THE LAB
The Biomedical Signal and Image Processing Lab is committed to developing advanced computational methods to address complex problems in medicine and biology. Research projects are funded by a wide range of federal and private organizations, including the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the Carolinas Healthcare System, and the Health System Organization.
The philosophy of Biomedical Signal and Image Processing Lab is threefold: enjoy your work, satisfy your scientific curiosity by trying new methods, and help save lives by creating new solutions!
Biomedical Signal & Image Processing: A Gateway to Computer-Aided Decision-Making
The focus of the research conducted in our lab is in the development of computer-assisted decision-making systems. Using features and information extracted from raw data via signal and image processing techniques, these systems can provide real-time, on-the-fly treatment recommendations and outcome predictions at every stage of care. By assisting physicians in this manner, patient care can be improved, costs can be reduced and expertise can be provided in cases where medical experts are not immediately available. Example applications of these systems are in traumatic injury cases and hemorrhagic shock. The raw data we analyze includes BP, ECG, medical imaging (CT, X-Rray, MRI & fMRI, etc.), and similarly important signals.
These recommendations and predictions are then communicated to physicians and caregivers via a simple, effective user interface in an easy-to-understand format, along with the reasoning behind each one.
Biomedical image and signal processing encompasses the techniques that apply mathematical tools to extract important diagnostic information from biomedical and biological data. Data mining techniques can then be applied to train expert systems on existing data and classify new examples. Due to the size and complexity of such data, computer systems typically perform all processing, visualization and classification steps.
VCURES
Dr. Kayvan Najarian, head of the Biomedical Signal and Image Processing Lab, is the co-director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Reanimation Engineering Shock Center (VCURES), a center devoted to the study of critical illness and injury including their causes, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
We have ongoing open Research Assistant Positions for outstanding graduate students in the Biomedical Image and Signal Processing Lab. Interested students should contact Dr. Kayvan Najarian (knajarian "at" vcu "dot" edu).