Dr. Andrew Dunn, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, has won a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), its most prestigious award for junior faculty.
Dr. Andrew Dunn, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering, has won a Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), its most prestigious award for junior faculty. The NSF established these awards in 1995 to help top-performing scientists develop their research and make important educational contributions at an early stage in their careers.
This 5 year, $400,000 award will support Dr. Dunn's research into the development of new laser-based methods for quantitative imaging of blood flow in the brain. Current techniques for cerebral blood flow imaging are limited in their spatial resolutions and quantitative accuracy and can only be used for short term monitoring. Dr Dunn's laboratory develops new laser based techniques, called laser speckle imaging, that enable long term imaging of blood flow in the brain. Laser speckle methods could have widespread impact on a range of neurophysiological conditions, such as stroke, and may become valuable tools for understanding the functional organization of the cortex, the evolution of ischemic infarcts, and functional impairments that result from ischemic injury.
Dr. Dunn's laboratory currently uses laser speckle imaging to quantify the evolution of the blood flow changes in an animal model of stroke. In particular, his lab is quantifying the chronic effects of endothelin-1 on cerebral blood flow using these imaging methods. In addition, the alterations in the functional response of the cortex to peripheral somatosensory stimulation are being investigated. These findings could lead to an improved understanding of how functional deficits, such as motor and sensory loss, evolve following stroke.
A key aspect of Dr Dunn's research is the integration of imaging technology with the neuroscience applications. This close integration of engineering and neuroscience requires biomedical engineering students to develop effective cross-disciplinary collaboration and communication skills. In collaboration with Neuroscience and Management Departments at UT, Dr. Dunn is developing innovative educational activities to help biomedical engineering students learn to work with students from different backgrounds and areas of expertise. Developing the ability to work across disciplines will positively contribute to the careers of graduate and undergraduate biomedical engineering students alike.
Andrew Dunn received a B.S. in Physics from Bates College, M.S. in electrical engineering from Northeastern University and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering at UT Austin.
