Minutes September 10, 2024

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES 

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH

NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL FOR 

BIOMEDICAL IMAGING AND BIOENGINEERING

Summary of Meeting¹ 

September 10, 2024

The National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NACBIB) was convened for its 66th meeting on September 10, 2024, both in-person and online by Zoom for the Open Session and Closed Session. Dr. Bruce Tromberg, Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) presided as Council chairperson. In accordance with Public Law 92-463, the meeting was open to the public from 9:00 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. for review and discussion of program development, needs, and policy. The meeting was closed to the public from 2:35 p.m. to 2:40 p.m. for the consideration of grant applications.

Council members present:

Dr. Simon Cherry, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA

Dr. Tejal Desai, Brown University, San Francisco, Providence, RI Dr. Cynthia McCollough, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN

Dr. Kathryn Nightingale, Duke University, Durham, NC

Dr. Daniel Sodickson, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY Dr. Joyce Wong, Boston University, Boston, MA

Council Members not attending:

Dr. Gilda Barabino, Olin College, Needham, MA

Ex officio member attending:

Dr. Nicholas Petrick (on behalf of Dr. Jeffrey Shuren), U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD

Dr. Sohi Rastegar, National Science Foundation, Alexandria, VA

Ex officio members attending by Zoom

Dr. Vincent Ho, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD

Ex officio members absent:

Mr. Xavier Becerra, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, DC Dr. Anne Plant, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD Dr. Lawrence Tabak, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD

Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Silver Spring, MD

Chairperson:

Dr. Bruce Tromberg

Executive Secretary:

Dr. David George

¹ For the record, it is noted that members absent themselves from the meeting when the Council is discussing applications (a) from their respective institutions or (b) in which a conflict of interest may occur. This procedure only applies to applications that are discussed individually, not to “en bloc” actions.

Also Present:

NIBIB staff present for portions of the meeting:

Members of the public present for portions of the meeting:

Approximately 122 observers attended the open session, including NIBIB staff and members of the general public.

Call to Order: Dr. David George

Dr. David George called to order the 66th meeting of the National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. He reminded attendees that the morning session of the meeting was open to the public and welcomed attendees.

A.    NIBIB Council Updates

Dr. Tromberg began his presentation by introducing six incoming members to the NACBIB: Tamara Baynham, Ph.D., the founder and principal consultant of Ingenuity Medical Device Research, LLC; Raphael C. Lee, M.D., Sc.D., the Paul & Allene Russell Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus at the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago; Tyrone Porter, Ph.D., the Donald J. Douglass Centennial Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Texas Austin; Christine Schmidt, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and J. Crayton Pruitt Family Endowed Chair of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Florida; Wilbur A. Lam, M.D., Ph.D., the W. Paul Bowers Research Chair and professor of pediatrics, Vice provost for entrepreneurship at Emory University and a professor of biomedical engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology; and Curtis P. Langlotz, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of radiology, medicine, and biomedical data science and Senior Associate Vice Provost for Research at Stanford University.

B.    NIBIB Staff Updates

Dr. Tromberg introduced NIBIB’s new Associate Director for Research Administration: Anna Taylor, Ph.D., and incoming Executive Secretary for the NACBIB. Dr. Taylor has been at the NIH for 17 years and was previously at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), where she served as the acting Deputy Director of the NINDS Division of Extramural Activities and the Director of the NINDS Office of Research Operations and Analysis. Dr. Tromberg thanked Dr. David George who previously held this position, for his service.

Dr. Tromberg announced the selection of Brad Bower, Ph.D., as NIBIB’s first Chief AI and Data Science Officer. Dr. Bower has been serving as an NIH Data and Technology Advancement (DATA) National Service Scholar for the past two years and has an extensive background in artificial intelligence (AI) industrial projects.

Dr. Tromberg welcomed two new NIBIB staff members: Jonathan Kulwatno, Ph.D., a program director in the Division of Discovery Science and Technology; and Cindy Shi, a grants management specialist in the Office of Grants Management. Dr. Tromberg also bid farewell to Taylor Gilliland, Ph.D., senior advisor for innovation programs in the Office of the Director at NIBIB. Dr. Gilliland helped to advance the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx®) program and is now serving as Senior Scientific Advisor to the Director Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI).

C.    Budget Updates

Dr. Tromberg gave an update regarding the budget. He noted that the NIH budget proposals from the Senate, House, and the White House for FY25 are roughly the same (approximately $50 billion), which represents slight increase over the FY24 funding level ($48.6 billion). The FY25 NIBIB proposed appropriation in the Senate and the White House proposals are $440.6 million and $441.9 million, respectively; due to the proposed restructuring of NIH in the House bill, NIBIB’s budget would be absorbed into a new entity. Dr. Tromberg noted that committee report language specifically recognized the success of the RADx program and commended NIBIB’s efforts. As summarized in the May Council meeting, the payline for parent R01 announcements is 16% (21% for new investigators and 29% for early-stage investigators).

D.    Requests for Information and Funding Opportunities

Recommendations on re-envisioning U.S. postdoctoral research training and career progression in biomedical research: This follow-up request for information (RFI: NOT-OD-24-150) seeks feedback to inform implementation of recommendations from the Advisory Committee to the Director on re-envisioning NIH-supported postdoctoral training. Dr. Tromberg noted that there are several specific recommendations, including increased salaries and benefits. He also noted that the bioengineering community may have a different outlook on postdoctoral training compared to other fields. Responses to this RFI are due by October 23, 2024; Dr. Zeynep Erim is the NIBIB contact.

Opportunities and challenges in enabling and advancing precision medicine AI by integrating clinical imaging with multimodal data: NIH is seeking input on relevant aspects of multimodal AI systems, AI datasets, and AI algorithms that utilize diverse data types and implementation techniques for these types of systems. Responses to this RFI (NOT-RM-24-011) are due by September 23, 2024; Dr. Kris Kandarpa is the NIBIB contact.

Building sustainable software tools for open science: This Office of Data Science Strategy (ODSS) program (RFA-OD-24-010) aims to enhance the sustainability and impact of research software tools, facilitate partnerships between developers and users of software and tools, and promote FAIR practices for research software to maximize research value. Award can be up to $300,000 in combined direct costs for two years, and ODSS intends to commit up to $6 million in FY25. The next available due date is December 4, 2024; Dr. Qi Duan is the NIBIB contact.

NIH research software engineer award: A companion award to the previous item, this ODSS program (RFA-OD-24-011) aims to provide salary support for exceptional research software engineers. Award sizes are up to $300,000 in combined direct costs for up to three years, and ODSS intends to commit up to $6 million in FY25. The next available due date is December 4, 2024; Dr. Qi Duan is the NIBIB contact.

BRING-SynBio NIH-NSF joint program solicitation: This joint program solicitation (NSF 24-603) aims to accelerate the transition of novel fundamental discoveries supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to early-stage biomedical technologies at NIBIB through interagency collaboration. The Biomedical Research Initiative for Next-Gen BioTechnologies – SynBio Control (BRING-SynBio) is a milestone-driven two-phased plan to pursue proof-of-principle synthetic and engineering biology research at NSF (Phase I) followed by exploratory research to translate findings toward biomedical technologies at NIH (Phase II). The application due date is December 4, 2024. An applicant webinar will be held on September 25, 2024, from 1- 2PM EST. Dr. Tuba Fehr is the NIBIB contact.

RADx Tech Act ENDO Challenge: This challenge, hosted in collaboration with the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), will award $3 million in cash prizes to accelerate the development of non-invasive technologies to improve the diagnosis of endometriosis. These technologies should shorten the time to endometriosis diagnosis, eliminate the invasiveness of current techniques, and/or improve the accessibility, safety, convenience, and costs of diagnosis. The submission deadline is October 11, 2024; Dr. Shawn Mulvaney is the NIBIB contact.

Research on bioethical issues related to bionic and robotic device development and translation: The goals of this funding opportunity (RFA-EB-23-005) are to support research that analyzes and/or addresses bioethical issues related to bionic and robotic devices, to develop a research base to inform policy and program decision-making with regards to device lifespan, and to cultivate an interdisciplinary community of bioethicists, engineers, scientists, and clinicians. To date three projects are funded on: bioethical, legal, and anthropological study of robotics, bionics, and bioprinting; ethical considerations for the design and testing of back-support exoskeletons; and fostering ethical adoption of assistive robots for dementia care. The final due date for applications is January 21, 2025; Dr. Moria Bittmann is the NIBIB contact.

E.    Program Updates

Enhancing BEITA at HBCUs: The Enhancing Biomedical Engineering, Imaging, & Technology Acceleration (BEITA) at HBCUs initiative (RFA-EB-23-006) will provide support to strengthen the biomedical engineering research capacity and technology innovation at HBCUs, accelerate technology development and implementation, and prepare trainees at HBCUs for careers in biomedical engineering, imaging, and technology. Goals of the initiative include enhancing scientific workforce diversity and retention, strengthening the infrastructure and technology innovation at HBCUs, and accelerating technology development and implementation.

Albert Avila, Ph.D., who is the NIBIB point of contact for this effort, gave a brief overview of NIBIB’s first HBCU BEITA award, received by Delaware State University (DSU). Their approach includes the establishment of a 3+2 program: a three-year bioengineering degree (BS) followed by a two-year biomedical engineering degree (MS). The overarching goal is to establish an interdisciplinary center at DSU, where students can participate in biophotonics research, collaborations can be developed between DSU and other regional facilities, and students/faculty from diverse backgrounds can be supported. Remaining application due dates are September 30, 2024, and September 30, 2025.

Blueprint MedTech: Dr. Tromberg gave a brief overview of the Blueprint MedTech program, which has resulted in 61 awards comprising a total of $37M to date. A new solicitation focused on early-stage neurotechnologies was recently announced; pre-proposals are due on October 4, 2024. Dr. Michael Wolfson is the NIBIB point of contact.

NIBIB phantom initiative: Dr. Tromberg next discussed administrative supplements to support the optimization, calibration, and dissemination of imaging phantoms (NOT-EB-24-009). Dr. Tromberg noted that these historic awards are designed to bring investigators and communities together to advance phantom technologies, build consensus, and accelerate their widespread dissemination so that they can effectively and quickly impact patients’ lives. Dr. Afrouz Anderson, who is the NIBIB point of contact for this effort, highlighted the diversity of the awards, which include phantom research related to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and other imaging modalities.

DEBUT Challenge: This year, The Design by Biomedical Undergraduate Teams (DEBUT) Challenge had 85 submissions from 48 universities across 24 U.S. states, engaging 362 students. Prize money totaled $160,000 and included eight prizes awarded by NIBIB, two prizes awarded by VentureWell, and six prizes awarded by other NIH institutes. Dr. Tromberg reviewed some of the 2024 award winners:

• The Steven H. Krosnick first prize ($20,000): Awarded to a team from Rice University for their invention called UroFlow, an adaptive, automated, intuitive continuous bladder irrigation system to improve post- operative assessment of hematuria (blood in the urine). Dr. Tromberg shared a short video made by the winning students that described and showcased their technology.
• The second-place prize ($15,000): Awarded to a team from the University of California-Riverside for their invention called OCTAVE (for optical coherence tomography and vibrometry endoscope), which is designed for visualizing middle ear structures.
• The third-place prize ($10,000): Awarded to a team from Northwestern University for their cesarean delivery glove.
• The HIV/AIDS prize, supported by the Office of AIDS Research ($15,000): Awarded to a team from Loyola University for their infusion pump mobile application.
• The technologies for low-resource settings prize, supported by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities ($15,000): Awarded to a team from Cornell University for their invention called NanoLIST, a rapid, low-cost test kit that utilizes gold nanoparticles to detect elevated lead concentration in saliva.
• The technology for cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment prize, supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI, $15,000): Awarded to a team from Stanford University for their invention called ColoTech, a novel, cost-effective screening tool for dysplastic colon cells.
• The assistive and rehabilitative technologies prize, supported by NICHD ($15,000): Awarded to a team from the University of Utah for their invention called U-Build Bionic Knee, a low-cost, powered low- extremity prosthesis.
• The technologies to empower nurses in community settings prize, supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research ($15,000): Awarded to a team from Virginia Tech for their invention called IV Pole Redesign, a tool built in collaboration with nurses that incorporates a tiered and angled hook rake top, an offset pole portion, a spider base, a line organizer, and wheels that improve mobility across threshold transitions. 
• The kidney technology development prize, supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases ($15,000): Awarded to a team from Clemson University for their invention called NephroGuard, a real-time diagnostic device to quickly detect the onset of acute kidney injury in patients following cardiac surgery.
• Dr. Tromberg noted that the DEBUT awards ceremony will take place at the Biomedical Engineering Society (BMES) Annual Meeting in Baltimore on October 25, 2024. Dr. Dave Gutekunst is the contact for the DEBUT program.

Celebrating 10 years of the C3i program: Dr. Tromberg next pivoted to the Concept to Clinic: Commercializing Innovation (C3i) program, an initiative that DEBUT Challenge winners can now access. Dr. Tromberg noted some major outcomes of the program, which recently celebrated its 10th anniversary, such as the number of total teams trained (223 teams, representing more than 540 individuals), private funding raised (more than $600M), and number of successfully launched products (more than 40). Dr. Tromberg spotlighted a few examples of C3i-supported products on the market, noting their broad diversity.

Mr. Todd Merchak, the NIBIB point of contact for this effort, highlighted the importance of the mentor network in this program’s success. Dr. Tromberg noted that the C3i program was one of the foundational components in the creation of the RADx program, inspiring its development and providing key consultants and advisors.

RADx Tech: In continuing his discussion of RADx, Dr. Tromberg highlighted the program’s first de novo clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA): a fingerstick hepatitis C diagnostic by the company Cepheid. Dr. Tromberg noted that this rapid test provides results in less than an hour, facilitating treatment with antiviral drugs on the same day as diagnosis. He added that the RADx Tech Independent Test Assessment Program (ITAP) validation core and clinical trial data led to this potential game-changing diagnostic for the roughly 4 million people in the U.S. with HCV.

MIDRC and NAIRR: Dr. Tromberg next gave a brief update on the impact of the Medical Imaging and Data Resource Center (MIDRC), noting that the initiative is continuing to expand. He said Congress is very interested in AI and that NIBIB has participated in three AI-related congressional briefings. Further, NIBIB is involved in the National AI Research Resource (NAIRR). Dr. Tromberg highlighted two demonstrations involving the House and Senate that focused on NAIRR and mentioned the importance of having MIDRC as an exemplar data repository and AI discovery engine. MIDRC has been awarded $562.5K from ODSS for year two of the NAIRR pilot. Drs. Bower, Kandarpa, and Rui de Sa are the NIBIB points of contact for MIDRC.

Congressional staff visit: Dr. Tromberg highlighted a congressional staff visit organized by AIMBE (for American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering). The visit included five demos and lab visits, featuring both intramural and extramural research. Fifty congressional staff representing 47 members of Congress attended the event; Dr. Tromberg noted that represented members serve on key committees, such as NIH oversight and appropriations committees. Dr. Patty Wiley is the NIBIB point of contact for this effort.

F.    Training and Dissemination

DOE-NCI-NIBIB computational modeling to advance novel medical isotopes for radiopharmaceutical theranostics: This hybrid workshop focused on computational modeling, led by the Department of Energy (DOE) and co-sponsored by NIBIB and NCI, and will be held on September 27, 2024. The intended audiences for this workshop include isotope production and processing researchers, computational modelers, cancer data scientists, translational cancer researchers, and clinician-scientists. Dr. Martin Tornai noted that he is expecting 100-150 in-person attendees with another 300 attendees watching the conference online.
Along with Dr. Tornai, Dr. Tatjana Atanasijevic is a point of contact for this effort.

2024 IMAG MSM consortium meeting: The Interagency Modeling and Analysis Group (IMAG) and the Multiscale Modeling (MSM) consortium is organizing and hosting an upcoming hybrid meeting, Setting up TEAMS for Biomedical Digital Twins (Teaming4BDT). Teaming4BDT will create a community of expertise from academia, industry, medicine and government to promote, empower, and facilitate the understanding, collaboration, creation of tools and infrastructure for biomedical digital twins (BDT). The meeting will take place September 30–October 2, 2024; registration can be found on the IMAG WIKI. Dr. Grace Peng is the NIBIB point of contact.

2024 Workshop on Neuromorphic Principles in Biomedicine and Healthcare: This hybrid workshop is designed to bring together multiple communities to help create new neural technologies with neuromorphic chips. Focus sessions will include epilepsy and cortical disorders (neuromodulation), human-machine interfaces (prosthetics), materials for neuromorphics (devices), and medical imaging, wearables, and analysis. This workshop will take place October 21-22, 2024. Drs. David Rampulla and Jessica Falcone are the points of contact.

2024 NIH SBC meeting: This year’s multi-institute NIH Synthetic Biology Consortium (SBC) meeting will focus on transitioning from synthetic biology tool makers to clinical users (see current NIH interest areas/funding opportunities in this space at (NOT-EB-23-002). This meeting will be held November 20-22, 2024, both in-person and live/recorded on NIH VideoCast; registration can be found here. Drs. Jermont Chen, Tuba Fehr, and Nichole Daringer are the NIBIB points of contact.

SEPA: Dr. Tromberg noted that the Science Education and Partnership Awards (SEPA; PAR-23-137) has announced two awards. The first was for BIOBUILDING: A traveling exhibit for future biomedical engineers, awarded to Adrienne Testa at Sciencenter in Ithaca, New York. The second was for BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING SUPERHEROES: Health Science, Engineering, and Data Science Elementary Curriculum Development & Outreach Program, awarded to Dr. Araceli Martinez Ortiz at UT San Antonio. This program uses an R25 mechanism and grants $250K in direct funding. Dr. Tina Gatlin is the NIBIB point of contact.

BETA Center: Dr. Tromberg turned the presentation over to Dr. Manu Platt, who gave some updates about the Center for Biomedical Engineering Technology Acceleration (BETA). Dr. Platt is the director of the BETA Center.

• Director’s Challenge Innovation Award: Dr. Platt highlighted intramural research program (IRP) investigators who received the Director's Challenge Innovation Award: Drs. Harshad Vishwasrao, Dorian McGavern, and Sam Michael, along with himself. The award was for “an artificial intelligence platform to analyze vaso-immune architecture” and is a partnership between NIBIB, NINDS, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Dr. Platt noted that the funding from this award ($250,000 in FY24 and also in FY25) will support additional coders, software engineers, and model trainers.
• Staff updates: Staff for the BETA Center has expanded and currently includes Dr. Platt, director; Dr. Nicole Morgan, deputy director; Pearl Parker, chief of staff; Castle Kim, makerspace manager; Dr. Jacob Davis, focused on computational biology and network resources; and Dr. Carey Dougan, focused on soft/living biomaterials.
• BESIP: In 2024, the Biomedical Engineering Summer Internship Program (BESIP) had more than 200 applications due to the expansion in student eligibility; 24 interns were selected from 22 different organizations and were placed in labs across 10 different NIH institutes and centers. Dr. Platt highlighted one of the BESIP projects: a medical augmented reality toolkit, which involved first-year student Jonathan Mo, working under Dr. Raisa Freidlin. Dr. Platt showed a short video that demonstrated the augmented reality technology, noting that Mr. Mo advanced its multi-user capabilities and audio control during his 10-week internship.
• Building Bridges Across NIH and with the Broader Engineering Community: On October 22, 2024, NIBIB will host an event on NIH campus that is designed to encourage collaboration between intramural and extramural researchers. Speakers will include intramural researcher Dr. John Tisdale and extramural researcher Dr. Rashid Bashir, along with special guest speaker NIH Director Dr.
  Monica Bertagnolli. Dr. Platt noted that 450 individuals have registered for the event and 180 abstracts have been submitted.

G.    Discussion

Council asked if there has been any follow-up after interactions with congressional staffers. Dr. Tromberg noted that NIBIB takes every opportunity to promote and publicize the work of this community. He also said that NIBIB’s goal is to keep the conversation going with individual professional societies, but continued follow-up needs to be initiated by these societies and individual investigators. He added that NIBIB will continue to create communications and legislative content. Dawn Beraud from AIMBE noted that the congressional event had a record number of staffers and that proactive follow-up from AIMBE occurs after these events. She also added that these events establish NIBIB as a trusted resource and helps to build connections. Council continued this line of thought and asked if there was a plan for a coordinated campaign to deliver NIBIB’s message strategically and from multiple angles. Dr. Tromberg said that this issue is something that NIH as a whole is considering, as NIH itself has multiple sub-brands that can pull the messaging in different directions. He noted that the NIBIB strategic plan will be released soon and that future discussions with Council will help shape messaging.

Council applauded the partnership with HBCUs and asked how this program will help shape best practices that can be translated to other institutions. Dr. Avila said that sustainability is important—not just in terms of funding, but also in terms of faculty. He noted that faculty development and long-term support from institutional leadership are key, and that he’s hopeful that other NIH institutes and centers will help to build up this program. Council also asked about funding for junior faculty members, noting that while NIBIB may be prioritizing funding for early-stage investigators, renewing their first R01 is challenging, so perhaps the problem is just being shifted instead of being addressed. Dr. Tromberg noted that he is aware of this issue, and Dr. Avila mentioned a funding opportunity specifically for new and “at-risk” investigators (PAR-22-181).

Council concluded their discussion by asking about the 24% cut to non-early-stage investigators and how to balance this with funding for early-stage investigators. Dr. George said that NIBIB is relying on feedback to understand when a cut becomes too harsh, and that another option is to award fewer R01s but with smaller cuts.

Dr. Erim said the purpose of her talk was to start a conversation about the NIH-supported postdoctoral scholar experience and encourage NIBIB Council members to participate in a working group that NIBIB will establish to assess the postdoctoral experience from its unique perspective.

Dr. Erim provided the context for the NIBIB working group proposal. She mentioned that the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director (ACD) established a working group in 2022 because of these concerns and trends:

• The effectiveness of the current apprenticeship-based postdoctoral model and how well the current system serves postdoctoral scholars, their well-being, and career progression.
• The number of NIH postdoctoral appointments has leveled off in recent years and has declined by 7.6% in FY 2021. This trend may be due to factors such as poor compensation and benefits, job insecurity, and the uncertain prospects of securing a faculty position at the end of their postdoctoral position. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated these challenges.
• The data suggests a postdoctoral scholar shortage, which could impact the biomedical research enterprise.

The ACD working group was charged with evaluating the status of the postdoctoral training process, understanding fundamental issues affecting postdoctoral scholars, and identifying possible solutions to address these issues. The working group issued its report in December 2023.

Dr. Erim highlighted the key sub-recommendations from the report, noting that there was a follow-up Request for Information (NOT-OD-24-150) seeking feedback to inform implementation of these recommendations, which was highlighted earlier in the Director’s report. However, compared to the biological and biomedical sciences, there may be unique factors impacting the biomedical imaging and bioengineering (BI/B) workforce, including more opportunities and higher salaries in the private sector, not requiring or valuing postdoctoral training as much as other fields, and a higher number of graduate students with temporary visas. She noted that some ACD recommendations such as salary increases and supporting diverse perspectives will benefit postdoctoral scholars irrespective of their field of study. But she raised the question of whether all the recommendations fit the BI/B workforce or if additional ones are needed.

Dr. Erim noted NSF/NIH survey results showing a decline since 2020 in the number of postdoctoral appointees in bioengineering, despite a steady increase in the number of bioengineering doctoral students since 2018.

Council’s experience and insights are needed in the new working group to:

• Evaluate the evidence on the perceived shortage of senior graduate students seeking U.S. postdoctoral scholar positions in BI/B.
• Explore unique circumstances/drivers for the BI/B community
• Recommend measures NIBIB should take in addition to or that differ from the ACD recommendations, and
• Recommend a creative and impactful plan for restructuring the postdoctoral/research enterprise in BI/B including roles for universities and other government agencies.

Dr. Erim closed by asking interested Council members to email her by September 24, 2024.

Discussion:

Council asked what is driving the concern with a few-year decline in postdoctoral scholars. Dr. Erim responded that the key concern that NIH was addressing was how a shortage of postdoctoral scholars would affect the biomedical enterprise as a whole in the future.

Council also noted that the decline might be tied to the career trajectory after a postdoctoral position ends and suggested considering creating a new research faculty track to follow a postdoctoral position.

Council also suggested clarifying whether the research pipeline should include industry or focus solely on academia and surveying senior graduate students about their interest in postdoctoral training.

Dr. Tromberg reiterated that the NIBIB community is somewhat different than the rest of NIH and that NIBIB wants to know how to best meet the needs of training programs in the future.

III. 10^th Annual Lopez Lecture - Equitable Ultrasound and Photoacoustic Imaging - Muyinatu A. Lediju Bell, Ph.D., John C. Malone Associate Professor, Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, Computer Science, and Oncology at Johns Hopkins University

Background:

Dr. Bell began her talk with a tribute to the late Hector Lopez, Ph.D., a former NIBIB program director whom she met through the ultrasound community. Dr. Lopez played a role in Dr. Bell’s graduate research by providing NIBIB grants to her graduate advisor, which paved the way for her pioneering postdoctoral research. Since 2016, she has directed the Photoacoustic and ULtrasonic Systems Engineering (PULSE) Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University.

She described the PULSE lab’s cycle of innovation and its focus on designing beamformers and imaging probes. She defined beamformers as a mathematical-based, physics-based, signal-processing technique that can be applied interchangeably to photoacoustic and ultrasonic imaging because it uses much of the same hardware and software. Dr. Bell said the beamforming processing step is the first line of software defense against poor quality imaging and the focus of much of her research.

She explained that integrating ultrasound with light delivered through a laser beam produces photoacoustic imaging. A benefit of this type of imaging is that it can target any structure with higher optical absorption than its surroundings, which has the potential to provide new information for diagnostic imaging, surgery, and interventional guidance.

Dr. Bell described a problem with the conventional amplitude-based approach to beamformer design used in all ultrasound scanners. Highly random scattering (acoustic clutter) can occur, which leads to lower image quality and possible misinterpretation of images.

She developed a new coherence beamformer technique called short-lag spatial coherence (SLSC) to reduce acoustic clutter. She showed images of overweight and obese patients and dense breast tissue, factors which tend to lead to acoustic clutter, to demonstrate that image quality improved with her SLSC technique compared to the conventional approach.

Dr. Bell noted that conventional amplitude-based approaches can lead to inherent skin tone bias, as higher levels of melanin can result in acoustic clutter. She demonstrated that coherence-based beamforming can reduce acoustic clutter in people with higher melanin content (darker skin tones). She also showed a series of photoacoustic breast imaging simulations from the PULSE lab representing different skin tones and different wavelengths that indicated that skin is primarily responsible for the presence of acoustic clutter, regardless of skin tone or wavelength.

Surgical applications: 

Her lab designed a surgical guidance tool that transmits light from the tool tip onto a blood vessel, which generates sound that is received by an ultrasound probe. Her lab used simulations and cadaver experiments to identify three possible placements of ultrasound probes and then validated the photoimaging tool in different experiments. The results suggest that the tool could be useful in guiding minimally invasive neurosurgical procedures.

The PULSE lab has investigated the guidance tool’s broader surgical applications, including integrating it with the da Vinci robotic system to perform hysterectomies. The goal is to miniaturize the components of a photoacoustic imaging system, including a specialized light system, so it can be attached to any da Vinci tooltip. The researchers also created a sound to alert a surgeon when the tooltip is too close to the ureter to avoid injuries. Dr. Bell noted that NIBIB funded this research.

Minimally Invasive Procedures:

The image-guidance tool is also a promising approach for other minimally invasive procedures such as needle biopsies and catheter placements. Dr. Bell touched on various surgical applications and due to time constraints referred Council to her perspective in the Journal of Applied Physics for more information.

One of the applications is cardiac imaging. Starting with the core photoacoustic system, an ultrasound probe can be attached to a robotic arm and an optical fiber can be inserted into a cardiac catheter. This creates a new system that can autonomously stay centered on the catheter.

Dr. Bell also suggested that the photoacoustic imaging system could replace fluoroscopy for interventional guidance and that the system’s components could be miniaturized to be unobtrusive. However, a tiny laser would produce a weaker signal, which could hinder tracking the catheter tip. That challenge could be overcome by using a coherence-based approach to beamforming.

The PULSE lab has also been investigating a coherence-based photoacoustic approach to flexible array technology, which would conform to different body shapes and sizes for wearable health applications.

Computations:

Dr. Bell’s lab has focused on replacing and speeding up the time-intensive cross-correlation step in the SLSC beamforming process. Using recorded data from samples, her research team has developed software (CohereNet) that uses deep neural networks to calculate the spatial coherence function. She demonstrated that CohereNet achieved a high image correlation when compared with the original time- intensive SLSC approach over the entire test set of images of breast masses and increased the processing speed.

Dr. Bell said that the same deep neural network approach to beamforming can be applied to photoacoustic imaging to reduce acoustic clutter and skin tone bias found in the traditional amplitude-based approach. Using machine learning, photoacoustic coherence functions were calculated to provide SLSC images for a diversity of skin tones, which further reduced acoustic clutter.

Key takeaways:

• Coherence-based techniques enable more equitable ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging.
• Applications can range from diagnostic imaging to surgery and minimally invasive interventions, with patient-specific software and hardware.
• Diversity drives innovation, including diversity of datasets. All types of patients should be included in the datasets for analysis representing diverse body shapes and weights, dense breast tissue, and darker skin tones related to optic-based technologies.
• An interdisciplinary team in her lab also drives innovation.

The PULSE lab has made its ultrasound and photoacoustic imaging resources publicly available.

Dr. Bell closed by saying that an NIBIB-funded supplement to her NIH Trailblazer Award enabled her to release software that can detect COVID-19.

Discussion:

Council asked about a particular focus or broader opportunity for technologies to determine the location of array elements in the context of beamforming. Dr. Bell responded that she sees many opportunities to apply flexible array technologies beyond photoacoustic imaging. This includes wearable health technologies and sound-speed estimation for ultrasound imaging, which her lab has been exploring recently.

Dr. Tromberg said there was an opportunity to investigate a frequency-dependent coherent response given the broadband nature of the photoacoustic signal. He asked Dr. Bell whether more mechanical properties including velocities and stress/strain could be extracted from the tissue. Dr. Bell responded that the theory her lab developed for photoacoustic imaging has led to a better understanding of how frequency influences the spatial coherence function. However, it would be interesting to dig deeper to see how that might impact blood flow or a velocity-based approach to imaging.

Dr. Bell added that combining coherence imaging with elastography might be an open area for investigation.

Adjournment

The open session of the NACBIB meeting was adjourned at 1:45 p.m.

Closed Session

Review of Council Procedures and Regulations: Dr. David George

The grant application review portion of the meeting was closed to the public in accordance with provisions set forth in Section 552b(c)(4) and 552b(c)(6), Title 5, U.S. Code, and 10(d) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. appendix 2).

Members absented themselves from the meeting during discussion of and voting on applications from their own institutions, or other applications in which there was a potential conflict of interest, real or apparent.

Review of Applications

The National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering considered 1883 research and training applications requesting $2,306,727,250 in total costs. The Council recommended 1883 applications with a total cost of $2,306,727,250.

Adjournment

The closed session was adjourned at 2:40p.m.

Certification:

We certify that, to the best of our knowledge, the foregoing minutes are accurate and complete.²

David T. George, Ph.D. Executive Secretary

National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Associate Director for Extramural Science Programs

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

Bruce Tromberg, Ph.D. Chairperson,

National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering Director,

National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering

² These minutes will be approved formally by the Council at the next meeting on January 22, 2025, and corrections or notations will be stated in the minutes of that meeting.