Researchers honoured for advances in identifying cancer through imaging

Thursday, March 31, 2016

A systems design engineering professor and team of graduate students are the recipients of two Magna Cum Laude awards presented at the 2016 Annual Meeting of the Imaging Network of Ontario held in Toronto at the end of March.

Alexander Wong, the Canada Research Chair in Medical Imaging Systems,

Alexander Wong, systems design engineering professor
and systems design engineering graduate students Audrey Chung, Mohammad Javad Shafiee, Devinder Kumar, along with their collaborators at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, doctors Masoom Haider and Farzad Khalvati, were recognized for their research in the area of radiomics-driven oncological clinical decision support.

Wong, pictured above, and his team in collaboration with clinical researchers at Sunnybrook Health Sciences, have introduced a breakthrough strategy to quicker and more effective cancer identification.

Known as discovery radiomics, the concept allows for the identification of a large number of imaging-based features that act as quantitative biomarkers for capturing highly unique tumor traits and characteristics beyond what can be captured using predefined feature models.

By tapping into the tremendous wealth of information contained within the massive medical imaging archives at clinical institutes, discovery radiomics uncovers a treasure trove of hidden quantitative biomarkers that can provide us with new insights and understanding to what makes cancer different and unique from healthy tissue,” explains Wong, the co-director of the Vision and Image Processing Research Group based in Waterloo’s systems design engineering department.

The biomarkers have the potential to be a powerful tool for helping clinicians make better decisions for diagnosis and treatment planning, which leads to improved quality of care and faster recovery time for patients stricken by cancer.

Imaging Network Ontario was established to create a strong and sustainable internationally competitive imaging industry based on scientific excellence in Ontario.