Programmable High-Frequency Ultrasound Platform for Translational Biomedical Research

A novel programmable ultrasound array system is requested with high-frequency capabilities, high-intensity therapeutic output capabilities, ultrafast acquisition speeds (>5000 frames/sec), arbitrary waveform capabilities, and full programmability. The system will be a key piece of instrumentation for our multidisciplinary work in biomedical photoacoustic & ultrasound imaging. It will be used to interface to novel 2D micromachined array transducers, to enable high-frequency photoacoustic- and ultrasound molecular imaging, to permit novel ultrasound-aided biomarker release and ultrasound drug-delivery experiments, to enable novel near-orthogonal coded parallel fast imaging schemes, to enable novel ultrasound scattering-tensor imaging and tractography, and to migrate novel photoacosutic functional imaging methods to the clinic. These projects involve a wide array of clinical and basic science collaborators at the University of Alberta and other institutions. The system will support the work and collaborative projects of over 24 trainees presently, with potentially many more users in the future. The system requested has novel per-channel arbitrary-waveform capabilities, deep memory, fast-streaming capabilities, high-frequency capabilities, high-output capabilities, and full programmability, unlike most other ultrasound platforms and would be the first of it's kind in Canada to our knowledge. While other ultrasound platforms exist on campus, none of them are equipped with the proposed capabilities, hampering a large number of promising projects.