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Left to right: Chris Flask, Hisamoto Moriguchi and Brian Dale |
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Earlier this spring, Kate Reinicke, a doctoral candidate in biochemistry, was chosen to attend the prestigious 53rd Annual Meeting of the Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany, June 30 to July 4. She conducts research in the laboratory of David A. Boothman, Ph.D., professor of radiation oncology and associate director for basic research in the Ireland Cancer Center. Since then, three doctoral candidates in biomedical engineering have learned that they, too, will be able to rub elbows with Nobel laureates at the same meeting. With only about 30 students worldwide having been accepted to attend this rare gathering, having four from CWRU speaks well of the University's powerful learning environment and leadership in education.
The three biomedical engineering graduate students are Brian Dale, Chris Flask, and Hisamoto Moriguchi.
At the meeting, the students will have the opportunity to participate with the eminent scientists in small group discussions and hear them present lectures on this year's theme of biology and medicine. The awards for travel are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.
Flask said first he was stunned, then excited, when he learned the news. Moriguchi said he was glad, and Dale, who was pessimistic about getting into the program, said his adviser, Jeff Duerk, Ph.D., wanted to bet him about it.
"My first reaction was that I was glad I hadn't taken him up on it," said Dale.
The three of them do their work in the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Research Laboratory in the Department of Radiology at University Hospitals of Cleveland/CWRU, headed by Professors Jeffrey Duerk, Ph.D. and Jonathan Lewin, M.D. Both professors hold joint appointments in biomedical engineering.
Patrick E. Crago, Ph.D., chairman of biomedical engineering at CWRU, was elated that three students from one laboratory could participate in this unique event.
MRI is an imaging technique used primarily in medical settings to produce high quality images of the inside of the human body. Dale's research involves creating novel methods for acquiring the data used to generate MR images that try to optimize for speed and reduced artifacts in the images due to motion, flow or inhomogeneities in the magnetic field. The results will put more control in the hands of the researchers, clinicians and other non-physicists who need new types of images for their work.
Dale, originally from College Station, Texas, holds a B.S. in biomedical engineering from Texas A&M University.
Flask works on methods to rapidly eliminate fat signal from the images, leaving only normal and abnormal tissues. These techniques will help to better visualize coronary plaque development and progression in cardiovascular disease using MRI.
Flask is from Warren, Ohio, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees in chemical engineering from CWRU.
Moriguchi seeks to improve some of the most sophisticated and most rapid MRI techniques, known as spiral MRI, by eliminating unwanted artifacts. These techniques can acquire images in as little as a tenth of a second to one second.
Originally from Japan, Moriguchi, holds an M.D. from Keio University in Tokyo and an M.S. in biomedical engineering from CWRU. He is also a candidate for the I.I. Rabi Young Investigators Award from the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. Rabi won a Nobel Prize in Physics in 1944 that laid the foundation for MRI.
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