LITMUS
LABORATORY ON INNOVATIVE TECH
IN MEDICAL ULTRASOUND
People
Alfred C. H. Yu, Principal Investigator
alfred.yu@uwaterloo.ca
Alfred has a long-standing research interest in ultrasound imaging and therapeutics. He is a Professor at UW (ECE and Applied Math) and is the Director of NSERC CREATE Program on Next-Generation Innovations in Ultrasonics (N-GENIUS). He is an NSERC Steacie Fellow and an AIUM Fellow. His research is recognized by various prestigious prizes, including the IEEE Ultrasonics Early Career Investigator Award, the Frederic Lizzi Award, and the Ontario Early Researcher Award. He is now the Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, & Frequency Control, the Program Chair of 2023 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, and the Secretary of AIUM Basic Science & Instrumentation Community. He has also previously chaired the Medical Ultrasound Group of the IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium and ISTU Education Committee, and has served as an Associate Editor of Ultrasound in Medicine and Biology.
Billy Y. S. Yiu, Principal Investigator
billy.yiu@uwaterloo.ca
Billy is the Co-Director of LITMUS and a Research Assistant Professor at UW. He has an active research interest in advanced ultrasound imaging, and he has been involved in the design of high-frame-rate imaging techniques and related system tools. Billy completed his B.Eng. (Hons) degree in Medical Engineering and his an M.Phil. studies in Electrical and Electronic Engineering, both at the University of Hong Kong. He then completed his PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His work is recognized by various research honors, including the ASA Biomedical Acoustics Best Student Paper Award, the USE Young Scientist Award, and the KSUM Young Investigator Gold Prize. He is the Co-Instructor for the "Ultrasound Signal Processing with GPUs" short course at the IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium.
Adrian J. Y. Chee, Associate Scientist
adrian.chee@uwaterloo.ca
Adrian’s research specializes on the design of new vascular ultrasound techniques and related experimental tools. He is also the group’s de-facto lab manager. A globe trotter, Adrian obtained his B.Eng. degree in Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and received his Ph.D. training at the University of Hong Kong. He also completed a research internship at Hitachi Central Research Laboratory in Tokyo, Japan.
Hassan Nahas, Associate Scientist
hassan.nahas@uwaterloo.ca
Hassan graduated from New York University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and with highest distinction (summa cum laude). With an affinity to biomedical engineering and signal processing, Hassan has completed his PhD studies at the University of Waterloo, and has now joined the lab as a research staff. His main research interests are in next-generation ultrasound flow imaging techniques. He is also actively investigating the applicability of deep learning in medical ultrasound. Before joining LITMUS, he has enjoyed multiple spells as an undergraduate research assistant in projects related to biofilms, DNA microarray technology, Doppler ultrasound, and indoor localisation.
Richard Shangguan, PhD Candidate
hanyue.shangguan@uwaterloo.ca
Richard obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Material Science Engineering at the University of Toronto in 2016. He gained initial experience in working with microbubbles during his undergraduate capstone project. He is now seeking to develop new biomedical ultrasound applications of these contrast agents as his research direction in graduate studies at the University of Waterloo.
Di Xiao, PhD Candidate
di.xiao@uwaterloo.ca
Di has a strong research interest in different forms of medical imaging. He completed his undergraduate degree in Mathematics at the University of California - Berkeley, where he worked on Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) research, and his masters degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities, where he focused on MRI research. Afterwards, he worked at the IBM Toronto Software Lab. With a background in hardware, software, and mathematics, Di is looking forward to integrating his expertise to the field of ultrasound imaging.
Rebekah Maffett, PhD Candidate
rebekah.maffett@uwaterloo.ca
Rebekah completed her BASc degree in Nanotechnology Engineering at the University of Waterloo in 2018. During her undergraduate degree, she worked in research fields ranging from materials science for the development of more efficient particle accelerators, to probing the radiation tolerance of CMOS and CCD image sensor designs. Rebekah joined LITMUS to further develop her interest in medical imaging technology by expanding her knowledge in biomedical ultrasonics and electrical engineering.
Jason Hsu, PhD Candidate
jason.hsu@uwaterloo.ca
Jason obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering at Chang Gung University, Taiwan, where he acquired his first experience with biomedical engineering. He then completed a master’s degree in communications engineering at National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan. Jason’s ongoing passion in biomedical engineering has led him to LITMUS, where he seeks to explore new applications of biomedical ultrasound imaging.
Robyn Klassen, PhD Student
robyn.klassen@uwaterloo.ca
Robyn has long been eager to improve the quality of life and care of patients by developing new therapeutic technologies. To that end, she received her BASc degree with distinction in 2020 as part of the University of Waterloo’s new Biomedical Engineering program. During this time, she was captivated by the prospect of using ultrasound and microbubbles for localized drug delivery, joining LITMUS to pursue her interest in understanding fundamental cell-bubble interactions. Robyn brings with her a diverse research background, including the development of new digital microfluidic manufacturing processes at Nicoya, and the evaluation of a low-resource medical instrument sanitization device for her capstone project.
Pat de la Torre, PhD Student
pat.delatorre@uwaterloo.ca
A former math Olympian, Pat obtained his Bachelor's degree in Biomedical Engineering (Honorable Mention with Excellence) at Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, Mexico. He first joined LITMUS as a research assistant in summer of 2019 through the Mitacs Globalink Research Internship program. After experiencing various biomedical research groups working on projects related to biochemistry, 3-D mechanical modeling, and electrochemistry, Pat decided to return to LITMUS to further pursue his passion to explore the novel applications of ultrasound imaging.
Chris Kallweit, MASc Student
chris.kallweit@uwaterloo.ca
Chris originally started his post-secondary experience at Conestoga College, where he completed the Electrical Engineering Technologist program, finishing with High Distinction. After completing his diploma, he continued to upgrade his education at Lakehead University, where he completed his Bachelor’s in Engineering with First Class Standing. During his undergrad at Lakehead, Chris first became exposed to biomedical engineering as part of his final year degree project, where he worked with Radialis Medical towards creating a Bias Voltage control system for Silicon Photomultipliers used in Positron Emission Tomography applications. Realizing the strong connection between electrical and biomedical engineering, Chris decided to pursue graduate studies to further his knowledge in both fields.
Matthew Tung, MASc Student
matthew.tung@uwaterloo.ca
Matthew graduated from Carleton University with a Bachelor of Engineering in Biomedical Electrical Engineering. With experience in engineering fields which range from communications engineering to biomedical design, he has a wide skill set which will be key to his new chapter in the LITMUS group. Following an undergraduate capstone project developing a gait analysis system, he has developed a healthy interest in biomedical engineering. Armed with a strong desire to learn about medical imaging modalities, he is ready to apply his knowledge to explore the future of ultrasound imaging.
YanYan Tran, MASc Student
yanyan.tran@uwaterloo.ca
YanYan received her BASc degree in Biomedical Engineering with Distinction and Dean’s Honour’s List at the University of Waterloo in 2021. Throughout her undergraduate degree, she worked in various roles from cardiovascular imaging research to camera hardware engineering. YanYan is eager to use her experience with medical imaging systems to bridge the therapeutic and imaging aspects of ultrasonics to investigate novel quantitative methods in ultrasound-mediated drug delivery.