Research Accomplishments
2020
Abstracts/Presentations/Posters:
Ben Keunen, Maryam Siddiqui, Chris Krasnichuk, Claire Wunker, Karolina Piorkowska, Yael Babichev,Warren Foltz, Adam C. Waspe, Rebecca Gladdy, J. Ted Gerstle, Samuel Pichardo (March 26-27, 2020). Proteus: An Open Source Software Platform for Modulated Therapy with MRgHIFU. 18thAnnual Symposium of the Imaging Network Ontario (Virtual Conference).
Grants/Fellowships/Scholarships:
Alberta Innovates Postgraduate Fellowship in Health Innovation. (2020-2023, $165,000 CAD) Bingbing Cheng (Dr Pike’s team).
Innovate Calgary’s Life Science Start-up Fellowship (2020 – 2022, $200,000 CAD). Chenchen Bing (Dr Pichardo’s team)
HBI Evans Family (2020, $50 000) for Dr Pichardo's team.
Private Donor (2020, $15 000) for the operating account
2019
Abstracts/Presentations/Posters:
Siddiqui M, Engler S, MacDonald M, Loree-Spacek J, Tan J, Raisbeck S, Morrow E, Lustgarten L, Looi T, Drake JM, Waspe AC, Allen C, Curiel L, Foltz W, Curiel L, Pichardo S (April 29 – May 2, 2019). Multisite Software Platform of MRI-Guided Focused Ultrasound Hyperthermia Applications. 36th Annual Meeting of the Society for Thermal Medicine. (St. Pete, Florida).
Beserra A, Pichardo S, Curiel L (June 13-15, 2019). Preclinical Xray/PET Guided Focused Ultrasound System for Neuro and Abdominal Applications. 19th International Society of Therapeutic Ultrasound(Barcelona, Spain)
Loree-Spacek J,Coreas A, Pichardo S (June 13-15, 2019). Design of an Acoustic Reflective Casing For Neurostimulation Studies with Microscopy. 19th International Society of Therapeutic Ultrasound(Barcelona, Spain)
Chu W, Huang Y, Pichardo S, Perry K, McGuffin M, Staruch R, Wong S, Czarnota G, Hynynen K (June 13-15, 2019). MR HIFU Mild Hyperthermia with Radiation and Chemotherapy for Rectal Cancer: Phase 1 Study in Recurrent Rectal Cancer and Retrospective Study for Primary Disease. International Society of Therapeutic Ultrasound (Barcelona, Spain)
Shrestha S, Krasnichuk C, Pichardo S (June 13-15, 2019) Experimental Setup for Characterization of Low Intensity Ultrasound for Targeting the Cortical Region in the Brain. 19th International Society of Therapeutic Ultrasound(Barcelona, Spain)
Seasons G, Mazerolle EL, Warwaruk-Rogers R, Romo P, Sankar T, Pichardo S, Martino D, Kiss Z, Pike GB (June 13-15, 2019). Predicting High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy Lesions Using Magnetic Resonance Thermometry and 3D Gaussian Modelling. 19th International Society of Therapeutic Ultrasound (Barcelona, Spain)
Dr Zelma Kiss. Grand Rounds (University of Saskatchewan). FUS. May 31, 2019
Dr Zelma Kiss. Canadian Federation of Neurological Sciences (Montreal). New Technologies in Neurosurgery. June 18, 2019
Catherine Swytink-Binnema Oral presentation at the Alberta Motor Control Meeting, Jasper, AB. Can accelerometer data inform focused-ultrasound thalamic surgery? A work in progress. 2019
Publications:
Mazerolle EL, Seasons G, Warwaruk-Rogers R, Romo P, Nordal R, Sevick R, Martino D, Pichardo S, Kiss Z, Pike GB. Focused Ultrasound Resolves Persistent Radiosurgery Related Change in a Patient with Tremor. Radiology Case Reports. 2019. 1233-1236
Seasons G, Mazerolle EL, Sankar T, Pichardo S, Martino D, Kiss Z, Pike GB. Predicting High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Thalamotomy Lesions Using Magnetic Resonance Thermometry and 3D Gaussian Modelling. Medical Physics. 2019 Dec 46; (12) 5722-5732.
Beserra A, Pichardo S, Kisselgoff D, Peeva V, Curiel L. Targeting feasibility evaluation of magnetic resonance- guided focused ultrasound in the management of osteomyelitis: A virtual treatment planning study in 75 patients. International Journal of Hyperthermia, 2019. 36(1), 1012-1023
Drainville A, Curiel L, Pichardo S. Superposition method for modelling boundaries between media in viscoelastic finite difference time domain simulations. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. 2019 Dec; 146 (6), 4382-4401
Tung, S., Fahy, A.S., Lamberti-Pasculli, M., Waspe, A.C., Pichardo, S. and Gerstle, J.T., 2019. Magnetic Resonance–guided High-intensity Focused Ultrasound (MRgHIFU) Virtual Treatment Planning for Abdominal Neuroblastoma Utilizing Retrospective Diagnostic 3D CT Images. Journal of pediatric hematology/oncology, 2019. 41(7), pp.e443-e449.
Tan, J., Mougenot, C., Pichardo, S., Drake, J.M. and Waspe, A.C. Motion compensation using principal component analysis and projection onto dipole fields for abdominal magnetic resonance thermometry. Magnetic resonance in medicine. 2019. 81(1), pp.195-207.
Martino D, Rockel C, Bruno V, Mazerolle E, Jetha S, Pichardo S. Pike B, Kiss Z. Dystonia following thalamic neurosurgery: a single centre experience with MR-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy. Accepted to Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. 2019. Nov 26; 71:1-3
Grants/Fellowships:
Strategic Innovation Fund (Government of Canada): Stream 4 Announcement by Minister Bains of the new industry Consortium for Image Guided Therapy. Toronto, Ontario. $49M 5 year pan-Canadian aware led by Sunnybrook with the western hub in Calgary, includes Bruce Pike, Samuel Pichardo and Laura Curiel. Link and press release at https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/125.nsf/eng/home May 2019
Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship 2019/2020. Ranked No.1 in University internal competition and endorsed by UofC for national competition ($5,000 CAD financial support from UofC). Not granted by CIHR. Bingbing Cheng (Pike’s team)
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Collaborative Health Research Projects. S Pichardo (co-PI) 2019-2021 $75,000 CAD Development of a Magnetic Resonance guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound Therapy Platform for Perinatal Applications Human Development
CFI Infrastructure Grant for $8M. This has enabled significant expansion of scope of the human MRgFUS program to include preclinical research and to span three research themes: neurosurgery, drug delivery and neuromodulation
NSERC Discovery Grant. Presented to Samuel Pichardo. 2019.
MITACS Accelerate. S Pichardo (PI) 2019-2020 $45,000 CAD. Integration of benchtop focused ultrasound device with a collaborative software platform for image-guided exploration and user-centred design.
Research Contract – Company: FUS Instruments (Toronto, ON). S Pichardo (PI) 2019-2020 $35,000 CAD. Software development for the control of benchtop focused ultrasound pre-clinical systems for brain research.
AGES Graduate Scholarship. (May 2019-April 2020, $15 000) Catherine Swytink-Binnema (Dr Kiss’s team).
2018
Abstracts/Presentations/Posters:
POSTERS:
C.A. Macsemchuk, R.M. Lebel, A. Beserra, J. Loree-Spacek, L. Curiel, S. Pichardo (2018). Online data processing with GE human clinical MRI scanners, 6th International Symposium on Focused Ultrasound 2018
Mazerolle EL, Warwaruk-Rogers R, Sevick R, Sankar T, Pichardo S, Zaaroor M, Martino D, Kiss ZHT, Pike GB (2018): MR-guided focused ultrasound for essential tremor: Initial MRI observations. 6thInternational Symposium on Focused Ultrasound (Reston, USA).
Swytink-Binnema (Weiner) CA, Macsemchuk CA, Mazerolle EL, Pike GB, Kiss ZH, Pichardo S (2018): Navigational analysis and sensory responses of MR-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy: Early results. 6th International Symposium on Focused Ultrasound (Reston, USA).
Song E, Foltz W, Couch M, Waspe AC, Drake J, Pichardo S. (2018). Online data processing of MRIs raw-data for an MRgHIFU software library. 6thInternational Symposium on Focused Ultrasound (Reston, USA).
Tung S, Fahy A, Lamberti-Pasculli M, Waspe A C, Pichardo S, Gerstle T,. (2018). Magnetic resonance-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound (MRgHIFU) virtual treatment planning for abdominal neuroblastoma utilizing retrospective diagnostic 3d CT images. 6thInternational Symposium on Focused Ultrasound (Reston, USA).
Soucier, N, Looi T, Raisbeck S, Pichardo S, Waspe A, Drake A (2018). Development of an mri-guided robotic platform for focused ultrasound induced sonothrombolysis of brain intraventricular blood clots. 6thInternational Symposium on Focused Ultrasound (Reston, USA).
Beserra A, Pichardo S, Kisselgoff D, Littlefield S, Peeva V, Curiel L (2018). Evaluation of magnetic resonance guided focused ultrasound in the management of osteomyelitis: targeting feasibility. 6thInternational Symposium on Focused Ultrasound (Reston, USA).
PRESENTATIONS:
Catherine Weiner. Neuro Hike (Alberta Motor Control Meeting) MR-guided focused-ultrasound: What we’re doing and how we can improve it. September 2018
Erin Mazerolle. Advanced Imaging Seminar Series (University of Calgary, Cumming School of Medicine) MR-guided focused ultrasound for essential tremor: Initial MRI observations. October 18, 2018
Grants/Fellowships:
Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship ($15k) from May 2018-April 2019. Catherine Swytink-Binnema (Dr Kiss’s team).