Babak Matinfar  Johns Hopkins University  Center for Computer-Integrated  Surgical Systems and Technology  B08D Computational Science and Engineering Building  3400 N. Charles St. Baltimore MD 21218  Tel: 410 - 516 3417  Fax: 410 - 516 5553  E-mail: bmat@jhu.edu   CV

I am a PhD student at the Center for Computer-Integrated Surgical Systems and Technology at Johns Hopkins University. My research advisor is Dr. Peter Kazanzides and my academic advisor is Dr. Russ Taylor. I am working on the Image Guided Small Animal Radiation Therapy Platform which integrates imaging, radiation delivery and treatment planning.

Before coming to Johns Hopkins, I was working as a Project Manager at Real Time System Inc., Toronto after graduating from Queen's University, Kingston in Electrical Engineering. I received my B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Tehran University.

• Image Guided Small Animal Radiation Research Platform (IG-SARRP)

In cancer research, small animals, such as mice, rats and rabbits are used extensively to evaluate the effectiveness of novel treatment as well as treatment related toxicity. In combination with advanced imaging methods, small animal research allows detailed study of biological processes, disease progression, and response to therapy, with the potential to provide a natural bridge to the clinical environment and contribute substantially to the development of human medicine. IG-SARRP will realistically model human radiation treatment methods in mice, rats and rabbits. Three specific aims of this project are:

1. Construction of SARRP which integrates imaging, radiation delivery and treatment planning capabilities. The SARRP will be equipped with a computer-controlled rotating gantry. Three kilovoltage (kV) x-ray (100 kVp to 250 kVp) sources will provide combination of imaging and treatment functions. On-board cone-beam CT ( at ~ 0.5 mm resolution) and radiographic imaging will be implemented using amorphous silicon (a:Si) flat-panel detector technology. When required, remountable x-ray focusing lens will be deployed to achieve "dose painting" at ~1 mm resolution.

2. KV dose calculation based on Monte Carlo and pencile beam convolution methods will be commissioned and coupled with a clinical 3D planning system to facilitate conformal irradiation experiments on the SARRP.

3. Validation of the imaging and delivery capabilities of the system. Small animal imaging and radiation experiments will be performed to determine the precision of the radiation, to address issues of animal setup, and to explore incorporation of additional targeting information with other imaging modalities

4. See poster1 and poster2 of this project  

• Robot-assisted Skull Base Surgery

We created an image-guided robot system to assist with skull base drilling by integrating our Steady Hand Robot with a Medtronic StealthStation Navigation System via its Stealthlink portal. The objective of this procedure is to create a cavity in the skull base to allow access for neurosurgical interventions such as aneurysm clipping or tumor biopsy. The motivation for introducing an image-guided robot is to improve safety by preventing the surgeon from accidentally damaging critical structures during the drilling procedure. Our approach is to attach the cutting tool to the robot end-effecter and operate the robot in a cooperative control mode, where robot motion is determined from the forces and torques applied by the surgeon. We employ “virtual fixtures” to constrain the motion of the cutting tool so that it remains in the safe zone that was defined on a preoperative CT scan.  For a video of the drilling procedure click here

• Nerve Tensionometer for Spondyloptosis Surgery

The goal of this work is to improve the safety of the spondyloptosis surgery procedure. Spondylosis is the spine deformities either people born with or damages their back during the early years of their life. The instrument is capable of measuring both the force and the displacement of the nerve root and correlate the measured data to determine root lengthening limit. The nerve tensionometer screens the amount of tension in the nerve and provides a useful means of predicting impending nerve injury.

M. Matinfar, I. Iordachita, E. Ford, J. Wong and P. Kazanzides, Delivery Precision for Small Animal Radiotherapy, 11th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention, New York, NY, Sept. 2008.

M. Matinfar, I. Iordachita, E. Ford, J. Wong and P. Kazanzides, Calibration of the Treatment Beam of the Small Animal Radiation Research Platform, 4th Annual IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE 2008), August 23-26, 2008, Washington DC.

M. Matinfar, O. Grey, I. Iordachita, C. Kennedy, E. Ford, J. Wong, R. Taylor, P. Kazanzides, Small Animal Radiation Research Platform (Imaging, Mechanics, Control and Calibration), 10th International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention, Brisbane, Australia, Oct. 2007.

M. Matinfar, C. Baird, A. Batouli, R. Clutterbuck and P. Kazanzides, Robot-Assisted Skull Base Surgery,  IEEE/RSI International Conference on Intelligent Robotics and Systems, San Diego, CA, Oct. 2007.

M. Matinfar, and K. Hashtrudi-Zaad, Optimal Robot Impedance Control: Geometric and Linear Quadratic Approaches, International Journal of Robotic Research

M. Matinfar, and K. Hashtrudi-Zaad, Optimization-Based Robot Impedance Control, IEEE International Conference on Decision and Control, Atlantis, Bahamas, Dec. 2004

M. Matinfar, Fuzzy Logic Applications in Automotive Industry, Sanaat Khodro Magazine (Published by SAP Co.), Iran, June 2001

M. Matinfar, Design and Implementation of Fuzzy Logic Controller for Electro-Static Filters, B.Sc. Research Project Thesis, Tehran University, Iran, 1996.