The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) market was worth $858.2 million in 2008.  MRI is critical for medical diagnosis of in a number of disorders.  MRI uses magnetism, radio waves, and computer to produce images of body structures.  A magnetic field aligns the protons of hydrogen atoms, which are then exposed to a beam of radio waves.  As radio waves spin various protons in the body, the protons emit a signal that is detected by the receiver of the MRI scanner.  Received information is processed by a computer to produce an image.  Dr.

This portfolio focuses on the automated detection of two prevalent types of cancer: breast and prostate.  Both types of cancer are very prevalent, impacting many individuals per year.  Manually-conducted histological assessment of potentially cancerous tissue by a highly trained pathologist forms the current gold standard of diagnosis.  Several samples are usually taken and several sections from each section are examined: roughly 20 to 120 sections are examined per patient—frequently by more than one pathologist.  Such manual assessment suffers from several limi

This technology provides a method using standard, inexpensive components and software, in an elegantly simple configuration, to generate ultra-short laser pulses of a quality currently available only from complex, costly systems, such as the Ti:Sapphire laser.  Ultra-short laser pulses, shorter than 10 - 15 femtoseconds, are used in many applications including: multiphoton microscopy, coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy, and femtochemistry.  At this time, such precision ultra-short pulse lasers are largely cost prohibitive in many applications, relatively difficult and

The trifluoromethyl group is found in many biologically active compounds and pharmaceuticals. The utility of these groups is well established, but the methods of incorporating them into aromatics compounds are limited. Traditionally, trifluoromethyl groups are introduced into aromatic compounds by the reaction of carboxylic acids with sulfur fluoride, or the fluorination of trichloromethyl group with a reagent, but these are toxic and difficult to handle.

The ability to print a polarized electrical charge onto a medium, or charge patterning, is currently in the early stages of development.  A similar technology commonly used in office printers, Xerography, thrives in large size regimes.  There exist only a few competitive technologies capable of printing at the nanometer scale.    Current technologies use processes that provide only low resolutions and relatively poor control over the printed charges.  For example, current atomic force microscopy probes can provide suitable charges, but are only able f

Gene therapy is an approach for human disease treatment. This is done by inserting nucleic acids into cells to produce proteins, fix or replace damaged genes, and inhibit expression of harmful genes.

The gene delivery systems are classified into viral and nonviral systems.  There are several advantages in nonviral delivery systems, including biological safety (safer than viral vehicle), low immunogenicity, ability to deliver large genes, and large scale production at a reasonable cost.