Matariki Research Collaboration: Dartmouth and the Angstrom Laboratories at Uppsala University

From left to right:  Abhinav Singh, Pramod Rangaiah, Robin Augustine, Afsaneh Koochek, Mark Schneider, Paul Meaney and Adrian Welteke

"The work I am doing with Dr. Robin Augustine is primarily related to a microwave transmission-based probe we have been developing.  The more immediate application is for detecting whether vertebrae are strong enough to withstand the strain from the screws used to hold up the spine for spinal fusion surgery.  Usually osteoporosis is the culprit for screws pulling out.  The dielectric properties correlate well with the bone mineral density and are a surrogate for overall strength.  We have developed very simple coaxial probes and a way to measure the mechanical distance between the probes when they are inside the bone.  I should note that there is also a spin-off application for using the transmission-mode approach for a handheld probe that we are using to diagnose sarcopenia – a infiltration of fat into muscle which has been shown to have significant impact on treatment and surgical outcomes.  This is all part of ongoing collaborations and publication of a few papers.  We are working towards a grant proposal on the vertebrae testing device and my trip this June will be to help with several final measurements for data we plan to include in the proposal. " -Paul Meaney