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Steven Allen

Assistant Professor
Faculty

Office: 154 McDonald Building

Biography

Dr. Steven Allen is an Assistant Research Professor at Brigham Young University. He received a B.S. in Physics from Brigham Young University in 2010 and a Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Michigan in 2016. At Michigan, Steven worked on MR imaging techniques to guide a novel, non-thermal, cavitation-based focused ultrasound surgery. His work included pulse sequence design, imaging physics, therapeutic acoustics, and MR relaxometry. As a postdoctoral research scientist at the University of Virginia, Steven has worked on diffusion-weighted MRI guidance for focused ultrasound thalamotomy, MR hardware development, and deblurring techniques for spiral acquisitions. Steven's current research plans include using medical imaging to probe the burgeoning variety of available non-invasive surgical techniques, therapies for musculoskeletal diseases, MR pulse sequence design, and novel imaging technologies.

Publications

JOURNAL ARTICLES (REFEREED)

  • DC Swanson, JK Sponbeck, DA Swanson, CD Stevens, SP Allen, et al. Validity of ultrasound imaging for intrinsic foot muscle cross-sectional area measurements demonstrated by strong agreement with MRI; BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 23 (1), 1-12, 2022
  • Z Wang, SP Allen, X Feng, JP Mugler III, CH Meyer, et al. SPRING‐RIO TSE: 2D T2‐Weighted Turbo Spin‐Echo brain imaging using SPiral RINGs with retraced in/out trajectories
  • L Raspagliesi, A D’Ammando, M Gionso, ND Sheybani, MB Lopes, et al. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine; Intracranial sonodynamic therapy with 5-aminolevulinic acid and sodium fluorescein: Safety study in a porcine model; Frontiers in Oncology 11, 2229
  • Allen S.P., Prada, F., Xu, Z.Y., et al. A Preclinical Study of Diffusion Weighted MRI Image Contrast as an Early Indicator of Thermal Ablation, Magn Reson Med 2019. Under Review
  • Allen, S. P., Steeves, T. , Fergusson, A. , Moore, D. , Davis, R. M., Vlaisialjevich, E. and Meyer, C. H. (2019), Novel acoustic coupling bath using magnetite nanoparticles for MRguided transcranial focused ultrasound surgery. Med. Phys. doi:10.1002/mp.13863
  • Quah, K, Poorman, ME, Allen, SP, Grissom WA. Simultaneous multislice MRI thermometry with a single coil using incoherent blipped-controlled aliasing. Magn Reson Med. 2019; 00: 1– 13.
  • Grissom, WA, Allen, SP. Reducing temperature errors in transcranial MR-guided focused ultrasound using a reduced-field-of-view sequence. Magn Reson Med. 2019; 00: 1– 9.
  • Allen SP, Feng X, Fielden SW, Meyer CH. “Correcting image blur in spiral, retraced in/out (RIO) acquisitions using a maximized energy objective.” Magn Reson Med. 2019;81:1806–1817.
  • Sukovich, J.R., Cain, C.A., Pandey, A.S., Chaudhary, N., Camelo-Piragua, S., Allen, S.P., Hall, T.L., Snell, J., Xu, Z., Cannata, J.M. and Teofilovic, D., 2018. In vivo histotripsy brain treatment. Journal of Neurosurgery, Oct, 2018. pp.1-8. (Early View).
  • Lundt, J.E, Allen, S.P., et al, “Noninvasive, Rapid Ablation of Tissue Volume Using Histotripsy.” Ultrasound in Med. & Biol. 2017; 43(12), 2834-2847.
  • Allen, S. P., et al. "The response of MRI contrast parameters in in vitro tissues and tissue mimicking phantoms to fractionation by histotripsy." Physics in Med. & Biol. 62.17 (2017): 7167-7180.
  • Fan, Y.; Guo, R.; Shi, X., Allen, S. et al. Modified Nanoemulsions with Iron Oxide for Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Nanomaterials 2016, 6, 223.
  • Allen, S. P., et al. “MR-Based Detection of Individual Histotripsy Bubble Clouds Formed in Tissues and Phantoms.” Magn Reson Med. 76.5 (2016) 1486-1493
  • Allen, S. P., et al. “Controlling cavitation-based image contrast in focused ultrasound histotripsy surgery.” Magn Reson Med, 73.1 (2015) 204-213.
  • Vlaisavljevich, E., Kim, Y., Allen, S., et al. Image-guided non-invasive ultrasound liver ablation using histotripsy: Feasibility study in an in vivo porcine model. Ultrasound in Med. & Biol. 39(8), 1398-1409.
  • Kim, Y., Fifer, C.G., Gelehrter, S.K., Owens, G.E., Berman, D.R., Vlaisavljevich, E., Allen, S.P., et al. “Developmental Impact and Lesion Maturation of Histotripsy-Mediated NonInvasive Tissue Ablation in a Fetal Sheep Model.” Ultrasound in Med. & Biol. 39(6). June 2013.
  • Allen, S. P., et al. (2011), Phase-sensitive sodium B1 mapping. Magn Reson Med, 65.4 (2011): 1125–1130.

INVITED TALKS

  • “Paramagnetic Nanoparticles for MR-Guided Surgeries,” The Nano-Symposium on Engineered Health, Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA 2018

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS

  • Allen, S.P. Steeves, T. Vlaisavjlevich, E. Fergusson A. Davis, R. Meyer, C.H. “Novel Acoustic Coupling Design to Improve MRI Guidance for Focused Ultrasound Surgery.” Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Therapeutic Ultrasound, Barcelona, 2019.
  • Allen, S.P. Steeves, T. Vlaisavjlevich, E. Fergusson A. Davis, R. Meyer, C.H. “Novel Acoustic Coupling Design to Improve MR Imaging Guidance for Focused Ultrasound Surgery.” Proceedings of the 28th Annual Meeting of ISMRM, Montreal. 2019.
  • Gilbo YK, Sporkin, H. Fielden, Mugler, J. Miller, G.W. Allen, SP. Meyer. C. “Detecting T1-based “Signal Reduction in Focused Ultrasound Heating of Bone using a 3D Spiral Ultra-Short Echo Time Sequence.” Proceedings of the 28th Annual Meeting of ISMRM, Montreal. 2019.
  • Allen, S.P. Feng, X. Elias, W.J. Pauly, K.B. Meyer, C. “Intraoperative, diffusion-weighted, MR imaging immediately after transcranial FUS thalamotomy.” 6th International Symposium on Focused Ultrasound 2018, Reston, VA, 2018, BR-13.
  • Allen, S.P. Feng, X. Elias, W.J. Meyer, C. “Intraoperative, diffusion-weighted, MR imaging for transcranial focused ultrasound thalamotomy.” 12th Interventional MRI Symposium, 2018, Boston, MA, 2018.
  • Feng, X. Allen, S.P. Fielden, S. Meyer, C. “Accelerated real-time 3D MR thermometry using a retraced spiral-in/out trajectory.” 6th International Symposium on Focused Ultrasound 2018, Reston, VA, 2018, BR-43.
  • Gilbo, Y. Sporkin, H. Fielden, S. Mugler, J. Miller, G. Allen, S.P. Pfeuffer, J. Keifer, B. Meyer, C. “T1-based Signal Reduction in Focused Ultrasound Heating of Bone using a 3D Spiral UltraShort Echo Time Sequence.” 6th International Symposium on Focused Ultrasound 2018, Reston, VA, 2018, P-YI-13.
  • Allen, S.P. Feng, X., Fielden, S. Meyer, C.H. “Improved Automatic Deblurring Using a Novel Objective Function Paired with a Retraced Spiral Acquisition Trajectory”. Proceedings of the 27th Annual Meeting of ISMRM, Paris. p. 2680, 2018.
  • Allen, S.P. Feng X., Sporkin, H., and Meyer, C. “Rapid Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Immediately After Sonication Using Outer-Volume Suppression Pulses and Single-Shot, Spiral Acquisition”. Proceedings of the 17th International Symposium on Therapeutic Ultrasound, Nanjing, 2017.
  • Allen, S.P., and Hall, T.L. "Feasibility of MRI monitoring of histotripsy therapy." AIP Conference Proceedings. Vol. 1821. No. 1. AIP Publishing, 2017.
  • Sukovich, J., Allen, S.P. et al.. “In Vivo Porcine Histotripsy Brain Treatments”. 5th International Focused Ultrasound Symposium. Bethesda. 2016: A34.
  • Lundt, J., Allen, S.P. et al.. “Effects of Dosing and Focal Spacing in Rapid Ablation of Large Tissue Volume Using Histotripsy with Electronic Focal Steering”. 5th International Focused Ultrasound Symposium. Bethesda. 2016: A42.
  • Sukovich, J, Allen, S.P. et al.. “Efficacy and Treatment Envelope of Transcranial Histotripsy Therapy without Using Aberration Correction”. 5th International Focused Ultrasound Symposium. Bethesda. 2016: A127.
  • Allen, S.P., Hall, T.L., Cain, C.A., Hernandez-Garcia, L. “Response of MR Contrast Parameters in Tissues and Tissue Mimicking Phantoms to Histotripsy” Proceedings of the 25th Annual Meeting of ISMRM, Singapore. 2016.
  • Lundt, J.E., Allen, S.P, Sukovich J.R., Hall, T.L., Xu, Z.. “Non-Invasive Rapid Ablation of Large Tissue Volume Using Histotripsy”. Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on Therapeutic Ultrasound, Tel Aviv, 2016.
  • Allen, S.P., Hernandez-Garcia, L., Cain, C.A., Hall, T.L. “MR-Based Quantification of Damaged Kidney Volume Incurred By Shockwave Lithotripsy”. Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on Theraeutic Ultrasound, Tel Aviv, 2016.
  • Allen, S.P., Hernandez-Garcia, L., Cain, C.A., Hall, T.L. “Response of MR Contrast Parameters in Tissues and Tissue Mimicking Phantoms to Histotripsy”. Proceedings of the 16th International Symposium on Theraeutic Ultrasound, Tel Aviv, 2016.
  • Allen, S.P., Hernandez-Garcia, L., Cain, C.A., Hall, T.L. “Real-Time Feedback of Cavitation Ablation Therapy (Histotripsy)”. 4th International Focused Ultrasound Symposium. Bethesda. 2014: 89-LV.
  • Allen, S.P, Hernandez-Garcia, L., Cain, C.A., Hall, T.L. “Feasibility of MRI Monitoring of Histotripsy Therapy”. Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium on Therapeutic Ultrasound. Las Vegas, 2014: p. 235.
  • Allen, S.P., Hall, T.L., Cain, C.A., Hernandez-Garcia, L. “MR-Based Targeting of Histotripsy Therapy at 7T” Proceedings of the 21st Annual Meeting of ISMRM, Salt Lake City, p 1831.
  • Allen, S.P., Roberts, W.W., Hall, T.L., Cain, C.A., Hernandez-Garcia, L., “Characterization of the In Vivo Histotripsy Lesion Using High Field MRI.” Proceedings of the 20th Annual Meeting of ISMRM, Melbourne, p 1582.