Invited Talk by Prof. Guang-Zhong Yang

Prof. Guang-Zhong Yang Imperial College London, UK Date: Tuesday, 08 February 2011 Time: 13:00 Location: 03.13.010

Medical Robotics and Image Guided Surgery Research at Imperial College, London

Abstract:

The purpose of this presentation is to outline key clinical challenges and research opportunities for developing the next generation minimally invasive surgical robots and the associated image guidance techniques. The talk will cover the latest developments in fully articulated, bio-inspired (e.g. Snake) robot platforms that facilitate intra-luminal or extra-luminal anatomical curved pathway navigation with integrated sensing and navigation. It addresses key theoretical considerations of bio-mimetic control for intra-operative manipulation under dynamic local/global constraints, as well as the current paradigm shift and clinical demand for bringing cellular and molecular imaging modalities to an in vivo, in situ setting to allow for real-time tissue characterization, functional assessment, and intraoperative guidance. The talk will also discuss new bio-photonics techniques based on excitation/emission spectral resolution suitable for endoscopy and laparoscopy and some of the new research opportunities on image fusion, visualization and mechatronic designs.

Biography:

Professor Guang-Zhong Yang received BSc in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Imperial College London. He served as a senior and then principal scientist of the Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Unit of the Royal Brompton Hospital, England before returning to Imperial College. He is Director and Founder of the Royal Society/Wolfson Medical Image Computing Laboratory, co-founder of the Wolfson Surgical Technology Laboratory at Imperial, and co-founder and director of the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery. Professor Yang’s main research interests are in medical imaging, sensing and robotics. In imaging, he is credited for a number of novel MR phase contrast velocity imaging and computational modeling techniques that have transformed in vivo blood flow quantification and visualization. These include the development of locally focused imaging combined with real-time navigator echoes for resolving respiratory motion for high-resolution coronary-angiography, as well as MR dynamic flow pressure mapping for which he received the ISMRM I. I Rabi Award. In medical robotics, he pioneered the concept of Perceptual Docking for robotic assisted minimally invasive surgery. The work represents a fundamental paradigm shift of learning and knowledge acquisition for robotics in that operator specific motor and perceptual/cognitive behavior is assimilated in situ, thus allowing seamless integration of machine precision with human intelligence. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, and fellow of IEEE, IET, AIMBE and a holder of the Royal Society Research Merit Award.