![Grand Valley alumnus Anderson Peck helped form the medical imaging research lab at VAI three years ago; he now works there as a researcher.](/gvnext/files/img/article/C3E7B89B-D530-2572-3EEE7A1E5289E8A5/47D6E867-B090-E487-B7AC9F19FFAE3318/original.jpg)
GVSU students contribute to growing medical field
![Grand Valley alumnus Anderson Peck helped form the medical imaging research lab at VAI three years ago; he now works there as a researcher.](/gvnext/files/img/article/C3E7B89B-D530-2572-3EEE7A1E5289E8A5/47D6E867-B090-E487-B7AC9F19FFAE3318/original.jpg)
A group of students and faculty at Grand Valley State University
have been working with Van Andel Institute to develop new methods to
further a growing medical field that aims to improve early detection
of cancer and disease.
A group of four Grand Valley students and graduates, and Anthony
Chang from VAI, presented three years worth of research at the World
Molecular Imaging Congress, one of the largest meetings in the medical
imaging field, September 18-21 in Savannah, Georgia.
Chang, research assistant professor and director of the Small
Animal Imaging Facility at Van Andel Institute's world-class
laboratories, said in the future, if a tumor or lesion is found, a
doctor will be able to predict early on if it will spread or grow with
the help of advanced imaging technology. “The medical imaging field,
especially molecular imaging is booming,” said Chang. “It's a new
concept, and right now people are starting to realize the power of
this technology.”
The partnership began when Grand Valley was awarded
a National Science Foundation grant to start a biomedical
engineering master’s program in 2010. “My colleagues and I reached out
to local companies and research labs in the medical industry, which is
how our relationship with VAI began,” said Samhita Rhodes, professor
of engineering. “Since then, the program has taken off and our
students are doing great things.”
Chang and a group of Grand Valley graduate students, including
Anderson Peck, helped form the research lab at VAI three years ago.
Peck, who was in the first class of the master’s program in
2010, now works at VAI as a full-time researcher. “VAI is the only
place in Michigan that’s developing these new techniques, and we’re
right here in West Michigan. We have a few new techniques, and hope
they’ll be used in the future,” said Peck.
Chang said: “We have a strong presence in the imaging research
field, which before, only happened at really big universities. We’re
putting Grand Valley and Grand Rapids on the map in this area. VAI and
our students are helping develop new techniques and concepts that
could save lives.”
Brittany Holly, a biomedical sciences major, and Michael Dykstra, a
physics major, also attended the meeting. Chang said their research
was selected to be presented, and they each competed for and received
student travel awards.
Located in the Seymour and Esther Padnos College of Engineering
and Computing, the Master’s of Science
in Biomedical Engineering program was established in 2010 and
focuses on medical device design and development.
Rhodes and her colleagues, John Farris and Bruce Dunne, are
working to expand the program. “The first grant we received helped us
support the program, now we want to move it forward so our students
can continue to contribute to the growing field of biomedical
engineering,” she said.
For more information, contact Samhita Rhodes in Grand Valley’s
School of Engineering at (616) 331-6267 or [email protected].
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