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Important Information About EE 361x: Introduction to Biomedical Imaging
Dear Engineering Students;
I am writing to inform you about the course that I will be offering this semester (EE 361: Introduction to Biomedical Imaging).
The nature of education has been changing greatly in the last decades, and nowadays online learning is quite popular. Inspired by this trend, EE 361 course will be based on edX, a non-profit educational platform founded by MIT and Harvard in 2012. The aim of EE 361 is really to motivate you to learn about biomedical imaging, an emerging interdisciplinary field of great importance for all of us. Biomedical imaging has a vital part in the early detection, diagnosis, and treatment of many diseases including cancer. In some cases, biomedical imaging is the first step in preventing the spread of diseases through early detection, and in many cases, it makes it possible to cure or eliminate the illness altogether.
Due to my research activities at PSI (Switzerland), during the semesters (which is 14 weeks), I am usually at Antalya for 4-5 weeks only (hence, we won't have regular face-to-face classes in this course, except the 4-5 weeks that I am at the campus). Hence, during this course, you will be learning the topics mostly yourselves by studying the following free online courses on biomedical imaging:
Fundamentals of Biomedical Imaging: Ultrasounds, X-ray, positron emission tomography (PET), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and applications, by EPFL
https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:EPFLx+FndBioImgx+1T2017/course/
https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:EPFLx+FndBioImg2x+1T2017/course/
Hence, EE 361 will mostly be a self-learning course, and my role will be supervision, grading, and motivation tracking. The topics that we will cover include X-ray, computed tomography (CT), ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). You will have the chance to learn the course content anytime from anywhere (there will be no lectures). There will be (1 or 2) midterm exams and a final exam to test your level of learning. The exams will test your level of effort and will include general simple questions as well as moderate questions that will test your theoretical and physical understanding of the imaging modalities. The course is suitable for interested Sophomore, Junior, and Senior level engineering/science students from all areas (Phys 102 is the only prerequisite for this course).
Best
Umit Demirbas
PS 1: You can take EE 361, even if the course hours conflict with other courses (consent of the instructor of the conflicting course is also required). Some of the exams might be face-to-face (during class time), and you are required to attend the exams.
PS2: All the announcements for the course will be made in the course web page (please check the page weekly): https://sites.google.com/site/antalyalaserlab/ee-361
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EE361x: Biomedical Imaging, Weekly Study Program
Dear All,
As we have covered in our first class, below is the weekly study program for EE361 from the edX course 1 and 2 (note that I have made some small changes). Blue lines indicate the weeks that I am on campus, and red-lined weeks indicate exam weeks. I attempted to schedule the exam dates to minimize conflicts with other courses.
edX Course 1: https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:EPFLx+FndBioImgx+1T2017/course/
• Week 1 (UD): Introduction to the course, importance, and essential elements of bio-imaging
• Week 2: Ultrasound imaging; ionizing radiation and its generation
• Week 3: X-ray imaging - when the photon bumps into living tissue, radioprotection primer
• Week 4: Computed tomography - From projection to image
• Week 5 (UD): Emission tomography - what are tracers and how to trace them in your body, x-ray detection, scintillation principle
• Week 6: Positron emission tomography (PET) - imaging anti-matter annihilation
• Week 7: Tracer kinetics - modeling of imaging data
edX Course 2: https://courses.edx.org/courses/course-v1:EPFLx+FndBioImg2x+1T2017/course/
• Week 8: Introduction to biological magnetic resonance (MR) - Boltzmann distribution, from spins to magnetization
• Week 9: Excitation of spins, Relaxation, the Basis of MR contrast (The Bloch Equations)
• Week 9: Midterm I (Weeks 1 to 7) Nov 21 (10 am to 12)
• Week 10: NMR Spectroscopy
• Week 11: From Fourier to image: principles of MR image formation, k-space - echo formation
• Week 12: Midterms Week (ours will be earlier to minimize conflict)
• Week 13: Basic MRI contrast mechanisms, BOLD fMRI, contrast agents
• Week 14 (UD): Advanced contrast mechanisms & Overview of imaging modalities
• Week 15 (UD): Midterm II (Final Exam, cumulative) Jan 3 (10 am to 12)
First week notes and course-related materials (syllabus, suggested book, sample exams from earleir years, etc) will be uploaded to the course web page.
Best regards
Umit
PS: Please check the course web page regularly for updates:
https://sites.google.com/site/antalyalaserlab/ee-361