Prof. Raquel Conceição

Over the last two decades, Microwave Imaging (MWI) has been investigated as a novel imaging and diagnostics technique for detection of breast cancer. A number of early small-scale clinical experiments have clearly illustrated the potential of the technology, while also revealing some significant remaining challenges.  The talk will comprise the description of radar based methods to identify the presence and location of significant dielectric scatterers within the breast. Apart from using reflected microwave energy to reconstruct images of the breast, the tumour reflections (or Radar Target Signatures) may contain additional information on the shape and size of the tumour. This information could potentially be used for tumour classification. Numerical and physical models, which can be used to realistically mimic the size, shape and growth patterns of breast tumours in electromagnetic numerical models, are presented. Next, a range of tumour classification algorithms based on the Radar Target Signatures of tumours is presented.

Biography:

Raquel Cruz Conceição was born in Lisbon, Portugal. She is an Assistant Professor at Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal. She holds a PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the National University of Ireland Galway and a Masters in Biomedical Engineering from Universidade Nova de Lisboa, in 2011 and 2007, respectively. She has 10 years of research experience on the topic of Microwave Imaging, developing techniques to detect and classify breast cancer. She is the chair of COST Action TD1301 (Microwave Medical Applications, MiMed), and organises bi-annual meetings for over 200 research and medical participants from 30 countries. She has secured several research grants since 2005, most significantly a FP7 Marie Curie Intra European Fellowship. She has supervised and mentored over 20 Master and PhD students, published 15 journal papers and 30 conference papers, co-authored with over 50 international researchers, acted as reviewer for 18 journals and conferences, and is Associate Editor for Medical Physics. Also, she has been awarded the ANACOM URSI Portugal prize in 2013 and URSI Young Scientist in 2014 and 2017, among other 6 prizes and awards.

Prof. Natalia Nikolova

Almost 40 years ago Larsen and Jacobi experimented with microwaves in the imaging of canine kidney. Their pioneering work triggered high hopes for a new diagnostic modality in medicine but also identified serious challenges. Research effort continues unabated but an imaging device for radiologists and clinicians is yet to come. We will talk about these challenges and will recognize prominent female engineers and scientists who have dedicated much time and effort in making microwave imaging a clinical reality. This research is at the front line of the battle against breast cancer, brain strokes and bone diseases.

Biography:

Natalia K. Nikolova (IEEE S’93–M’97–SM’05–F’11)received the Dipl. Eng. (Radioelectronics) degree from the Technical University of Varna, Bulgaria, in 1989, and the Ph.D. degree from the University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan, in 1997. From 1998 to 1999, she held a Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) at two Canadian universities: Dalhousie University in Halifax and McMaster University in Hamilton. In 1999, she joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at McMaster University, where she is currently a Professor. Her research interests include inverse scattering, microwave imaging, as well as computer-aided analysis and design of high-frequency structures and antennas. Prof. Nikolova has authored more than 250 refereed manuscripts, 3 book chapters, and the book “Introduction to Microwave Imaging” just published by Cambridge University Press. She has delivered 35 invited lectures around the world on the subjects of microwave imaging and computer-aided electromagnetic analysis and design.

Prof. Nikolova is a Canada Research Chair in High-frequency Electromagnetics. She is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering (CAE). She served as an IEEE Distinguished Microwave Lecturer from 2010 to 2013.

Prof. Raquel Conceição

Biography:

Prof. Natalia Nikolova

Biography: