Bioimaging

Overview

Key facts

The program requires a minimum of 36 credit hours of graduate coursework. It is designed so that is can be completed in a little as one calendar year (September through August) or as many as five years, depending upon the needs and desires of the individual student. Many of the courses are given in the late afternoon or early evening hours to accommodate students who are working. In addition, many of the courses also allow students to attend lectures remotely via Internet conferencing software in order to accommodate students who have difficulty accessing campus.

The Bioimaging program’s mission at Boston University is to prepare students to practice as professionals in the diverse aspects of biomedical imaging and its implications on the health and medical services delivery systems. Bioimaging is an evolving field: currently, students graduating with a Master of Science in Bioimaging are expected to demonstrate:

Advanced knowledge in the fundamental scientific and technological concepts at the foundations of currently known medical imaging modalities. Presently, this includes the medical imaging modalities based on the following radiation experiments: a) x-ray transmission (projectional XR and tomographic CT), b) g-ray emission (SPECT and PET), c) radiowave resonant absorption (MRI), and d) ultrasound reflection (US imaging).

• Advanced knowledge in the safety and ethical issues associated with exposing biological systems to the radiations and fields used for imaging.

• Proficiency in recognizing biomedical images. Specifically, when presented with a medical image, MBI graduates will be able to identify the imaging modality used for its generation, identify the body part that it represents, the imaging plane it represents, and assess the quality of the image according to objective scientific measures.

• Proficiency in reading, writing, and speaking the scientific language of medical imaging. This interdisciplinary language is at the interfaces between physics, basic mathematics and computer science, and medicine (basic anatomy and pathology).

• Ability to conduct scientific research in an advanced sub-field of medical imaging as evidenced by the successful completion of a research thesis (Research track) and/or demonstrate ability to perform independently clinical MR imaging examinations with patients (Clinical track).

Program Highlights

• Students will have the opportunity to learn about all aspects of imaging, from theory underlying pulse sequencing and image acquisition to post-acquisition processing of images.

• Training opportunities are available on a wide range of imaging modalities such as CT, PET, SPECT, 1.5T, 3.0T, 4.7& and 11.7T MRI scanners.

• Courses are taught using a combination of lecture and laboratory formats.