# Next Generation Quantitative Acoustic Microscopy for Biomedical Application

> **NIH NIH R01** · WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV · 2022 · $446,025

## Abstract

Riverside Research, the University of Bristol (Bristol, United Kingdom), and the University Paul Sabatier (Toulouse,
France) propose to develop the next generation of quantitative acoustic microscopy (QAM) systems. Specifically, data-
science and coded-excitation approaches will be applied for the first time to QAM technology to yield better image
quality, decreased scanning time, greater ease of use, as well as to pave the way for a new generation of novel, low-cost,
user-friendly QAM instruments. QAM permits formation of fine-resolution (i.e., <7 µm at 250 MHz) maps of acoustic
and mechanical properties of tissue sections that are <12 µm in thickness. These data can have great value in numerous
preclinical investigations. Such property maps are not currently obtainable by any other microscopic-imaging modality,
and the new generation of QAM technology made possible by success in this proposed project could become
widespread in research laboratories and microscopy suites in commercial as well as academic research environments.
Such new-generation QAM instruments could be used by technicians with limited knowledge of QAM and, in many
ways, their use would be no more complicated than use of a conventional bright-field microscope. These novel
approaches to QAM will be demonstrated using already available resolution targets, phantoms, and biological tissues
(ocular-tissue samples from a guinea-pig model of myopia and cancerous human lymph nodes). During the course of this
project, optimal methods will be incorporated in a prototype QAM (pQAM) instrument capable of producing ultra-fine
spatial resolution (< 2 µm) images much faster (<1 min) and for a much lower cost (<$40k) than current state-of-the-art
QAM systems. In addition, pQAM use will be ``turn-key'' (i.e., requiring no technical knowledge and less than 1 hour of
training.)

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10445570
- **Project number:** 1R01GM143388-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** WEILL MEDICAL COLL OF CORNELL UNIV
- **Principal Investigator:** JONATHAN MAMOU
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $446,025
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-09-20 → 2026-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10445570

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10445570, Next Generation Quantitative Acoustic Microscopy for Biomedical Application (1R01GM143388-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10445570. Licensed CC0.

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