Manu K S
Hi! I am Manu K S, a second-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar. I work at the Medical Ultrasound Engineering (MUSE) Lab under the guidance of Prof. Himanshu Shekhar in developing ultrasonic techniques for biomedical applications.
In my doctoral research, I am working on developing acoustic metamaterial-based techniques to improve therapeutic applications of ultrasound.
Prior to joining IIT Gandhinagar, I completed my Bachelor's degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Government Engineering College Barton Hill, Thiruvananthapuram, and later worked as a project staff at the BEES Lab, Indian Institute of Science Bangalore.
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Ultrasound is a popular diagnostic and therapeutic modality for various biomedical applications. Several exciting therapeutic ultrasound applications have emerged in the last decade, including cancer therapy, drug delivery, and reversible blood-brain barrier opening. Therapeutic ultrasound uses higher acoustic pressures and intensities than diagnostic imaging to harness thermal and mechanical bioeffects for treatment. Ultrasound possesses considerable advantages for therapy primarily due to its non-invasiveness, non-ionizing nature, and safety profile.
Acoustic metamaterials (AMMs) are specially engineered structures that control and manipulate sound waves to obtain unconventional material properties, such as the negative refractive index, negative bulk modulus, and nonreciprocal wave transmission. Acoustic metamaterials have been successfully used to obtain tunable bandgaps, uniform field generation, and lossless transmission, as opposed to conventional materials. They are being investigated for applications such as sound absorption, sound enhancement, and other low-frequency applications. Despite these exciting developments, using acoustic metamaterials in biomedical ultrasound applications is a nascent field.
My Research
Refraction at the interface of a normal material (n2>0) and a negative refractive index metamaterial (n2<0)
Popa, BI et al., Nat. Mater, (2015) 14: 363–364 .
In my doctoral research, I plan to develop acoustic metamaterials to enhance the safety and efficacy of therapeutic ultrasound applications. Specifically, my work focuses on developing approaches to enhance the sensitivity of passive cavitation imaging and the ability to create controlled ultrasonic fields for ultrasound therapy.
Lab Projects
HIFU Transducer Fabrication
Designed and fabricated a 1MHz high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) transducer using PZT crystals and additive manufacturing techniques.
High Frequency External Mechanical Vibration system
Designed and developed a high-frequency, portable, and inexpensive external mechanical vibration system for ultrasound shear wave elastography.
