Research

Contrast Ultrasound Imaging

Even though ultrasound remains the safest and the most popular (one in every three imaging in the world) means of imaging, its utility is limited due to poor contrast. 20% of the 17 million echocardiography performed in the United States in 2000 were suboptimal, i.e. did not provide definitive diagnosis for coronary heart disease. Microbubbles intravenously injected into patients’ body can enhance the contrast of ultrasound images. A good contrast agent will enable reliable imaging of a

Drug Delivery

The objective of the modern medicine is an early cost-effective accurate diagnosis of a disease, and its quick remediation with minimum side effects. Our collaborative research with Profssor Mallik of NDSU Pharmacy investigates a novel methodology using liposomes coupled with a noninvasive ultrasound mediated control and property detremination. The lipsome can contain various biomaterials such as fluorescent dyes, enzyme inhibitors, anti-cancer drugs, magnetic resonance contrast agents etc. d

Cell Mechanics

In response to an inflammation in the body, leukocytes (white blood cell) interact with the endothelium (interior wall of blood vessel) through a series of steps– capture, rolling, adhesion and transmigration– critical for proper functioning of the immune system. We are numerically simulating this process using a Front-tracking finite-difference method. The viscoelastcity of the cell membrane, cytoplasm and nucleus are incorporated and allowed to change with time in response to th

Emulsion

Mixtures of immiscible liquids display a wide spectrum of behaviors, and thereby offer a means of achieving tunable material properties. Often they consist of small fraction of a specialized additive in a less expensive bulk liquid. The liquids phase separate into an emulsion containing discrete droplets of various sizes dispersed in a continuous phase. In industrial processing, the flow continually deforms the suspended drops leading to their coalescence and breakup. The evolving microstruct

Drops Bubbles

When a drop is subjected to an external flow, the balance between the interfacial tension and the flow forcing determines the drop shape while the imbalance between them leads to drop breakup. We numerically investigate deformation of a three-dimensional viscous drop forced by a potential vortex and other time-dependent extensional flows. Such flows represent oscillating forces present in multiphase flows such as due to turbulent eddies. The Simulation is performed at non-zero Reynolds number

Tissue Engineering