Celebrating British Science Week with IBEX’s Lead Research Scientist, Richard McWilliam

Hello all, I’m Richard McWilliam and I’m a Lead Research Scientist at IBEX Innovations.

Science plays a huge role in the development and deployment of IBEX’s range of medical imaging technologies and since this week is British Science Week, I thought it’d be a great opportunity to talk a bit about science at IBEX.

A Bit About Me…

I started my science career as a research associate in digital holography at Durham University, which involved experimental physics and image processing algorithms.?

I have been working at IBEX as a senior scientist for almost six years now and my current focus is on improving the diagnostic quality of medical X-ray imaging systems using image processing techniques, experimental physics and data modelling.

How is Science Integrated into IBEX Technologies?

X-ray physics and medical imaging is at the core of everything IBEX does. In medical X-ray imaging, every photon counts because patient dose must be minimised while image quality must be maximised. We model how X-rays interact with anatomical bone and tissue so that the best image quality can be achieved with minimum dose.?

Our cutting-edge X-ray modelling technology, IBEX Trueview?, considers scatter and direct beam contributions that are fed into a sophisticated statistical model to generate an accurate estimate of the underlying patient materials composition.

This allows us to improve diagnostic quality by digitally removing scatter and enhancing the contrast to noise of subtle anatomical features using image processing techniques. Our methods use mathematical and statistical methods, AI models, and image processing algorithms.?

The end result is that every useful X-ray photon is fully utilised, while non-useful photos are removed. This works for standard digital radiography (a fixed 2D scan of a body region), computed tomography (a 3D scan of a body region), and mammography. The model also provides accurate bone density information from a standard X-ray scan - something not currently possible without a separate DXA scan.

IBEX’s range of software applications can provide major benefits to patients, health care trusts, and system manufacturers.

IBEX’s Presence in the Scientific Community

Since 2014, IBEX has built and developed strong relationships within research, development, and medical communities all over the world.

With regards to universities, IBEX has worked on advanced statistical modelling in collaboration with Durham University PhD students and academics, as well as AI modelling and clinics study design in collaboration with The University of York.

The company also undertakes prospective and retrospective clinical studies in partnership with Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust, and Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust.

On the business end of things, we undergo focused technical research and development studies with various commercial partners within the industry such as CurveBeam LLC, JPI Healthcare, Planmed Oy, and Nordson Corporation.

Key outcomes and advances are disseminated at leading medical conferences (such as RSNA and ECR) and in prestigious clinical journals like the British Medical Journal, the Journal of British Radiography, and Acta Radiologica.

The Future of Science at IBEX?

We’re lucky enough to be part of a rapidly growing industry that’s full of cutting-edge innovations and there are several key trends that IBEX will contribute towards:

1. Creating more accessible 3D imaging systems based on CT tomosynthesis that have traditionally been more expensive than 2D digital radiography systems. Digital scatter removal improves the image quality of these systems and IBEX is improving the quality of reconstruction algorithms that are needed to turn the captured 3D data into diagnostic images.

2. Another major trend is AI methods that replace traditional image processing methods. IBEX already uses AI as a key element for X-ray materials modelling, scatter removal and bone health prediction.?

3. 3D X-ray imaging methods are also on the rise, with high growth in the medical imaging sector. High-quality 3D imaging relies upon sophisticated reconstruction algorithms that convert the captured frames into accurate reconstructed data, achieving improved image quality.

4. Bone health prediction has become an important tool in predicting the quality of life of an ageing global population. Yet, this currently relies on specialist hardware and specific medical appointments. IBEX aims to enable key bone health metrics to be extracted from routine X-ray scans that can be performed using non-specialist equipment using its Trueview software.