Center for Ultrasound and Brain imaging at Erasmus MC - CUBE

CUBE is the first dedicated ultrasound center in the world and is a multidisciplinary ensemble of three Dutch institutions united by the singular purpose of unveiling the mysteries of the human brain:

Erasmus Medical Center: Department of Neuroscience (Lead), Department of Biomedical Engineering, Department of Neurosurgery, Biomedical Imaging Group Rotterdam

Delft University of Technology: Laboratory of Acoustical Wavefield Imaging

Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience: Gazzola Group

CUBE has been conceived and kickstarted as a truly interdisciplinary effort among three co-PIs with vastly diverse backgrounds: dr. Sebastiaan Koekkoek (Neuroscience), dr. Christos Strydis (Computer Engineering) and dr. Pieter Kruizinga (Ultrasound Imaging). The project has been endorsed and is substantially supported by the head of the Department of Neuroscience, Chris de Zeeuw (prof. dr.). In August 2018, CUBE received initial funding from and kindly acknowledges the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Executive Board of the Erasmus MC.

functional Ultrasound (fUS) during neurosurgical procedures

In true Rotterdam-style, CUBE has in no time integrated into the neurosurgical operating rooms of the Erasmus MC with the help of engineers, neuroscientists, neurosurgeons, medical technologists and manu more.

The multidisciplinary team’s goal? To help make neurosurgical procedures safer and more effective with the help of functional Ultrasound or fUS.

Oncological neurosurgery is truly a challenge: the surgeon aims to remove as much of the tumor as possible while avoiding damage to surrounding functional brain tissue. To reach this goal, the surgeon relies heavily on making continuous intra-operative tumor-brain delineations. However, available techniques do not provide reliable functional information in the operating room. Within CUBE, we work on the development of fUS as a new ultrasound-based technique which allows us to capture very small blood flow in the brain in real-time. We apply the technique during conventional awake brain surgeries and found that the technique could 1) delineate tumor vasculature from healthy brain vessels and 2) map out brain activity during functional tasks.

Curious what these fUS-images of the brain look like? Check out our publication in Frontiers in Neuroscience.

Additionally, through NCL support, CUBE provides datacenter/IT services for several other labs within the Neuroscience Department.

For more information on the exciting research, vacancies and latest outcomes, visit the official CUBE page.

References

For CUBE-related publications, please visit our Publications page.