People
Mark Andrew Borden received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1999 from the University of Arizona and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering in 2003 from the University of California, Davis. He conducted undergraduate research at the University of Washington on a capillary-based, high-throughput, fluid-sample handling device and at Arizona on peptide affinity to chromatography columns. His doctoral research focused on modeling and measuring the gas transport properties and surface morphology of lipid-coated microbubbles. In addition, he investigated methods to produce unilamellar vesicles from novel diblock copolymers. In the Ferrara lab, Mark has investigated the role of microbubble shell physicochemical properties on ultrasound destruction mechanisms and developed targeted contrast agents. He currently is engineering novel microbubble formulations for ultrasound applications in molecular imaging and targeted drug delivery.
maborden@ucdavis.edu • Current Research
Charles Caskey received his B.S. in Electric Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2004. He conducted undergraduate research on ultrasound elasticity imaging in the Panscopic Imaging Lab at Texas and developed RF coils for MRI while interning at the University of Rochester, New York. Currently, he is pursuing hisPh. D. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of California at Davis where he performs research on the use of ultrasound contrast agents for drug delivery.
cfcaskey@ucdavis.edu
Paul Dayton graduated from Villanova University in 1995 with B.S. degrees in physics and comprehensive science, and a minor in chemistry. As an undergraduate, he conducted research in surface science with the Physics Department and pulse sequence programming for an NMR spectrometer in the Chemistry Department. He received his M.E. in electrical engineering and his Ph.D. in biomedical engineering from the University of Virginia in 1998 and 2001, respectively, and his research involved the study of ultrasound contrast agents. Dr. Dayton conducted post-doctoral research at the University of California, Davis, and is now an assistant research professor at the same institution. His current research interests include targeted imaging and drug delivery.
padayton@ucdavis.edu • Current Research • Website
Azi Kheirolomoom received a B.S. in chemical Engineering from Sharif University of Tech. (Tehran-Iran) and M.S. & Ph. D. degrees in Chemical/Biochemical Engineering from Kyoto University (Kyoto-Japan) in 1984, 1988, and 1992, respectively. Her PhD work was focused on membrane-bound enzymes, their reconstitution in lipid bilayer of liposomes, and their productivity in bioreactors after immobilization. In 1992 she joined CIBA-GEIGY (Japan) as a post-doctoral research fellow and worked on kinetic studies of plant histidinol dehydrogenase to design a novel herbicide. In 1994 as an Alexander von Humboldt fellow she joined Jülich Research Center in Jülich, Germany to clarify the kinetics of mitochondrial Phosphate carrier. She became a faculty member of Graduate School of Chemical Engineering, Sharif University of Tech. in 1995. In Ferrara lab her interest is targeted drug delivery and she is currently investigating the efficacy of cholesterol as a drug/gene-delivery component.
akheirolomoom@ucdavis.edu
Tyler Kitano is an undergraduate research assistant currently pursuing a B.S in Biomedical Engineering at the University of California at Davis. Tyler is a member in the Golden Key International Honor Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, and the Engineering Honor Society Tau Beta Pi. Tyler’s favorite lab job is “zapping” microbubble contrast agents with high-frequency ultrasound
tkkitano@ucdavis.edu
Dustin E. Kruse Dustin E. Kruse received a B.A. degree in physics from the State University of New York College at Geneseo in 1996, the M.E. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Virginia in 1999, and the Ph.D. degree in biomedical engineering in 2004, also from the University of Virginia. His graduate work involved the development and application of high frequency ultrasound to image blood flow in the microcirculation. Dr. Kruse is currently a research engineer at the University of California, Davis, Department of Biomedical Engineering, where his research interests are in the areas of ultrasound signal processing, high frequency ultrasound, contrast-assisted imaging, and therapeutic ultrasound. Dr. Kruse also instructed BIM281- Biomedical Signal Acquisition and Analysis in the W02, W03, and S03 quarters.
dekruse@ucdavis.edu • Current Research
Erika Little has an M.S., B.S., and teaching credential in biology from UCD. She is the Ferrara lab technician.
elittle@ucdavis.edu
Aaron Lum graduated with a BS in Bioengineering: ABET with a minor in Japanese Studies from Revelle College at UCSD in 1998. He then graduated with a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UCD in 2003.
aflum@ucdavis.edu • Current Research
Eric Paoli will receive his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of California Davis in 2006.
eepaoli@ucdavis.edu
Shengping Qin received a B.S. degree in metal forming from University of Science and Technology Beijing, China in 1996 with emphasis on metallic microstructure & material property control and metal forming theory and technology, a M.S. degree in ocean engineering from Shanghai Jiaotong University, China in 2002 focusing on engineering structural fatigue reliability analysis and a Ph.D. degree in mechanical engineering from University of California, Riverside with the dissertation titled “Mechanical Mechanisms of Clinical Blood Vessel Injuries Caused by Asymmetrical Oscillation of Micro Bubbles during Shock Wave Lithotripsy (SWL)”. He is working in Dr. Ferrara’s lab in Department of Biomedical Engineering at University of California, Davis. His current research focuses on the effect of microbubble oscillations on small vessels, microcirculation and extravasation characteristics and mechanism of vascular permeability enhancement in local drug delivery with contrast ultrasound.
spqin@ucdavis.edu
Michaelann J. Shortencarier received a B.S. degree in 2002 in chemical engineering from New Mexico Tech, Socorro, NM. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in biomedical engineering at the University of California, Davis, CA, under the supervision of Dr. Katherine Ferrara. Her research involves targeted drug delivery systems.
mashort@ucdavis.edu • Current Research
Douglas N. Stephens is a life long resident of California. He received a B.S. in Physiology from the University of California, Davis in 1976, and the B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering in 1981 and 1983, respectively, from California State University, Sacramento. Early in his career he developed annular array switching electronics for GE Medical Systems Division, assisted two start up companies in medical electronics, and in 1984 designed an electromechanical motion control system for ultrasound scanning at Stanford Research Institute.
In 1985 Mr. Stephens joined the founding technical group at EndoSonics Corporation as a Senior Electronic Design Engineer. As a key contributor at EndoSonics in solid state intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) technology he was responsible for all catheter electronics and analog signal processing. In 1990 he led the effort in the creation of the world's first commercial 3.5F solid state ultrasound imaging catheter and was awarded the first EndoSonics Fellowship Award in that year. In 1994 he co-invented the means and method for IVUS color flow imaging which allows a real time intraluminal visualization of blood location and velocity, and in 1995 was promoted to Vice President of Strategic Technology responsible for the new designs of IVUS solid state technology.
Mr. Stephens is currently in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Davis working on methods of ultrasound based targeted imaging and microbubble mediated drug delivery while also providing engineering design and management for a multi-site research partnership developing novel intracardiac imaging catheters for use in electrophysiology procedures. His current research interests include piezoelectric transducer applications, efficient methods for synthetic aperture beam forming, and ASIC circuit designs for invasive medical imaging.
dnstephens@ucdavis.edu • Current Research
Susanne M. Stieger graduated from the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria in 1995. From 1995 she performed a doctoral program at the Clinic of Veterinary Radiology at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna, where she graduated with a Dr. med. vet. in 1998. After graduation she performed a residency program in Diagnostic Imaging at the Clinic of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna and at the Clinic of Diagnostic Imaging, Veterinary Hospital, Zurich, Switzerland, which she finished with the DipECVDI in 2001. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in comparative pathology at the University of California, Davis. Her research involved targeted ultrasound imaging of angiogenesis and increasing vascular permeability with low frequency ultrasound.
smstieger@ucdavis.edu • Current Research
Yang Sun received a B.S. degree in 1999 and a M.E. degree in 2002 both in biomedical engineering at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. degree in biomedical engineering at the University of California, Davis, CA, under the supervision of Dr. Katherine Ferrara. Her research involves coded excitation contrast imaging.
ywsun@ucdavis.edu • Current Research
Kian Torab is a biomedical engineering senior at UC Davis. He is fascinated by the field, and is still trying to figure out what's best for him. It's all too interesting and it's really hard for him to decide. No experience yet, but he will have something here if you check back next year.
ktorab@ucdavis.edu
Hua Zhang obtained her B.E. and M.E. degrees in 1994 and 1997 from Tianjin University and Beijng University of Chemical Technology, respectively. In 2005, Hua finished her Ph.D. study in Polytechnic University and joined Professor Ferrara’s group in University of California, Davis. Her Ph.D. research was to study the interactions between water and polymer networks on the molecular level with both experimental and computational approaches. Her current research interests include targeted imaging and drug delivery.
hchzhang@ucdavis.edu
Shukui Zhao received the B.S. degree in material science and engineering in 1998, the M.S. degree in biomedical engineering in 2001, both from Sichuan University, China, and the M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 2003 from St. Cloud State University, MN. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at University of California, Davis. His current research interests include targeted imaging with ultrasound contrast agent and ultrasound radiation force for enhanced targeting efficiency.
szhao@ucdavis.edu • Current Research
Katherine Whittaker Ferrara Following the BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering, Dr. Ferrara worked for Sound Imaging, Inc. Folsom, CA and for General Electric Medical Systems, Rancho Cordova, CA in the areas of magnetic resonance and ultrasound imaging, during 1983-1988. She received her Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science in 1989 from the University of California, Davis. From 1989-1993 she was an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Electrical Engineering at California State University, Sacramento. From 1993-1995, she was a principal member of the research staff at the Riverside Research Institute, New York, NY, and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Cornell University Medical School, and from 1995-1998 she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. Since December of 1998, Dr. Ferrara has been Professor and Chair of Biomedical Engineering in the newly created Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Davis.
Dr. Ferrara is an Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control. She chaired the technical program for the 1997 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium. She is a member of Tau Beta Pi and Sigma Xi and a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America. Her research interests are medical imaging and biomedical signal processing and particularly in the areas of ultrasonics and acoustics.
kwferrara@ucdavis.edu