Hospital reveals inside story as physics students explore medical imaging
Donna Knightly, manager of radiology at St. Mary’s Regional Medical Center, demonstrates an X-ray machine for physics students Samantha Forrest ’13, Raisa Sharmin ’13 and Keyan Riddell ’16. Photograph by Mike Bradley/乐播传媒 College.
Even an untrained eye could see that there was a problem with the human spine depicted in shades of gray on a computer screen: One of the vertebrae was smaller, darker and denser than the others. It was a compression fracture, a painful collapse of the disk.
In a room deep within St. Mary鈥檚 Regional Medical Center, just blocks from campus, four 乐播传媒 students paid close attention to the screen image created by a magnetic resonance imaging scanner, and to the two technologists discussing it.
As the students looked on, technologists Barbara Mandy and Brian Laudieri were taking diagnostic images of the injury suffered by an elderly woman. She was being scanned in the adjacent room. Slight and frail, she lay motionless in the 鈥渢unnel鈥� of an MRI machine. Only her feet, clad in white socks and with blankets tucked around them, were visible.
The 乐播传媒 students were at St. Mary鈥檚 on assignment for a physics course. Taught by Michael Durst, a visiting assistant professor, the course Optics of Life took a dynamic, hands-on approach to introducing the students to biomedical imaging technology, from microscopes to MRI.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Physics Michael Durst talks to his Optics of Life class. Photograph by Michael Bradley/乐播传媒 College.
Durst鈥檚 23 students made the short trek up Campus Avenue in November to see the hospital鈥檚 imaging facilities during hour-long, small-group tours that he arranged with radiology manager Donna Knightly. The arrangement was typical of the long and fruitful partnership that the college and hospital enjoy. 鈥淲e dance together as only old friends and neighbors can,鈥� says Knightly.
In addition to the MRI, the students saw demonstrations of ultrasound, with one student even serving as a subject for an ultrasound scan of her kidney, and conventional and computed tomography X-rays.
The visits gave life to the concepts discussed in class, says Samantha Forrest, a senior neuroscience major from Bozeman, Mont. 鈥淭hings stick with you more when you can see them actually performed,鈥� she explains. 鈥淚 liked being able to talk with the technologists. That’s a viewpoint that you can’t really get from a book.鈥�
鈥淪eeing how the machines were used was really interesting,鈥� adds Phi Nguyen, a senior neuroscience major from Methuen, Mass. 鈥淲atching how patients were scanned, and the resulting pictures, showed us how the machines worked on a practical level.鈥�
The St. Mary鈥檚 visits were part of a course curriculum designed, in part, to attract students to physics, a common goal for 100-level courses in that discipline at 乐播传媒. Durst unveiled the science behind technologies that nearly everyone is aware of and that have clear career implications. It was also explicitly interdisciplinary.
Ultrasound technologist Jared Theberge demonstrates the scanner for Raisa Sharmin ’13 and Keyan Riddell ’16 during a tour of imaging facilities at St. Mary’s Hospital on Nov. 27. Photograph by Michael Bradley/乐播传媒 College.
鈥淭he idea was that any student at 乐播传媒 could take this course, regardless of background, and be able to get up to speed and keep up,鈥� says Durst.
Durst鈥檚 inspiration for Optics of Life was his own research into 3-D biomedical imaging that uses optical sectioning, a kind of laser microscopy that can literally see through the surface of tissue without making an incision. About two-thirds of the course was devoted to optics.
Durst reached out across campus and into the community for guests who could make lively and engaging presentations to the class. In addition to the hospital, contributors included:
- Will Ash of 乐播传媒鈥� Imaging and Computing Center, who demonstrated different microscopes;
- Glen Ernstrom, a visiting professor of biology, who discussed his research with worms genetically modified so that their neurons glow when stimulated by certain wavelengths of light;
- and Lewiston firefighters who demonstrated infrared imaging gear that enables them, in effect, to see through thick smoke.
The presentations 鈥渕ade for a really engaging class,鈥� says Forrest.
St. Mary’s radiology manager Donna Knightly shot this X-ray of a few items worn or carried by the 乐播传媒 students. Photograph by Michael Bradley/乐播传媒 College.
But serious science lay at the heart of the course. MRI scanning, for example, uses magnetism and radio-frequency waves to trick the atoms in living cells into emitting signals that can produce an image.
鈥淵ou could teach all of physics through this course,鈥� says Durst. 鈥淵ou start to realize why pre-med students have to take physics, and why it鈥檚 on the Medical College Admission Test.鈥�
鈥淪tudents are still figuring out what they want to do career-wise. They can see that there鈥檚 a point in learning all this. It鈥檚 not just purely academic.鈥�
The class was evenly divided by gender, represented all four class years. Bearing out Durst鈥檚 hopes, it attracted majors from both within the physical sciences and outside 鈥� two in economics and one each in French and in classical and medieval studies.
鈥淢y goal in wanting to teach at 乐播传媒 in the first place,鈥� he says, 鈥渨as that students here take courses outside of their major, outside of their comfort zone.鈥�
