Biomedical and Molecular Imaging Group

One of the most important priorities facing modern societies is the well-being and health care of most people who will need advanced medical imaging services at some stage in their lives. Medical imaging is needed for the accurate diagnosis and treatment of a wide spectrum of diseases. Current developments in medical imaging technology face ever-increasing pressures and shifting goals. From increasing population size and increasing average age to increased care expectations, linked to inflating financial costs and unpredictable economic status, medical imaging technology has continued to improve its ability in the detection, diagnosis, staging of disease and indeed in guiding therapy. Developments included not only increasing both spatial and temporal resolution, but also reduced level of ionizing radiation, and therefore better safety standards, the invention of new modalities, the development of new contrast agents and biomarkers at the molecular level. For example, functional imaging has helped to shed light on molecular features of biological, physiologic, and pathophysiologic processes. Looking backward, imaging sciences have advanced strongly at ever-increasing rates from the early days of X-ray imaging. The spread of highly sophisticated imaging techniques that are capable of interrogating 3-dimensional tissues non-invasively and providing valuable information about tissue composition and function are remarkable achievements. The degree of experimental precision and resolution has led to new areas of research cohesively and strongly allied to medical imaging especially in nanotechnology and molecular biology leading ultimately, perhaps, to individualized diagnosis and treatment.

Research in Biomedical and Molecular Imaging (BMI) at the University of Sharjah (UoS) is, by nature, dynamic and multidisciplinary attracting many disciplines from a variety of Colleges working together and complementing each other to achieve many goals. These include:

1. Optimizing radiation imaging and image quality, extracting new information and interpreting its biological and physiological significance for both normal and pathologic tissues, and biological modeling. The rapid advances in material science have also contributed to the synthesis of new molecular probes with multifunctional targeting, imaging, and therapeutic abilities.
2. Empowering students with required skills in order to tackle safety issues, research development, and patient care requires quantitative surveys of many parameters in both the study and working environments.
3. Developing and testing new materials for radiation protection and safety in medical radiation facilities. The doped glasses and superalloys are one of the most substantial alternative materials that can be employed as a shield for ionizing radiation facilities of diagnostic and therapeutic applications that can overcome shortcomings with concrete and lead-based-materials. Therefore, the development of highly durable, environmentally friendly, non-toxic and superior materials, is highly necessary.
4. Numerical simulation studies to be carried out before production and experimental studies have an important place for radiation and radiation shielding materials, where it may not always be possible to conduct radiation-related studies and evaluate them experimentally.

1. The synthesis and characterization of multifunctional magnetic nanoparticles for MRI and hyperthermia treatment of cancer.
2. The development and implementation of quantitative multimodality imaging techniques including Artificial Intelligence and Filtering in order to improve delineation and differentiation between normal and pathological tissues.
3. Studying Education and Learning Environments among both students and radiographers.
4. The quantification and improvement of techniques for improving image quality in radiation imaging and dose reduction techniques, therefore, improving patient and worker safety standards.
5. The development of highly durable, environmentally friendly, non-toxic and superior materials, which can be used as an alternative to Pb, radiation shielding materials for medical, nuclear and industrial applications. Theoretical design methods include Monte Carlo modeling techniques.

1. Professor David L. Buckley, University of Leeds
2. Prof. Dr. Luciana R.P KASSAB – Faculdade de Tecnologia de São Paulo / Brazil
3. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Shams A.M. Issa – Tabuk University / Saudi Arabia
4. Assist. Prof. Dr. Esra KAVAZ – Ataturk University / Turkey
5. Assist. Prof. Dr. Ozge Kilicoglu – Uskudar University / Turkey
6. Prof. George Hadjipanayis, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark DE, USA
7. Dr. Hariharan Srikanth, Advanced Functional Materials group, Applied Physics Department, University of  South Florida, Tampa FL, USA
8. Dr. John B Weaver, Department of Radiology, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon NH, USA

• A critical evaluation on nuclear safety properties of novel heavy metal oxide glass containers for transportation and waste management in Nuclear Medicine hot labs and nuclear power plants
  
  PI: Huseyin Ozan Tekin
  
  Co-PIs: Bashar Afif Issa, Gokhan Kilic, Erkan Ilik, Gulfem Susoy, Ghada ALMisned
  
  Amount: 62,000 AED
  
  Dates: 1st May 2023, and 1st May 2024.