Medical Imaging: Biology not physics

Most people have had an x-ray or an ultrasound scan. Modern medical images such as these have revolutionised healthcare in the last hundred years. They generally show differences in the physical properties of tissue such as x-ray absorption or the reflectance of ultrasound by tissue boundaries. Doctors then take these images, combine them with their knowledge of the disease, the patient's history and any other examinations, and arrive at a diagnosis based on the whole clinical assessment. The goal of my Challenging Engineering award is to combine medical images with all the other information about a patient such as other clinical data and their medical history. This will let me produce medical images of clinically relevant biological parameters, such as the probability that a particular area of the image represents cancer or some other disease, rather than the images of physical properties which are currently produced.The advantages of this are:(1) It will allow doctors to work more efficiently(2) It will allow the latest research to be incorporated explicitly into the decision-making process(3) It could lead to improved diagnosis and improved monitoring of treatment. This would mean improved patient care, faster recovery and reduced cost to the NHS.I will work toward this high-risk goal of biological imaging by creating a new type of multimodality medical imaging group which is problem-led rather than technique-led. My broad experience in medical imaging will allow me to identify appropriate clinical problems, pursue collaborations and implement the most appropriate solutions. This will include experimental and theoretical approaches, with solutions drawn from across the whole field of medical imaging. The expertise I will bring together in my group will allow me to produce evidence-based images of the underlying biology of the tissues rather than their physical properties. This will lead to a new approach to medical imaging, and improved patient care.