Federal Grant Award Summary

Duke University, through its Office of Research Administration, received a $722,392 Project Grant award dated March 10, 2026, from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) under the Discovery and Applied Research for Technological Innovations to Improve Human Health program (CFDA 93.286). The project, concluding February 28, 2030, will develop Four-Dimensional Smart Epidermal Photoacoustic Tomography (4D-SEPAT) technology to enable real-time, longitudinal functional brain imaging in awake, behaving non-human primates. This advancement addresses critical limitations of traditional photoacoustic imaging by leveraging state-of-the-art epidermal electronics, including soft ultrasound transducer arrays with integrated shape sensors and high-precision laser sources, to overcome acoustic aberration caused by primate skull density and curvature.

The core deliverable is a functional brain imaging system capable of transcranial hemodynamic mapping in living primates during behavioral tasks. By combining soft ultrasound transducers that conform to head contours with fast 3D image reconstruction algorithms, 4D-SEPAT will maintain high sensitivity to brain hemodynamic functions while minimizing skull-induced signal distortion. This technology extends established optical and ultrasound neuroimaging capabilities beyond small animal models to larger primate subjects, providing neuroscience researchers with previously unavailable tools for investigating complex brain activities and understanding mechanisms underlying healthy and disordered behavior in non-human primate models.