Single-Impulse Panoramic Photoacoustic Computed Tomography (SIP-PACT)
Along with my colleagues at Caltech, we have built the most advanced photoacoustic computed tomography system, which we call single-impulse panoramic photoacoustic computed tomography (SIP-PACT). SIP-PACT achieves high spatiotemporal resolution (at ~100 µm resolution with up to 20 kHz frame rate), high sensitivity, deep penetration (> 5 cm), multiple contrasts, and full-view fidelity simultaneously in a standalone system. This imaging system offers the first full-package solution for anatomical, functional, and molecular imaging. The capability of high-contrast imaging of wholebody dynamics allows longitudinal monitoring of the animals for drug delivery and chemotherapy, which can directly benefit fundamental tumor study and pharmaceutical drug development. With SIP-PACT’s optical contrast and high spatiotemporal resolution, I have imaged the vasculature and functional connectivity of whole rat brains in detail, which had not been demonstrated before. SIP-PACT offers a powerful tool for mapping large-scale neural activities and studying the whole brain functions. We have also scaled up SIP-PACT for human breast cancer imaging and diagnosis. These achievements have been published in Nature Biomedical Engineering (Volume 1, 0071, 2017) and Nature Communications (Volume 9, 2352, 2018). The US patent of SIP-PACT has been acquired by CalPACT LLC, which is commercializing this system for both pre-clinical studies and clinical translation. More recently, based on this technology advancement, it has been applied for human brain functional imaging.
Single-Breath-Hold Photoacoustic Computed Tomography of the Breast, Nature Communications (2018) 9 (1), 2352, 1–9
Single-impulse panoramic photoacoustic computed tomography of small-animal whole-body dynamics at high spatiotemporal resolution, Nature Biomedical Engineering (2017) 1, 0071, 1–11
Imaging small animal whole-body dynamics by single-impulse panoramic photoacoustic computed tomography, Proc. SPIE 10064, Photons Plus Ultrasound: Imaging and Sensing 2017, 100640M (BEST PAPER AWARD)
