UNC Lineberger’s Paul A. Dayton, PhD, was recognized for his contributions to biomedical engineering in the areas of contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging and ultrasound-targeted therapeutics.
Paul A. Dayton, PhD, member of the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and professor in the UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering, has been inducted into the American Institute for Medical Engineering College of Fellows.
Dayton was recognized for his contributions to biomedical engineering in the areas of contrast-enhanced ultrasound imaging and ultrasound-targeted therapeutics. Dayton and his team are researching a non-invasive form of ultrasound technology that can image the abnormal blood vessels feeding tumors.
”This is a well-deserved recognition for Paul,” said UNC Lineberger Director Shelton Earp, MD. “His work is both clever, yet practical, as he uses cutting-edge technology and an understanding of physics to create tools for cancer detection and clinical follow-up. His science will impact care of patients.”
Election to the AIMBE College of Fellows, comprised of the top two percent of medical and biological engineers, is considered among the highest professional distinctions.
Dayton was nominated, reviewed and elected by his peers and members of the college, which honors those who have made outstanding contributions to “engineering and medicine research, practice or education,” and to “the pioneering of new and developing fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of technology, making major advancements in traditional fields of medical and biomedical engineering, or development/implementing innovative approaches to bioengineering education.”
Dayton was inducted along with 156 colleagues in the AIMBE College of Fellows Class of 2018 during the AIMBE Annual Meeting at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC, on April 9.
Dayton and his team are developing methods for high-resolution, non-invasive ultrasound technology that uses sound to detect cancer by taking advantage of the unusual bendiness, or tortuosity, of blood vessels supplying tumors. In one of these novel technologies, called “acoustic angiography,” researchers bounce sound waves off microbubbles that are flowing through the blood vessels. The sound waves hit the microbubbles, the bubbles vibrate, and send sound waves back at a different frequency than the rest of the surrounding tissue. The researchers can capture those sound waves distinctly, and translate them into images, which show differences between healthy and cancerous tissue.
“With new capabilities that enable ultrasound to identify cancer through microvascular and molecular biomarkers, we hope to provide clinicians with tools for assessing cancer earlier and with greater confidence, enabling earlier and more effective treatments for the patient,” Dayton said.