BME PhD Preliminary Exam Announcement for Luke Schepers (C. Goergen and J. Tune, co-chairs) Everyone is invited to attend the public presentation beginning at 2:00pm EST. Topic: Cardiovascular Volumetric Ultrasound for Disease Detection, Diagnosis, and Device Design Date: June 14, 2022 Time: 2:00pm EST (Indiana) Location: MJIS 2001 and Online Zoom Link: https://purdue-edu.zoom.us/j/99677328231?pwd=NHFiL2xDcXFWZ2JGTkNXcEZra1JZQT0... Advisory Committee: Dr. Craig Goergen (Advisor, Co-chair), Dr. Johnathan Tune (Co-chair), Dr. Vitaliy Rayz, Dr. Andrew Otte Abstract: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide accounting for roughly 15 million deaths each year. While CVD mortality rates have continually decreased since the 1970's, the rate of decrease has slowed and may actually increase in coming years. A rise in comorbidities associated with CVD including obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and lifestyle risk factors are responsible for this reversal. Thus, it is predicted the number of patients requiring care for CVD will only continue to rise worldwide. This highlights the importance of innovation in CVD diagnosis and treatment as well as the need for better understanding of disease progression so new targeted therapies can be developed. In my studies, I utilize volumetric ultrasound to detect and diagnose CVD, determine cardiovascular function, and evaluate new treatment strategies. All studies are performed in murine disease models using a Vevo 3100 ultrasound system with high frequency, linear array, ultrasound transducers. High frequency transducers and respiratory/ECG gated volumetric ultrasound scanning provides high spatial resolution, volumetric images comparable to or surpassing other imaging modalities capabilities. Additionally, 3D and 4D ultrasound scans allow for more in-depth, accurate analysis compared to conventional 2D images that often rely on geometrical approximations. Here, I apply volumetric imaging and analysis techniques to study aortic dissection, myocardial infarction, and the effects of histone mutation on cardiac hypertrophy development.