481 Evans Hall, (510) 486 5435, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://bioeng.berkeley.edu/budinger/

Research Interests: Two areas  of biomedical research are neurodegeneration (e.g. Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease), and heart disease (e.g., atherosclerosis and heart failure). My research is directed toward development of instrumentation and molecular chemistry probes to better understand the mechanisms of these diseases. The instrumentation development include positron and single photon computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy developments, wireless biomonitoring, and methods to quantitate the compliance of the vascular system. Applied mathematics research is in the area of the inverse problem with the objective of improving reconstruction tomography with noisy data. Nuclear chemistry developments are directed toward improving radionuclide availability through inventions of methods to produce positron emitters in small clinics. The applications of instrumentation and chemical probes include gene therapy, stem cell research and molecular imaging of the brain and the heart. Novel approaches to considering ethical dilemmas and to the incorporation of ethics in emerging technologies is a major teaching interest, in addition the topic  of biomedical imaging instrumentation  and methods.

408D Stanley Hall, (510) 643-6075, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://bisl.berkeley.edu

Research Interests: My lab is developing a low-cost method of MRI called Prepolarized MRI.   This is a radical new architecture for MRI scanners, and uses two pulsed electromagnets rather than the conventional superconducting magnet.  We first polarize the sample with a strong polarizing field and then image in a weak field, called the readout field.   Because the polarizing field has no imaging role, it can be quite inhomogeneous (~20%) so the magnet is simple to manufacture.  Because the readout field is weak, again it is simple to manufacture.  In addition, Prepolarized MRI shows great promise for imaging near metal implants.  We are also initiating new research projects on Magnetic Particle Imaging, which promises 1000-fold improvement in SNR over MRI for stem cell tracking.  And we are working on advanced fMRI pulse sequences that are robust near the air sinuses.   Finally we are developing a pyrolytic graphite foam to improve the field homogeneity inside humans in a conventional MRI scanner.

608B Stanley Hall, (510) 643-5624, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://fletchlab.berkeley.edu

Research Interests:

The research in my laboratory combines physical and biological approaches to uncover how simple cells are engineered – and can be re-engineered in the future – to carry out complex tasks. My students and I are currently focused on understanding the physical basis of cell movements and their impact on health through the development of new instruments and techniques. Our work can be divided into three areas:

(1) Cell motility & the actin cytoskeleton: We are investigating actin filament network properties and their role in powering cell crawling through in vitro reconstitution.

(2) Cell mechanics & shape change in disease: We are characterizing mechanical properties of blood cells and movements of single-celled pathogens.

(3) Biophysical tools & medical devices: We are developing biophysical tools, including optical and force microscopy techniques, and biomedical devices, such as microfluidic injectors and assays.

274A Stanley Hall, (510) 643-0787, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://kumarlab.berkeley.edu/

Research Interests: Dr. Kumar's research program lies at the interface of molecular and cellular bioengineering, with a specific focus on understanding how cells sense, process, and respond to biophysical inputs from their environment (cellular mechanobiology).  His research group actively investigates molecular biophysical aspects of cellular mechanobiology, including the mechanics and dynamics of the extracellular matrix (ECM), cell-ECM adhesions, and the cytoskeleton, and the role these systems play in microscale tissue engineering, stem cell engineering, and neural tumor biology.

1700 4th Street, QB3, 415 476 6830, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://mqir.ucsf.edu

Research Interests: The global focus of my research is in the area of assessment of the relationship between imaging characteristics and biochemical/ biomechanical/disease state/ disease progression. In particular:

* Quantitative imaging using magnetic resonance, computed tomography and micro computed tomography techniques to study the musculoskeletal system, in particular morphology and function in diseases such as osteoporosis, degenerative joint disease, arthritis, etc.
* Dynamic imaging of load bearing joints, and relationship to biomechanics.
* Image processing and texture analysis of images for tissue characterization.
* Quantitative imaging of multiple sclerosis in the brain using MR and image processing.

BH303, 415 476 6383, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.bioengineering.ucsf.edu/faculty-sarah_j_nelson.vp.html

Research Interests: The goal of my research program is to develop MR imaging and spectroscopy techniques that will allow the characterization of specific diseases and quantification of response to therapy in an individual patient through the use of sequential MR examinations. This is necessary because there are still many circumstances where conventional MRI is ambiguous or provides limited information concerning tissue function. Examples are in distinguishing recurrent tumor from necrosis or in identifying the extent of ischemic insult following a stroke or myocardial infarction. Results obtained using MR spectroscopic imaging have indicated that localized spectroscopy may be important for these applications as it can give new information that is valuable in elucidating the nature and spatial extent of regions with abnormal metabolic function. The clinical application of these techniques and integration of the results with data from conventional MRI requires the implementation of new approaches to data acquisition, as well as the development of image and signal processing algorithms for interpretation of the data. These techniques are currently being applied to patient populations with Multiple Sclerosis, brain tumors, and prostate cancer.

6105B Etcheverry Hall, (510) 642-8220, This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.me.berkeley.edu/faculty/rubinsky

Research Interests: Research in several different areas. Heat and mass transfer in bioengineering with particular emphasis on low temperature biology and cryosurgery. Tissue engineering with emphasis on production of artificial tissue through freezing and preservation of engineered tissue. Bioengineering devices with emphasis on devices that interface between biological systems and inanimate electronics; such as the bionic micro technology. Imaging with emphasis on introducing imaging systems (suchas MRI and Electrical Impedance Tomography) in the control loop of minimally invasive surgical procedures. Genomic computation witrh emphasis on genetic algorithm simulation of gene behavior and properties.