• GUEST: Elisa Konofagou, New York

We continue at full speed with back to back podcasts hosting leaders in the field of molecular imaging. In this edition we welcome Elisa Konofagou and share her passion for ultrasound imaging and its unique capabilities for visualising biology inside the human body. Her group has developed methods for estimating minute deformation as a result of physiological function, such as in the heart and vessels, and displacements induced by the ultrasound wave itself, such as in tumours and nerves. She is particularly interested in translating these technologies to a clinical setting and impacting the improvement of healthcare.

The use of innovative ultrasound imaging to solve a clinical problem is the focus of this edition. The discussion revolves around a paper presenting an artful application of ultrasound localization microscopy to image the hemodynamics of myocardial microvasculature in patients. The paper was recently published from the group of Meng-Xing Tang at Imperial College London in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

We discover their breakthrough approach in achieving super resolution, that is resolution beyond the diffraction limit of ultrasound waves, by localizing the position and following the path of circulating microbubbles in the vasculature in a beating human heart. This study presents the potential of ultrasound localisation microscopy to improve the understanding of myocardial microcirculation with a great impact on patients with cardiac microvasculature and coronary heart disease. As a bonus discussion before the end we briefly touch upon the art of choosing how to write a paper: when should we write a detailed paper for a very specific audience, vs making it accessible to generalists?

Continuing our tradition, we enjoy a special cocktail dedicated to Elisa’s French connection as well as the chosen paper. For this edition the “French 75”, invented some 100 years ago in Paris. If you want to try it while listening here’s the recipe: 1 measure Gin, ½ measure fresh lemon juice, ½ measure sugar syrup, top up with champagne for some microbubbles! Serve in a flute and garnish with a lemon twist.

Selected Publication: Yan J, Huang B, Tonko J, Toulemonde M, Hansen-Shearer J, Tan Q, Riemer K, Ntagiantas K, Chowdhury RA, Lambiase PD, Senior R, Tang MX. Transthoracic ultrasound localization microscopy of myocardial vasculature in patients. Nat Biomed Eng. 2024 Jun;8(6):689-700. doi: 10.1038/s41551-024-01206-6. Epub 2024 May 6. PMID: 38710839; PMCID: PMC11250254.

Further information on the European Society for Molecular Imaging:
https://e-smi.eu/
Contact: office@e-smi.eu