast imaging?
Light waves travelling through a medium undergo a
change in amplitude and phase that depends on the
properties of the medium itself. Common imaging
equipment, such as a camera or the human eye, is
only sensitive to amplitude, and information encoded
in the phase is typically lost. In a phase-contrast
imaging system modifications in the phase of the
wavefront also contribute to the modulation of the
intensity and can be detected and interpreted.
Image above: A flower imaged via phase-contrast
Image above: Demonstrative phantom: acrylic cylinders and a step wedge composed of five layers of paper: absorption (left),
differential phase (centre) and scattering (right) images; scale bar 1 cm (Endrizzi et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 024106 (2014)).
Image above: Example of application in breast imaging: absorption (left), differential phase (centre) and scattering (right)
images; scale bar 1 cm (Endrizzi et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 024106 (2014)).
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UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Gowerlabs – a new spin-out
company for the department
AUTHOR: NICK EVERDELL
The department’s latest spin-out company,
Gowerlabs, has just been launched. Its aim is
to commercialise research coming out of the
Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory (BORL).
It is often very challenging to bridge the gap between academia
and industry because of conflicting priorities, and this severely
limits the opportunities for commercialisation. Gowerlabs
aims to provide that bridge. Initially it will concentrate on
marketing the group’s NTS optical imaging system – an
advanced brain mapping device. This has been developed and
refined over the past 12 years, and many other labs around
Europe are now using it for their research. The system (pictured)
uses near-infrared light to monitor changes in blood volume
and oxygenation in the cortex of the brain. This in turn tells
us which parts of the brain are neuronally and therefore
functionally active. Video rate imaging can easily be achieved.
Light is shone into the head via a lightweight and comfortable
array of optical fibres placed on the scalp, and the amount
of light that diffuses back out is measured. Near-infrared
penetrates much further into tissue than does visible light,
so the outer regions of the brain can be imaged. There are
many medical and research applications of this technology,
and one of the most rapidly expanding areas of application is
developmental psychology. The system is particularly effective
at examining the brains of babies and toddlers; the only safe
alternative method, functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging,
is much more challenging to apply to this age group.
In the longer term, Gowerlabs aims to expand its activities
and supply a range of instrumentation for both research and
healthcare. We have several on-going collaborations, including
one with UCL’s Hatter Institute. Together we are developing
a device to deliver a therapy known as Remote Ischaemic
Conditioning (RIC). This is a new concept which utilises
the body’s innate protective mechanisms to limit the damage
caused by periods of severely reduced blood flow to vital organs.
This can occur in many settings, including cardiac surgery,
myocardial infarction (heart attack) and after exposure to
intravascular contrast injected for medical imaging purposes.
It can lead to organ failure and poor clinical outcomes.
It has been demonstrated that a non-harmful reduction in blood
flow (ischaemia) to a limb can protect organs such as the heart,
kidneys and brain from a severe ischaemic insult. One of the
proposed mechanisms for this effect is that the ischaemic limb
tissues release prosurvival proteins into the blood stream that
circulate to the vital organs and provide short term protection
from the effects of severely reduced blood flow. We have
developed a novel computer controlled system that administers
RIC therapy more efficiently and reliably than the previous
manual method. The device is currently undergoing clinical
trials at UCLH’s Heart Hospital.
For more information about the company, please visit:
www.gowerlabs.co.uk
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New degree programmes in
Biomedical Engineering
AUTHORS: ADAM GIBSON, PILAR GARCIA SOUTO AND REBECCA YERWORTH
The department has long running, successful
undergraduate programmes: a BSc in Physics with
Medical Physics and an MSci in Medical Physics.
To date, however, we have not taught biomedical
engineering. This is to change!
This year, we will launch new three year BEng and four
year MEng programmes in Biomedical Engineering (UCAS
H160 and HC60). They are part of a faculty initiative to
co-ordinate undergraduate engineering programmes. The
faculty will provide generic elements of professional practice,
communications, teamwork and other transferrable skills,
recognised as increasingly important by both professional
bodies and employers. Our programme will build on these
core modules, providing essential modules in biomedical
engineering. We aim to produce well-rounded graduates with
a strong grasp of the fundamentals of biomedical engineering,
accompanied by a broad understanding of the complexity and
context of engineering problems.
We focus our teaching on problem solving through problemand scenario-based learning, an approach pioneered at UCL.
This creates a highly engaging learning environment where
students have regular opportunities to put their theoretical
knowledge to practical application. Our scenarios are intended
to consolidate knowledge gained in taught modules by solving
real-world clinical engineering problems. Students may be asked
to write a smartphone app which uses the phone’s camera to
monitor heart rate, build an EMG amplifier, and design smart
clothing, and then pitch their designs to a “Dragon’s Den” of
medical device entrepreneurs.
Our staff are engaged in cutting-edge research, so our students
will be taught by experts up-to-date with the latest in the field.
UCL has the highest staff : student ratio in the UK, meaning
plenty of people available to answer their questions. The research
strengths of the department mean that teaching will be by
experts up-to-date with the latest developments in the field and
the students with be able to experience work within a research
group whilst conducting a project linked to clinical need. On
graduation, we expect our students to have a strong grounding
in the fundamentals and application of biomedical engineering,
as well as transferable leadership, teamwork and communication
skills, experience of solving real clinical problems, and the ability
to work flexibly, creatively and internationally. This is an exciting
new development for the department which could substantially
increase our number of undergraduate students. We aim to build
up numbers gradually, eventually becoming a leading centre for
training biomedical engineers.
What is Biomedical Engineering?
The term “biomedical engineering” means different
things to different people and may include aspects
of medical electronics, biomechanics, biomaterials,
clinical engineering, medical imaging and tissue
engineering. We will include all of these areas, but
to ensure a solid academic foundation, we will
build on the fundamentals of clinical engineering,
biomechanics and medical electronics. A more
philosophical question: is biomedical engineering a
discipline in its own right or a speciality within other
areas of engineering? Answers on a postcard…
Students will learn in a variety of ways. There will be lectures of
course, but students will also be taught techniques for self-study
through video and written material, problem sheets, exercise
classes and tutorials. We have invested heavily in making
learning material available online, including a comprehensive
system to record lectures so students can study at their own
pace. They will also spend time in experimental labs developing
key practical skills.
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UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Diffuse Optical Tomography
of neonatal seizures
AUTHOR: ROBERT COOPER
Every year in the UK, over 1000 babies born at term are
diagnosed with seizures, and the condition is even more
common in infants born prematurely. Seizures usually
cause convulsive movements of the body, and are due
to abnormal electrical activity in the brain. Accurate
diagnosis is important because while seizures are a
common symptom of brain injury, there is increasing
evidence that seizures themselves can exacerbate brain
damage in the infant. Seizures in newborn infants
are significantly under-diagnosed. This is because
the clinical symptoms associated with the condition
are often very subtle, or absent entirely. The standard
approach to monitoring seizures is to use a method
known as electroencephalography (EEG), which
measures electrical fluctuations on the scalp that are
caused by the activity of brain cells.
In order to better understand the impact of seizures on the
infant brain we have been working with doctors based at the
Rosie Hospital in Cambridge to perform Diffuse Optical
Tomography (DOT) and EEG simultaneously on infants at
high risk of seizures. DOT allows us to measure the changes in
blood volume and oxygenation in the outer regions of the brain.
This optical measurement complements the electrical
measurement of EEG, and can also provide greater spatial
information. DOT can also tell us whether the brain is able
to maintain adequate levels of blood volume and oxygenation
during seizures. If a consistent response is observed, DOT
may also provide improved detection of the condition.
During 2013, we were able to obtain the first ever DOT images
of neonatal seizures. A newborn baby girl suffering from a serious
condition known as hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy underwent
a 60-minute DOT-EEG recording during which seven seizure
and seizure-like events were observed. These events were clearly
apparent in the EEG data, shown on page 15 (top). By using an
accurate computer model of the neonatal head, we were able to
generate images of the seizure-induced changes in haemoglobin
concentration (which is proportional to blood volume) for each
seizure. These are shown on page 15 (bottom). These images show
remarkably consistent patterns in the haemoglobin changes for
the first five seizures (note that events 6 and 7 begin before full
recovery of the DOT signal from the previous event).
14
Although there is variation across the surface of the brain,
the results generally indicate an initial increase and subsequent
large decrease in haemoglobin concentration. This extreme
and prolonged decrease in blood volume is not consistent
with any normal activity in the brain.
Although preliminary, these results highlight the wealth of
physiologically and clinically relevant information that can
be obtained using simultaneous DOT and EEG. The large
amplitude and consistent nature of these optical signals also
suggests that DOT-EEG has the potential to provide improved
detection of seizures in the neonatal intensive care unit.
What is Diffuse Optical Tomography?
Biological tissues, including skin and bone, are relatively
transparent to near-infrared light. It is therefore
possible to transmit near-infrared light through several
centimetres of tissue. Using optical fibres to carry light
to and from the scalp, it is possible to detect nearinfrared light that has travelled through the outer regions
of the brain. By measuring fluctuations in the intensity
of the detected light, we can measure changes in blood
volume and oxygenation in those regions of the brain.
By using a dense array of optical fibres it is possible to
produce three-dimensional images of these changes.
This is known as Diffuse Optical Tomography.
Image above: The full 60 minutes of EEG data. Seizure and
seizure-like events are identified by the numbered labels.
Image left: Reconstructed DOT images showing the changes
in total haemoglobin concentration in the cortex at certain
time points for each of the 7 seizure events, relative to the
time of onset defined by two clinical electrophysiologists.
15
UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Towards smarter
image guided surgery
AUTHOR: MATT CLARKSON
Image Guided Surgery is the practice of using
the processing power and visualisation capabilities
of a computer to display medical images and associated
data to aid the planning and conduct of a surgical
procedure. In recent times, it has been widely
recognized that minimally invasive surgery, also
known as “keyhole” surgery, allows reduced trauma
and faster recovery for the patient. As such surgical
techniques become widespread, the need for new
technology to facilitate safe and effective surgery
is increasingly important.
When a patient undergoes a surgical procedure, it is critically
important to make good decisions at each stage of the process.
The wellbeing of the patient is at stake and it often takes the
collaboration of several experts to deliver effective treatment.
The key ingredient is the right information being available at the
right time, in the right format. The Centre for Medical Image
Computing (CMIC), which comprises researchers from both
the Medical Physics and Bioengineering, and Computer Science
departments at UCL, has been pioneering computational
techniques to support image guided interventions since its
inception in 2005.
In 2011, CMIC was awarded three grants from the Department
of Health and Wellcome Trust through the Health Innovation
Challenge Fund. A major aim of this funding scheme is to
support the clinical translation and commercialisation of
innovative new technologies so that they realise their potential
healthcare impact, nationally within the NHS, as well as
internationally. These three “Smart Surgery” projects, each
aim to deliver new, commercially viable image guided surgery
systems within a three-year window. The CMIC contributions
build on world-class expertise in medical software and systems
development, and form a key part of the programme of
translational research that drives academic research into
clinical products.
Novel multimodality imaging techniques for neurosurgical
planning and stereotactic navigation in epilepsy surgery
Prof Sebastien Ourselin (CMIC) and Prof John Duncan
(UCL Institute of Neurology) and their teams are developing
16
a multi-modal interactive imaging display system, integrating
a wide array of imaging data to construct a patient-specific
3D model of the brain. Patients who undergo neurosurgery
for treatment of epilepsy sometimes require the insertion of
electrodes into the brain to pinpoint the source of seizures.
This 3D model will aid in the planning of electrode placement
by the team of neurologists, neurophysiologists and neurosurgeons so that there is an optimal chance of success and
minimized risk of damaging critical structures. The product
will be the first such tool providing an integrated view of all the
available imaging data along with risk analysis tools. The patient
will benefit in terms of improved safety of procedures and more
accurate diagnosis and treatment. The project has delivered
a new surgical planning platform that is already undergoing
clinical trial, to gather data on efficacy.
Image above: Registering (aligning) a wide variety of
pre-operative brain imaging data enables neurologists,
neurophysiologists and neurosurgeons to plan the optimum
location for electrode placement, necessary to identify
the source of epileptic seizures. Figure courtesy of
Prof Sebastien Ourselin.
Image-Guided Diagnosis and Treatment of Localised
Prostate Cancer
Dr Dean Barratt (CMIC) and Prof Mark Emberton (UCLH)
lead a team who are developing software for targeted biopsy
and image guided focal therapy for the treatment of prostate
cancer, the most common cancer in men in the UK. The
software, known as SmartTarget, overcomes the current
problem that prostate tumours are usually not visible in transrectal ultrasound images, which provide the standard imaging
method for navigation during these procedures. The location
of candidate tumours can be extracted from the MR, and
overlaid on top of the ultrasound images, thus enhancing the
information available for accurate biopsy needle or therapy
instrument placement. The potential benefits are a reduced
number of biopsy samples required, improved detection rate
and grading accuracy and a lower risk of treatment-related side
effects. The SmartTarget software has been tested on over 200
patients as part of clinical trials at UCLH and a CE-marked
device for clinical use is currently being developed.
CT data to be overlaid on the laparoscope monitor. In this
way the surgeon can select whether to overlay important
structures such as critical blood vessels that must be avoided,
or any tumours that need resecting, and can proceed with more
certainty. The technology is widely applicable to all forms of
surgery within the abdomen and can be extended to other
surgical procedures. The project has delivered a prototype
system and accuracy and reliability are being extensively
tested and validated.
Image above: During a recent resection, surgeons
Dr Kurinchi Gurusamy and Prof Brian Davidson discuss
the resection plane, aided by pre-operative CT models,
registered to laparoscopic video.
Going Forward
Image above: SmartTarget enables information from MR
such as the prostate boundary (green), and suspected
tumours (yellow to red) to be overlaid on live ultrasound
images. The combined view makes tumour-targeted biopsy
and treatment possible. Figure courtesy of Dr Dean Barratt.
Smart laparoscopic liver resection: Integrated image
guidance and tissue discrimination
Prof David Hawkes (CMIC) and Prof Brian Davidson (Royal
Free Campus, UCL Hospital) have developed a new image
guidance system for laparoscopic liver tumour resection.
Current commercial systems do not model the deformable
nature of the abdominal anatomy. The new system combines
advanced registration techniques to align pre-operative CT
models to match the view seen through a laparoscope enabling
These are exciting times for image guided surgery and minimally
invasive surgery at CMIC. Recent grant successes mean there is
a substantial amount of work underway in the fast moving area
of clinical translation. CMIC is becoming a world-leader in this
area and is poised to have a major impact in healthcare, driving
forward technology development and industrial engagement to
change clinical practice.
CMIC is most grateful to all our clinical collaborators from
the Institute of Neurology, UCL Hospital, the Royal Free
Hospital and beyond. Our clinical collaborators ensure that the
engineering passion of CMIC stays focused, is clinically relevant
and most importantly delivers tangible benefit to the most
important person in this process, the patient.
17
UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Research-based teaching
in Medical Physics and Bioengineering
AUTHOR: ADAM GIBSON
UCL has released a 20-year strategy called UCL2034
(http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ucl-2034), a key part of which is
the promotion of research-based teaching. The concept
is to go beyond simply being taught by researchers and
instead inspiring students by providing opportunities
for them to participate in research. As a relatively small,
research-active department, we are ideally placed to lead
initiatives in this area and here we review some of the
research-based teaching which already enhances our
teaching and learning.
Research-based teaching is embedded into our undergraduate
programmes. For example, in our year 2 module on Physics of
the Human Body, students investigate autoregulation of blood
pressure in the brain using simulation software and then write
a report where they compare their results to clinical references
in the literature. This is supplemented by a guest lecture given
by a clinical academic who has published in this area. In our
Treatment with Ionising Radiation module, students carry out
an extensive problem-based learning exercise where they are
put into multidisciplinary groups and asked to write a grant
application to study a particular type of advanced radiotherapy
applied to a specific clinical problem. Students are supported in
writing the grant application, which often involves designing
a clinical trial with costings, and are generally very positive
about the exercise. One student said, “It’s been an incredibly
rewarding experience ... I think the group worked well as a team
and was well organised ... the results (and the process) were
incredibly satisfying and I’d be happy to work with this group
again on another problem!”.
We have introduced e-learning coursework into two modules,
Introduction to Biophysics and Optics for Medicine. Here,
students work in groups to research the answers to questions
provided by the course organisers, and produce videos which
act as learning material for their peers, giving them experience
of presenting the results of their research. An advantage of our
programme is that we usually have students from a wide variety
of backgrounds (including intercalated medical students, natural
science students and BASc students as well as medical physics
students), which means group-based project work such as this
can be particularly vibrant. In a recent implementation, an
iterative approach was taken in which the e-learning videos were
18
reviewed and edited by students. This work is undertaken in
close collaboration with UCL E-Learning Environments.
However, the main area where students are exposed to research
is, of course, their individual research project where they are
given a real research problem and then work towards solving
it. Many students work in a research group with other students
and researchers. Frequently, these projects are developed further,
perhaps through summer studentships, and contribute to grant
applications, or to publications. Typically 2-3 of our student
projects become peer-reviewed journal publications each year,
with the students as named authors. We look forward to the
introduction of the new Biomedical Engineering programme
(see page 13) which gives us further exciting opportunities
to embed research in our teaching, particularly as, for the
first time, we will have a dedicated teaching laboratory for
experimental work.
UCL’s President and Provost, Professor Michael Arthur
“We should move to involving our students in the
research process in great detail much earlier in their
courses than we currently do; we should move from
a research-led kind of pedagogy into a research-based
pedagogy. If we do that we can take our students right to
the edge of knowledge – we can get them to understand
what knowledge is, how it’s created and how it changes
with time, and we can teach them how to deal with
that uncertainty.”
Image above: Presentation slides on action potentials and voltage clamps, created by students A. Barburas, J. Kent, and
A. Khan in the Introduction to Biophysics module. This presentation was converted to an e-learning video with text-to-speech
technology, and subsequently reviewed and edited by the students’ peers.
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UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Building bridges between
scientists and policy-makers
AUTHOR: KARIN SHMUELI
This winter, I participated in the Royal Society
scientist-MP pairing scheme and was matched with
Frank Dobson, MP for Holborn & St Pancras. The
scheme aims to build lasting connections between
scientists and parliamentarians and help them gain
worthwhile insights into the policy-making process
as well as the science behind it. I spent a week in
parliament with two days shadowing Mr Dobson and
he visited me here at UCL to find out about my research.
As well as UCL being in his constituency, Frank also has
experience in health policy having been Secretary of State for
Health from May 1997 until October 1999. My research aims
to develop new Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) techniques
and maximise their potential to offer earlier diagnosis and
improved understanding of disease. My current focus is on
creating MR images sensitive to the magnetic susceptibility
of tissues. Tissue magnetic susceptibility depends on its
microstructure and composition, e.g. iron and myelin content,
which are altered in diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Multiple
Sclerosis, making MRI susceptibility images a promising tool
to investigate the effects of diseases like these.
During a fascinating “Week in Westminster” we had a packed
schedule of lectures on the role of science in Parliament and
Government. I was thrilled that, during my brief visit to the
House of Lords, I heard MRI mentioned in a speech on a
motion noting the contribution of high quality education to
economic growth. Baroness Morgan spoke about universities
driving innovation through fundamental and translational
research that helps to create new products and services:
“For instance, Sir Peter Mansfield began fundamental research
on MRI, which was then licensed to transform imaging and
diagnosis worldwide.”
This was personally relevant since Sir Peter was my PhD
supervisor’s PhD supervisor! I had the privilege of shadowing
Mr Dobson for two days, gaining a real insight into his role and
perspectives as an MP as well as hearing plenty of entertaining
anecdotes from his many years in Westminster and serving
his constituency.
20
Instead of two days, I had just a couple of hours to give
Frank a flavour of my role as a researcher and academic when
he came to visit me here in the department. As well as distilling
an explanation of my research into a ten minute presentation,
I showed Frank around the MRI-PET facility in the UCLH
Macmillan Cancer Centre. This is the first facility of its kind
in the UK and is fully integrated to allow a positron emission
tomography (PET) scan to be acquired at the same time as MRI
images. This means it has the best of both worlds: the highresolution soft tissue information from MRI can be combined
with simultaneous measures of metabolism or perfusion
available from PET. Together with UCLH Medical Physicist
Dr Anna Barnes, we explained the system to Frank as well as the
combination of MRI and PET safety precautions. Clinicians
and radiographers from the MRI-PET team talked Frank
through a plethora of clinical images from the system including
dynamic MRI ‘videos’ of a beating heart showing regions of
infarcted tissue that were much less contractile in the cine-MRI
and also had lower perfusion in the PET images.
To give him a window into the breadth of research going on
here, Professor Jem Hebden, Head of Department, kindly
showed Frank around the department where he also met with
two PhD students who showed him their imaging research.
Frank demonstrated his interest in our work by asking some
insightful questions.
As I wanted Frank to appreciate the wider context to my
research projects and work in the department, we also met
with the Dean of the UCL Faculty of Engineering, Professor
Anthony Finkelstein and UCL’s new Provost, Professor Michael
Arthur. The discussions ranged from past UCL provosts, UCL’s
strength in biomedical science, its global impact, brandrecognition and desire to “Change the World” to UCL’s role in
the local London community, politics and economy, particularly
in the light of several huge infrastructure projects planned near
UCL in Mr Dobson’s constituency.
As well as seeing first-hand that UCL, the Royal Society and
the Houses of Parliament each have their very own grand Royal
Mace, I learned a lot about the different ways scientists like
myself can get involved in informing and supporting policymaking and policy-makers in Westminster. Do get in touch
with me if you’d like to find out more.
Image above: Frank Dobson MP with Dr Karin Shmueli.
What is the Royal Society Pairing Scheme?
The Royal Society pairing scheme is designed to help
Parliamentarians and Civil Servants establish lasting
connections with practicing research scientists and, in
turn, help those scientists further understand political
decision making. As part of the scheme all scientists
participate in a ‘Week in Westminster’ where they gain
a valuable insight into how science policy is formed
and in turn the MP visits the scientist’s workplace.
The scheme has been a great success with over 250
scientists being paired with Parliamentarians and Civil
Servants since 2001.
Image above: Professor Jem Hebden explaining his latest
clinical near-infra-red imaging data to Frank Dobson MP
when he visited Dr Karin Shmueli as part of the Royal
Society Pairing Scheme.
21
UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Shedding light on autism
AUTHOR: CLARE ELWELL
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterised
by impairment in social interaction and communication
skills. Diagnosis occurs around the age of three and is
dependent upon a combination of behavioural symptoms.
Over the last decade Professor Clare Elwell, Biomedical
Optics Research Laboratory, has been working with
neurodevelopmental psychologists from the Centre of Brain and
Cognitive Development, Babylab, Birkbeck College London to
investigate whether an optical imaging technique, functional
near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), could provide early markers
of the autism in young infants before behavioural signs can
be detected. This work has recently resulted in the striking
discovery that, in response to social stimuli, babies at risk of
autism as young as 4–6 months show abnormalities in the
social brain areas known to be defective in older children
and adults with autism.
What is functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS)?
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an
optical imaging technique, which provides a continuous,
non-invasive measure of regional blood oxygen levels in
the brain. fNIRS uses near infrared light which passes
through the skull to measure the colour of the blood
in the brain. Oxygenated blood appears bright red and
is directed to different regions depending on the local
brain activity. By using near infrared light to measure
the distribution of oxygenated (red) blood we can map
brain function. A typical system contains pairs of optical
source and detector probes, which are placed on the scalp
over regions of interest and are fixed with a lightweight
headband that can be adjusted for varying head sizes.
fNIRS technology is portable, low cost and requires
minimal set up and time and expert training.
The technique is completely non invasive and is tolerant
of participant motion. For this reason systems have
found widespread application in studies of brain function
from birth into infancy, childhood and adulthood.
22
Image above: Infant wearing the optical array from the UCL
NTS fNIRS system whilst viewing (top) a social image and
(bottom) a non social visual image.
fNIRS is a non invasive optical neuroimaging technique which
uses absorption spectroscopy to measures the changes in the
concentration of oxy and deoxyhaemoglobin. Near infrared light
passes through the skull and into the brain tissue and so it is
possible to produce maps of regional brain oxygenation. When
a subject is presented with a given stimulus (e.g. auditory, visual
or sensory) neurons activate in specific brain regions associated
with the processing of that stimulus. This neuronal activation
results in an increase in oxygen delivery to that region of brain,
and it is this increase in oxygen delivery which is measured using
fNIRS as a localised increase in oxyhaemoglobin and decrease
in deoxyhaemoglobin. As such, fNIRS has found widespread
application as a neuroimaging tool for determining regional
cortical activation. Of particular interest is its emergence as the
technology of choice for neurodevelopment studies of infants in
the first year of life when other methods suffer from a number
of limitations. EEG and Event-Related Potentials (ERP) provide
good temporal resolution, but due to the inverse-mapping
problem there is uncertainty about the underlying neural
generators thereby limiting its spatial sensitivity. More functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies are now being
performed on infants, but due to issues with movement artefact,
most studies are only performed on sleeping infants thus limiting
the range of cognitive function which can be investigated. fNIRS
offers an excellent compromise method with which it is possible
to attain reasonable spatial resolution in superficial cortical
structures in awake babies. This has been due to the development
of optimised systems, optical arrays and analysis protocols
designed specifically for studies in young infants.
The NTS optical topography system was designed and
constructed in the Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory at
UCL by Dr Nick Everdell and his team. It incorporates two
optical arrays containing a total of 38 channels (source-detector
separations; 26 at 2 cm, 12 at 4.5 cm), with the different
channel separations allowing the measurement of activation
at different depths into the cortex. This system uses avalanche
photodiode detectors and laser diode sources at 770 and 850
nm. The continuous wave light sources are intensity modulated
at different frequencies and software is used to demultiplex
signals at each detector from different sources and hence achieve
separation of signals between channels.
Central to the optimised design of this system, and its
subsequent use as an effective neuroimaging tool for
neurodevelopment, has been the unique working collaboration
between the physicists and engineers in the Biomedical Optics
Research Laboratory, UCL and the neurodevelopmental
psychologists from the Centre of Brain and Cognitive
Development, Babylab, Birkbeck College London led by
Professor Mark Johnson. An MRC funded Component grant led
by Professor Clare Elwell employed an engineer
(Dr Anna Blasi) and psychologist (Dr Sarah Lloyd-Fox) to design
a range of custom made optical arrays for measuring specific
cortical regions. This has enabled a wide range of studies to be
performed to characterise brain function in normally developing
infants. Specifically, the UCL NTS fNIRS system has been
used to show that regions of the frontal and posterior temporal
lobes of the brain are selectively activated by social dynamic
complex visual stimuli (e.g. actors playing peek a boo) relative to
non-human dynamic stimuli (e.g. a spinning top) in five-monthold infants. We have also shown that portions of the temporal
lobe can be selectively activated by human vocal sounds (e.g.
yawning, crying, laughing) in 4 to 7 months old human infants.
Furthermore we observed that the degree of this voice-selectivity
increased between 4 and 7 months of age. This characterisation
of infant brain responses has enabled us to pose the question; do
infants at-risk for autism also show such early specialization for
the processing of social stimuli? The results of the recent study
show that in their first six months of life, babies who have an
older brother or sister with autism show different brain responses
to socially relevant information compared with a group of babies
with no autism in the family. It is not possible to say whether
these are early indicators of later autism, as the children have not
yet reached the age of clinical diagnosis. But if they are, fNIRS
may ultimately have value as a diagnostic tool or at least
a method to identify those at significant risk of autism.
Image above: Grand averaged fNIRS measured changes in
oxyhaemoglobin (red) and deoxyhaemoglobin (blue) for the
visual social condition (experimental trial) for (a) infants at
low risk of autism and (b) infants at high risk of autism
(from Lloyd-Fox et al. (2013)).
To see a brief video about this project visit: www.engineering.
ucl.ac.uk/blog/news/brain-imaging-system-reveals-detailsautism-development/
UCL NTS optical topography system is now being
commercialised by our new spin-out company Gowerlabs as
described on page12, visit www.ucl.ac.uk/medphys/research/
borl/imaging/topography
To find out how we are using fNIRS to study the effects of
malnutrition on brain development in global health projects
visit: www.globalfnirs.org
23
UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
MSc by distance learning
AUTHOR: JAMIE HARLE
The distance learning programme for the MSc in Physics
and Engineering in Medicine entered its third year
and celebrated the first graduates of the programme.
Currently, the programme has over 20 students,
studying on 4 continents in a total of 12 countries. It
offers a choice of 9 taught modules within the full MSc
programme, in addition to a remotely-delivered research
project, and can be completed flexibly over two or more
years according to the time demands of the student.
Elina Arakelyan from Toronto, Canada, and Wai Chan, from
Hong Kong (both shown opposite) graduated with their MSc,
obtaining a ‘Pass with Merit’ and a ‘Pass with Distinction’,
respectively. Elina works for a multinational corporation in
supply chain management, and hopes to use the qualification
to explore career options in hospital physics. Wai, known as
Jeff to the course team, is already applying his knowledge as a
Radiation Therapist at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong
Kong. Both completed their examinations, identical to the
campus-based MSc course, at local British Council centres and
undertook coursework in anatomy and physiology, computer
programming, and biomedical optics with the aid of software,
online tutorials and UCL educational resources. Jeff completed
a radiotherapy-based practical project at Queen Elizabeth
Hospital in Hong Kong, while Elina completed a computational
investigation in X-ray Phase Contrast Imaging in collaboration
with Prof Sandro Olivio in the department. The image opposite
shows Elina during her remote poster presentation.
The distance learning team welcomed the arrival of
William Dennis as the new dedicated Teaching Assistant for
the programme. Known as Billy to the course team (and its
students!), he hosts online tutorials and supports the upkeep
of moodle material online, in addition to other roles with our
off-campus students.
Good practice and innovation led to recognition in the 2014
University of London CDE Teaching and Research Awards,
leading to a new project that will explore better means to
support off-campus students and supervisors in projects.
Moreover, the programme entered into a Knowledge Exchange
Partnership with an overseas university, to consult on the
development of distance learning programmes abroad.
24
Image above: Jeff and Elina
Image above: Elina during her project presentation,
completed online
A Portrait of Professor Sidney Russ
by Wyndham Lewis
AUTHOR: JEM HEBDEN
Our department was delighted to receive a portrait of
Professor Sidney Russ, CBE (1879–1963), the UK’s (and
possibly the world’s) first hospital physicist. The pencil
drawing, by the artist Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957), is
a very generous gift from Mr. John Russ, Prof Russ’s son
who lives in Montreal, Canada.
It was presented to us by Prof Russ’s granddaughters Catherine
and Michele, who visited the department on October 23,
2013. John Russ also made a very generous donation of £3000
to enhance the Russ family endowment initiated by his sister
Dr Dorothy Collins which funds our Sidney Russ Prize. This
prize is awarded each year to recognise the most outstanding
performance by a final year undergraduate.
Sidney Russ obtained a physics degree from UCL in 1905.
After several years working in Rutherford’s laboratories in
Manchester, he was appointed physicist to the Middlesex
Hospital in 1913, and became Head of the Department of
Medical Physics in the Middlesex Hospital Medical School
in 1919. In 1920 he was appointed to the newly created Joel
Professor of Physics Applied to Medicine, the world’s first Chair
in Medical Physics. Through subsequent merger between the
Middlesex Hospital and UCL Medical Schools, the department
founded by Prof Russ eventually led to the creation of our own
academic department at UCL, which is now home to the Joel
Chair, the sixth occupant of which is Prof Robert Speller. Prof
Russ played a dominant role in launching the Hospital Physicists
Association (HPA) in 1943 and was elected its first Chair.
Professor Russ retired in 1946 following a career spent pioneering
a new scientific approach to radiation protection in the UK.
The signed and dated portrait was drawn by Wyndham Lewis
in 1933. Lewis was introduced to Prof Russ by his wife
Mary who had attended an exhibition of Lewis’s work. In
a biographical sketch of his father, John Russ reports that
Wyndham Lewis sometimes borrowed small amounts of money
from Sidney which were never repaid. John goes on to say that
“when I asked my father why he didn’t buy some of Lewis’s
paintings instead of lending him money, he laughed and said
‘what an ass I was!’”. Wyndham Lewis was trained at UCL’s
Slade School of Art, which now offers a “Wyndham Lewis
Bursary” to their undergraduates.
Following consultation with Liz Rideal of the Slade School
and the National Portrait Gallery, the picture was cleaned and
remounted in a new frame suitable for prominent display in
the department. The picture was professionally cleaned by Kim
Amis, artist and lecturer at City & Guilds College of London
Art School and the University of the Arts, and the results are
shown above.
We are very proud to be associated with the achievements
of Prof Russ, who played a leading role in establishing Medical
Physics as an academic discipline in the UK, and we are
immensely grateful to John Russ and his sister Dorothy for
their kind and generous gifts.
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UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Selected grants 2013 –14
Sponsor
Project Title
Total award
Investigator
KWS Biotest Ltd
Validation of photoacoustic tomography as a technology
for whole body imaging of macromolecule biodistribution
and quantification in mice
£50,036
Prof Paul Beard
EPSRC
Endoscopic photoacoustic devices for minimally invasive
biomedical sensing and imaging
£607,025
Prof Paul Beard
EPSRC
EPSRC DTP 2013-17:GFVJ
£103,821
Prof Paul Beard
National Institute For
Health Research
Development of a mixed (reusable/disposable)
catheter management package for users of intermittent
catheterisation
£149,560
Prof Alan Cottenden
NPL Management Ltd
CASE studentship: quantitative photoacoustic imaging
£22,883
Dr Ben Cox
EPSRC
GFVL – EPSRC IND CASE 2013-18:GFVL
£68,648
Dr Ben Cox
Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust summer studentship
£1,520
Dr Adrien Desjardins
Wellcome Trust/EPSRC
Controlling abnormal network dynamics with
optogenetics (CANDO)
£1,894,370
Prof Nick Donaldson
Hamamatsu Photonics KK
Studies with HPK TRS system
£10,000
Prof Clare Elwell
University of London An online framework to support both external supervisor
and student in challenging remote project work: software-,
hardware- & clinically-based projects
£5,000
Dr Jamie Harle
European Commission FP7
Picture – patient information combined for the assessment
of specific surgical outcomes in breast cancer
£420,810
Prof David Hawkes
European Commission FP7
VPH-PRISM – virtual physiological human: personalized
predictive breast cancer therapy through integrated tissue
micro-structure modeling
£386,901
Prof David Hawkes
European Commission FP7
Cascade – cognitive autonomous catheter operating in
dynamic environments
£21,747
Prof David Hawkes
Wellcome Trust
Wellcome Trust summer studentship
£1,520
Dr Terence Leung
European Commission FP7
Maximizing sensitivity and resolution in edge illuminationbased x-ray phase-contrast imaging methods
£70,000
Prof Sandro Olivo
EPSRC
Three-dimensional quantitative x-ray phase imaging
£282,991
Prof Sandro Olivo
Home Office
Detection of explosives and weapons via high-throughput
multi-modal x-ray imaging
£72,892
Prof Sandro Olivo
Wolfson Foundation
Early intervention in neurodegeneration
£462,843
Prof Sebastien Ourselin
Wellcome Trust/EPSRC
Image-Guided Intrauterine Minimally Invasive Fetal
Diagnosis and Therapy
£11,591,958
Prof Sebastien Ourselin
EPSRC
EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Medical Imaging
£5,686,852
Prof Sebastien Ourselin
National Physical Laboratory
CASE s/ship – dosimetry for proton therapy
£32,535
Prof Gary Royle
Science & Technology
Facilities Council (STFC)
Sample identification system combining x-ray imaging
and diffraction, based upon the use of a pixelated, energy
resolving sensor
£107,809
Prof Robert Speller
AWE
Ultra fast n/g integrated detection system for
high flux active interrogation measurements
£94,000
Prof Robert Speller
Defence Science and
Technology Laboratory
X-ray diffraction for portable through
barrier material identification
£235,429
Prof Robert Speller
26
PhD award successes
Edgar Gelover Reyes (28/03/2013)
The application of active pixel sensors to proton imaging
Bailiang Chen (28/04/2103)
Multi-scale imaging and modelling of bone
Yipeng Hu (24/04/2013)
Registration of Magnetic Resonance and Ultrasound
Images for Guiding Prostate Cancer Interventions
Andrea Romsauerova (25/05/2013)
Electrical Impedance Tomography of acute stroke
Paul Burke (28/07/2013)
Bidirectional Propulsion of Devices along the
Gastrointestinal Tract Using Electrostimulation
Holger Roth (28/07/2013)
Registration of prone and supine CT colonography
images and its clinical application
Runhan Luo (28/10/2013)
Can the Voluntary Drive to a Paretic Muscle be Estimated
from the Myoelectric Signal during Stimulation?
Brett Packham (28/11/2013)
Imaging fast neural activity in the brain with
Electrical Impedance Tomography
Vinay Gangadharan (28/12/2013)
Automated multi-parameter monitoring of neonates
Vasileios Asimakopoulos (28/01/2014)
An experimental study of friction between
skin and nonwoven fabrics
Francisco Jiminez Spang (28/01/2014)
Monte Carlo Study of the Dosimetry of SmallPhoton Beams Using CMOS Active Pixel Sensors
Nathaniel Dahan (28/09/2013)
The Application of PEEK to the Packaging
of Implantable Electronic Devices
Andria Hadjipanteli (28/09/2103)
Assessment of the 3D spatial distribution of
the Calcium/Phosphorus ratio in bone
27
UCL Medical Physics and Bioengineering | Newsletter 2014
Prizes
PROVOST’S TEACHING AWARD
Congratulations are due to Dr Adrien Desjardins who was
awarded a prestigious Provost’s Teaching Award in recognition
of his highly innovative approaches to e-learning which have
enhanced the learning experience of our students.
INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY ON OXYGEN
TRANSPORT TO TISSUE BRITTON
CHANCE AWARD
Many congratulations to Tharindi Hapuarachchi who won
the ISOTT Britton Chance Award for modelling cerebral
physiology, metabolism and oxygen regulation. The Britton
Chance Award was established in honour of Professor Chance’s
long-standing commitment, interest and contributions to the
science and engineering aspects of oxygen transport to tissue
and to the society.
PHD SHOWCASE
The annual Medical Physics & Bioengineering PhD Showcase
was held on the 21st February 2014 where all third year
PhD students gave a short and accessible ‘snapshot’ of their
key research goals using just 5 PowerPoint slides to give a
greater awareness of the breadth of research activity within the
department. Prizes were awarded in three categories and the
winners were as follows:
Alex Menys – Communication of Ideas
Emma Malone – Enthusiasm and Engagement
Thomas Millard – Presentation Style
THE ANNUAL STUDENT PRIZE
AWARD CEREMONY
The annual student Prize Award Ceremony was held on
27th November 2013 in Room MPEB 2.14. The prize
winners were as follows:
Geraldine Chee: John Clifton Prize for most outstanding
performance by a non-final year undergraduate.
Anna Zamir: Sidney Russ Prize for most outstanding
performance by a final year undergraduate.
Anne-Marie Stapleton: Joseph Rotblat Prize for most
outstanding performance by an MSc student.
Eftychia Nafti: IPEM Prize for best MSc project.
Isabel Christie: Medical Physics & Bioengineering
PhD Prize.
THE MEDICAL PHYSICS PHD POSTER DISPLAY
Held on the 3rd March 2014, as part of the larger Graduate
School Poster Competition with presentations from 1st and
2nd year PhD students. The standard was very high and there
were prizes given out by both the Graduate School, as well as
our own internal judging committee. Both Chiaki Crews and
Catarina Veiga received runners up prizes by the Graduate
School for their posters:
Catarina Veiga – Image-guided and adaptive radiation
therapy for head and neck cancer
Chiaki Crews – Detecting Fake Medicines Using X-ray
Diffraction
Our own small committee also judged the posters, based upon
poster content and verbal presentation and the following prizes
were awarded.
1st year – Chiaki Crews – Detecting Fake Medicines Using
X-ray Diffraction
2nd year – Nir Goren – A portable low-cost method to image
after traumatic brain injury so as to prevent avoidable deaths
from extradural haemorrhage
28
Gallery
Image left:
Annual Student prize
award winners Left to right:
Anne-Marie Stapleton,
Eftychia Nafti, Isabel
Christie, Anna Zamir
& Geraldine Chee.
Image, centre left: Paul Doolan speaking at Pint of Science
Image, centre right: Adam Gibson speaking with previous
Head of Department Prof John Clifton at the Departmental
Open Day. Image, bottom: James Annkah and Matt Clarkson
at the Departmental Open Day.
29
Cover Image: ‘Muscle Fibres of the Heart’
Laurence Jackson
Medical Physics & Bioengineering PhD Student
The heart is a complex organ comprised of highly ordered muscle fibres made up of chains of contractile cells called cardiomyocytes.
The microscopic architecture of these fibres has a strong influence on the heart’s macroscopic properties including both its mechanical
and electrical function. Traditionally myocardial fibre structure has only been visible using destructive histological techniques. By
using Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DT-MRI) it is possible to examine the 3D fibre structure within whole organs.
DT-MRI is a technique which utilises the thermal motion of water molecules within a restricting environment such as a cell to
provide directional contrast to MRI images. By sampling the degree of restriction in a number of different directions it is possible
to determine the orientation of the restricting structure. Laurence submitted the image ‘Muscle Fibres of the Heart’ to the UCL
Research Images as Art competition, run by the UCL Graduate School. The image shows the spiral structure of the myofibres
around the left ventricular chamber of a heart. He was the overall winner of the competition, taking home a prize of £250.
CONTACTS
Department of Medical Physics & Bioengineering
University College London
Gower Street
London WC1E 6BT
Web: www.ucl.ac.uk/medphys
Tel: 020 7679 0200
Email: medphys.newsletter@ucl.ac.uk
Twitter: @UCLMedphys