李百祺 Pai-Chi Li

Distinguished Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, National Taiwan University
Distinguished Professor, Institute of Biomedical Electronics and Bioinformatics, National Taiwan University
Distinguished Professor, Institute of Medical Device and Imaging, National Taiwan University
Distinguished Professor, Graduate School of Advanced Technology, National Taiwan University
Adjunct PI, National Health Research Institutes

Major Research Areas:

Biomedical Engineering, Biomedical Photoacoustics, Ultrasound Imaging and Therapy, Medical Device Innovation

Research Summary:

My research interests focus on biomedical applications of the combination of light and sound, emphasizing the underlying physics and signal processing algorithms. The ultimate goal is to solve clinical problems with innovative technologies. The current research topics include:

1. Photoacoustic molecular imaging: The photoacoustic effects are generated by the optical absorption of short-duration light pulses and the concomitant thermal expansion. Based on these effects, anatomical and functional imaging can be performed at multiple scales by exploiting the benefits of high optical contrast and weak acoustic scattering. With proper molecular probes, photoacoustic molecular imaging can also be performed. 

2. Drug delivery with light and sound: Novel targeted delivery technologies are being developed by leveraging cavitation-based sonoporation with optical and acoustic energies. The synergistic sonoporation effects demonstrated that the delivery efficiency could be significantly enhanced both in vitro and in vivo. The technique has been applied to both photothermal therapy and radiosensitization for radiation cancer therapy.

3. Shear wave elasticity imaging with light and sound: The acoustic radiation force is combined with optical detection of shear wave propagation to measure the stiffness of 3D cell culture systems, overcoming a critical challenge in this field. In other words, the acoustic radiation force is used to generate shear waves in the sample, and laser speckle contrast imaging is performed to measure the speed of the propagating shear waves noninvasively. We can explore important issues such as cell movement and microenvironment interaction with this.