This technology includes an electronic method for fringe scanning in grating-based phase-contrast imaging, which enhances x-ray phase-contrast imaging. Traditional methods use high-density gratings and require fine grating fringes, finer than the detector's resolution, necessitating fringe scanning to obtain phase-contrast information. This process typically involves complex and precise movements of a grating for each image, challenging in applications like medical computed tomography that demand rapid gantry rotation and acquisition of numerous projection images in less than a second.

This technology includes a novel transcatheter repair for functional mitral valve regurgitation, called mitral cerclage annuloplasty. This includes coronary artery protection for mitral cerclage annuloplasty against inside-out compression from subsequent transcatheter valve-in-ring mitral valve implantation, wherein the ring is created by the cerclage annuloplasty. Cerclage annuloplasty is to create a semi-rigid ring at the level of the mitral annulus.

This technology includes a metallic guidewire that is suitable for MRI catheterization, because it is mechanically long but electrically consists of short conductive segments that cannot resonate during MRI. The invention consists of stiffness-matched non-conductive connectors or connections that are used along with short metallic segments. The embodiment reduced to practice has torquability and flexibility comparable to marketed metallic guidewires, yet is free from MRI heating.

This technology includes a device to close a hole in the wall of a large blood vessel or cardiac chamber from the inside out, delivered over a guidewire and through a catheter or sheath. First, the proximal portion deploys within the vessel or chamber and is advanced over a guidewire to oppose the wall and seal the hole. Second, the distal portion self-assembles outside the vessel or chamber upon withdrawal of the guidewire. Deployment of the distal portion anchors the device securely in place.

This technology includes a catheter design to be used for cardiovascular procedures. This catheter has intrinsic freedom from MRI heating by segmenting and insulating the braiding material, yet that retains most of the mechanical properties of a braided catheter aligning the segment interruptions out-of-phase with each other.

This technology includes a catheter-delivered endograft designed to treat congenital heart disease without surgery. The specific surgical procedure averted is cavopulmonary bypass graft. The key innovations are features to effect distal end-to-side anastomosis and proximal end-to-end anastomosis without surgery. The system operates under X-ray and MRI guidance.

This technology includes a microscopy technique that combines the strengths of multiview imaging (better resolution isotropy, better depth penetration) with resolution-improving structured illumination microscopy (SIM). The proposed microscope uses a sharp line-focused illumination structure to excite and confocally detect sample fluorescence from 3 complementary views.

This technology includes a method that extends fluorescence polarization imaging so that the dipole moment of a fluorescent dye may be excited regardless of its 3D orientation. By exciting the dipole from multiple directions, we ensure that excitation may occur even if the dipole is unfavorably oriented along the axial (propagation) axis. If the dye can be rigidly attached to the structure of interest, our method also enables the 3D orientation of the structure to be estimated accurately.

This technology includes improvements in the fluorescence scanner to increase efficiency. This method works by eliminating the need to radially slide the optical assembly during scanning, instead using a galvanometric mirror deflecting a laser beam to different positions in the sample. This allows the scanner to be incorporated into existing commercial analytical ultracentrifugation (AUC) systems with minimal modifications.

This technology includes a microscopy technique that produces super-resolution images from diffraction-limited images obtained from a line scanning confocal microscope. First, the operation of the confocal microscope is modified so that images with sparse line excitation are recorded. Second, these images are processed to increase resolution in one dimension. Third, by taking a series of such super-resolved images from a given sample type, a neural network may be trained to produce images with 1D super-resolution from new diffraction-limited images.