Research Collaborations with Surgery at Special Grand Rounds

Faculty from the UK Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Engineering provided general reviews of past and ongoing collaborative research initiatives at a special Surgery Grand Rounds presentation in November.

Co-hosted by William B. Inabnet III, MD, MHA, FACS, the Johnston Wright Endowed Professor and Chair of Surgery, and Guigen Zhang, PhD, FBMES, FBSE, FAIMBE, Professor and Chair of the F. Joseph Halcomb III, MD Department of Biomedical Engineering, the grand rounds celebrated and promoted innovation and continuing collaboration between their respective departments.

Dr. Zhang and Dr. Inabnet have been in regular talks to establish a formal collaborative partnership to codify current and future opportunities in biomedical research and grant funding. These grand rounds sessions will be used to inspire faculty, residents, and students to explore new ideas and novel solutions in surgical device designs, techniques, and treatment of disease.

Guoqiang Yu, Ph.D.
Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Pediatrics
Department of Biomedical Engineering, UK College of Engineering

Dr. Guoqiang Yu’s research team has been developing innovative uses for Near-Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy and tomography, a non-invasive approach to detecting ischemia or hypoxia in skin and organ tissues. Clinical applications for this optical technology have been employed in collaboration with several College of Medicine faculty.

NIR imaging can penetrate several centimeters into skin surfaces non-invasively to measure blood flow and oxygenation. He summarized how the NIR technology has been used in the following applications:

1. A study of the technology in measuring and assessing blood flow distribution in mastectomy skin flaps with Dr. Lesley Wong and Dr. Alisha Paranzino, a PGY-6 resident in Plastic Surgery.
2. Using the optical technology to monitor cerebral blood flow with Drs. Elie G. Abu Jawdeh (Pediatrics), Henrietta S. Bada (Pediatrics), and Lei Chen (Physiology).
3. The development of wearable fluorescence eye loupes as an alternative to bulky imaging equipment that assist Neurosurgeons in the resection of brain tumors with Dr. Thomas A. Pittman (Neurosurgery and Pediatrics).

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