The Department congratulates Hong Yuan, PhD, Professor of Radiology, on her S10 Grant for her project entitled, “Preclinical Vevo-F2 ultrasound imaging system for Small Animal Imaging core facility.” This $490K grant funds the installation of a preclinical ultrasound imaging system at UNC’s Small Animal Imaging (SAI) core facility, which Dr. Yuan leads.
The facility has an old (more than 13 years) system to provide rodent ultrasound imaging. The new system will replace the old one and provide much-enhanced ultrasound imaging to the community. The upgrade is a crucial step to solving the problem of aging ultrasound imaging equipment and the growing need for ultrasound imaging in animal models.
The requested Vevo-F2 system is the most advanced model from VisualSonics, the leading industry in preclinical ultrasound imaging. Several new features of the Vevo-F2 system include extended frequency range allowing imaging from small rodents to dogs; various transducers providing either high resolution down to 30 micron, or deep penetration up to 15cm; 4D imaging allowing to acquire, visualize, and analyze a complete dynamic cardiac cycle in 3D volume; enhanced Doppler sensitivity and faster frame rates for superior blood flow imaging; and enhanced image processing technology with a reduction in speckle noise and image artifacts.