I am looking for new areas in which to recruit faculty to our department of Electrical Engineering.Any broad area of research, as well as specific computational and analysis methodologies.
Dear Sir,
I think Medical Imaging is a promising research area with significant social impact. Although several techniques are in place, there is always room for improvement. Newer methods to diagnose, treat and monitor patients for a variety of diseases (including the ones which have recently cropped up -Ebola etc.) can be invented. One can not only use a variety of standard modalities such as CT, PET and MRI but also look into recent techniques such as Virtual Reality (VR), Atomic Force microscopy imaging etc.
One such example of VR is stroke rehabilitation [1] wherein, the subject can attempt to move his/her limbs without risk in a completely safe virtual world (by wearing the VR glasses).Another area is Image-guided surgeries [2] - though the basic technology has been developed, there are issues with registration (for example, registering a 3D model of a brain on the head of a real person), shape estimation, motion estimation etc. Mixed imaging modalities such as PET-MRI (radiation-free) [3] are also another area that can have a social impact (better resolutions with no radiation exposure).
The list is endless with Medical imaging as the focus - fMRI, Thermography, SPECT, Microwave imaging, Microscopy and many more. All of these may be used to effectively help people. The impact would be directly seen with success in lower costs and better quality of healthcare.
References:
[1] Laver et al., "VR for stroke rehabilitation", European Journal of Phys.Rehabil Med, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26158918
[2] Tully et al., "A Filtering Approach for Image-Guided Surgery With a Highly Articulated Surgical Snake Robot", IEEE Trans.Biomed.Engg, 2016
[3] Pichler et al., "PET/MRI: THE NEXT GENERATION OF MULTI-MODALITY IMAGING?", http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2762705
Dear Rijul,
Thanks for your input. However, in my experience of nearly 34 years in BME, I have never seen costs coming down ! Every new imaging device and intervention methodology gives the doctors more ways to charge the patient and get higher revenues for the hosptial.
Dear Sir,
Yes, that is true from a corporate point of view - companies run only for profit. However, research institutes with large funding have the capability to set these things right. One such example is the low-cost water purifier recently designed by the Materials Engineering department at IISc - which would give existing water purifier companies a run for their money! I think on issues of national importance such as clean water, renewable energy and in this context, diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening diseases (Cancer, AIDS, TB, Diabetes, Malaria etc.) - research institutes can really help. They can develop technologies and create their own in-house "not-for-profit" industries. On the other hand, technologies that improve comfort or are good from an aesthetic/cosmetic point of view, can be licensed to industries.
Our country has always been a pioneer in creating cost-effective technologies (for example, the space programme). I am sure it can be extended to the medical imaging domain as well. The current scenario of "Raw materials from the country - technology from abroad - finished goods sold back in the country" can then be reversed!
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