Earlier this month UCF received a $400,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a computer program that will determine the size of brain tumors.
“It’s exciting in that it’s the marriage of computer imaging technology with bio-medical technology,” said Barb Abney, director of marketing and communication for UCF’s Office of Research and Commercialization.
The grant is the first sum of money UCF has received from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act stimulus program.
“I was personally very interested,” Abney said. “You see it on a federal level, and it is interesting to see it trickle down to the local level.”
Mubarak Shah, UCF’s chair professor of computer science, is the inventor of the software that will analyze brain scans from magnetic resonance imaging. The grant is the first funding Shah has received for this project and will cover the estimated cost for two years worth of work.
“You never know entering a research project where it will go,” Abney said.
Shah invented the computer programming techniques that are used to determine suspicious activity in airports and major public places.
He will incorporate some of these same techniques in his new program.
One of Shah’s main associates is Dr. David Rippe, a neuroradiologist in Tampa.
“Doctor Shah approached me saying ‘What we know is computer programming; what we don’t know is what is helpful to a clinician,’” Rippe said. “So this was a natural partnership.”
The software the two men will be developing together has not been created for or used in medicine before, Abney said.
“It is cutting-edge computer software stuff and it is medical stuff so it is exciting to NIH,” Rippe said.
The medical field is not satisfied with the current methods used to analyze brain tumors, he said.
“What we are trying to do is change the way we measure the tumors,” Rippe said.
Radiologists face several complications when analyzing MRI scans such as tumors with irregular shapes, tumors with liquefied centers and tumors that have damaged tissue.
“Often the scans aren’t very accurate,” Rippe said, “and when two people measure something it is always a little off.”
The grant is the beginning of what could be a long process in research and software development.
“Success is not assured. There is a lot of work that needs to be done to ensure this works,” Rippe said.
News of a $400,000 grant came as a shock to some students, especially considering the recent program cuts that the university has been forced to implement.
“I guess it’s hard to be against it because it is causing a lot of good,” sophomore theater major Brittany Arroyo said.
Rippe hopes to see the new program develop further.
“Ultimately we see this being used as routine,” he said. “This program would be used on computers across the country.”
Further project development means there would be more research, which ultimately means more money will likely be needed in order to complete it.
“But could it be better used?” Arroyo said. “A lot of times it gets lost in translation. A lot of the financing ends up going to the school and not the students.”
The NIH did not approve the 100-page proposal upon first submission from Shah.
“It was turned down at first because of lack of federal funding but they resubmitted and it got funded,” Abney said.
“It matters where the money is coming from, and if they think it is important,” Arroyo said.
UCF had a celebration dinner for the grant recipients June 13, which Rippe attended.
“Everybody’s really excited about the program,” Rippe said.
Be the first to comment on this article!