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Final Program


Program-At-A-Glance

Hazar Benan Unal, PhD

Postdoctoral Research Associate
Laboratory for Translational Imaging of Microcirculation, Purdue University
Indianapolis, Indiana, United States

I earned my undergraduate degree in Electrical & Electronics Engineering with a dual major in Physics at Bilkent University/Turkiye and completed my PhD in Bioengineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where I focused on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR). I finalized my dissertation in December 2024 with the thesis titled "High-resolution free-breathing cardiac MRI for assessment of coronary microvascular dysfunction: Technical developments and translational studies." I am currently a postdoctoral research associate at Purdue University Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering.

My current research centers on developing translational techniques to enhance the evaluation of coronary microvascular dysfunction using ferumoxytol-enhanced CMR, specifically at low-field settings. To achieve this, I conduct simulations based on MRI physics, build phantoms and perform phantom experiments, and help conducting large animal studies to demonstrate the feasibility of the developed techniques on clinical applications. In addition to performing the MRI scans, I contribute to the development of the protocols, including optimization of scan parameters, drug administration dosing/timing and image analysis. Previously, I have programmed custom pulse sequences for MRI scanners using Siemens IDEA platform, and also developed deep learning-based methods for myocardial segmentation using Python.

Presentation(s):