This project aims at developing a computerized system for spine diagnosis. This system will improve the efficiency and efficacy of radiologists to diagnose patients’ spine problems. The development of the system involves devising a set of tailor-made mathematical formulation. These formulation are grounded on the state-of-the-art computer vision algorithms and they are capable of capturing the knowledge required during spine diagnosis. The computerized system employing these mathematical formulations will be able to mimic the human expert to perform basic image-based diagnosis of spine.

In Computed Tomography (CT), X-ray radiation is used to penetrate through the internal structure of the patient body in order to produce digital images. Therefore patient could be exposed to certain level of X-ray radiation dose. Accumulation of these exposures beyond certain threshold could increase risk of fatal cancer. Thus it is of paramount importance to lower the amount of radiation exposure during CT images acquisition. However, a low radiation dose in CT images would result to lower image quality.

This project seeks to improve the performance of polymer-based spinal implants through the development of a multi-layered coating technology to overcome identified problems. The coating must allow for: a) strong adhesion to the underlying polymer to ensure structural stability; b) radio-opaque properties to allow visualization of the implant during x-ray procedures; c) a bone bonding interface to support biological integration. 

In this project a molecular diagnostic test, named RNA Disruption Assay (RDA) will be developed. RDA measures an individual patient’s tumor response to chemotherapy and accurately predicts whether the drug regimen will lead to the elimination of the disease after the completion of the treatment. RDA is a measure of RNA structural integrity and is derived from RNA electropherograms.

In conventional crown structure, the crowns are bonded to the bottom layer with a cement layer. The major clinical failure mode is the subsurface radial crack at the interface between the crown and cement. This failure is caused largely by the tensile stress concentration/singularity in the dental ceramic at that interface. A sharp change in the structure geometry or/and mismatch in material properties at interfacial boundary is the source for such stress concentration/singularity.