Riding the Magic School Bus all the way to the world research stage

Jessica Kishimoto grew up watching the Magic School Bus, the popular children's television show about science. Although she loved "Liz" the lizard, she wanted to be just like Dorothy Ann - the little girl who constantly was doing research and sharing what she had learned with her classmates. Now an MSc student, Kishimoto is sharing her knowledge on the international research stage.

Her research focusses on new technologies to help diagnose and monitor bleeding in the brain in very low birth weight, pre-term newborns. Her work was honoured at the February 2013 SPIE Medical Imaging conference in Orlando, Florida. She received the top prize among 23 posters in the Ultrasonic Imaging, Tomography, and Therapy session. The cum laude award recognizes innovation and research excellence.

Kishimoto is supervised by a team of researchers, including Drs. Keith St. Lawrence, Sandrine de Ribaupierre, Aaron Fenster and David Lee.

Completing her undergraduate degree with the Department of Medical Biophysics, she was inspired to continue on with her studies because of the interesting research projects available to puruse. She was excited to apply her physics background to real-life medical problems and consequently was drawn to the city-wide Biomedical Imaging Research Centre (BIRC).

For her award winning project, Kishimoto used a small portable 3D ultrasound (US) system designed using software patented by Dr. Fenster. The device assessed a condition known as intraventricular hemorrhage (IVH) in pre-term babies. IVH affects 12-20 per cent of babies born at less than 35 weeks gestation (full term = 40 weeks gestation). In these newborns, the vessels on the inner walls of ventricles, the spaces in the brain containing cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), are extremely fragile. If a vessel ruptures, bleeding into the ventricles can occur. In severe cases, the normal circulation of CSF is blocked leading to fluid accumulation. This causes an increase in the size of the ventricles and increased pressure inside the skull. Further brain injury may occur as a result, so the babies must be carefully monitored.

As compared to conventional 2D US, the 3D US device can provide volume measurements of the entire ventricles right at the bedside. This allows physicians to more accurately assess subtle changes in ventricle size and better determine whether there is a need for intervention to remove some of the excess CSF. This translates into huge benefits for these vulnerable patients.

Kishimoto has acquired 3D US scans for 16 very low birth weight newborns so far. When these tiny patients improve enough to leave the hospital, an image from their scan is tucked inside a card of thanks to the parents for participating in the study.

Excited about the future and the possibilities her research provides, Kishimoto plans to her pursue her PhD.