Muyinatu “Bisi” Bell, a John C. Malone Associate Professor of electrical and computer engineering at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering and director of the Photoacoustic & Ultrasonic Systems Engineering (PULSE) Lab, is part of a multi-institutional research team which received a $13 million award by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) to develop a transformative diagnostic tool for lung cancer detection.
Led by researchers at Northeastern University, the team will develop PAIL (PhotoAcoustic Imaging technology for diagnostic Lung assessment), a novel imaging system capable of detecting early-stage lung cancer. Equipped with unmatched resolution and a miniature, flexible, disposable probe compatible with bronchoscopy procedures, their novel photoacoustic imaging system holds the potential to revolutionize lung cancer diagnostics by providing 3D microscopic visualization of lung nodules. Bell and members of her team in the PULSE Lab will focus on developing the software and beamforming methods that power the system. To achieve the team’s goals, Bell will lead optical and acoustic simulations to support PAIL technology designs, followed by software integration for ex vivo and human studies.
“It is exciting to create a new intraoperative tool that will detect lung cancer earlier and more accurately, reduce the need for invasive biopsies, and minimize the risks, burdens, and costs for patients,” says Bell. “While the initial focus is on lung nodule assessment, this technology has the potential to revolutionize diagnostic imaging across multiple medical domains, including cardiology and nerve detection in prostate cancer.”
The ARPA-H funding comes through the Open Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), aimed at supporting research with the potential to transform health outcomes and technology advancements across diverse patient populations and diseases.
Bell is collaborating on this project with Errol Bush, associate professor of surgery, surgical director of the Advanced Lung Disease and Lung Transplant Program, and director of the Ex vivo Lung Perfusion Program at the Johns Hopkins Hospital Department of Surgery, Division of Thoracic Surgery in the School of Medicine. The broader inter-institutional team includes Soner Sonmezoglu and Matteo Rinaldi from Northwestern University; Brett Bouma and Lida Hariri from Harvard University; and Sajjad Moazeni from the University of Washington.