P&A Colloquium – Dr. Magdalena Bazalova-Carter, University of Victoria
Oct 22, 2025
10:30AM to 11:30AM
Date/Time
Date(s) - 22/10/2025
10:30 am - 11:30 am
BSB 108
Dr. Magdalena Bazalova-Carter
Associate Professor
University of Victoria
TITLE: Photon-counting computed tomography at UVic
ABSTRACT:
In 2021, Siemens announced that their Naeotom Alpha was the first photon-counting computed tomography (PCD-CT) scanner approved for clinical use in the United States and Europe. However, to date it is still quite unclear what are the diagnostic benefits of PCD-CT, as only limited clinical data is available. In this talk, I will first present the principles of PCD-CT and compare them to conventional CT acquired with energy-integrating detectors (EIDs). Then some clinical PCD-CT images will be shown and potential applications discussed. The experimental table-top PCD-CT system in the X-ray Cancer Imaging and Therapy Experimental (XCITE) lab at the University of Victoria will be introduced next. Its applications for K-edge imaging, multi-contrast imaging, metal artifact reduction and high-resolution stent imaging will be presented. At the end of the talk, the challenges of PCD-CT imaging will be summarized.
Bio
MAGDALENA BAZALOVA-CARTER is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. She received her PhD degree at McGill University and postdoctoral training at Stanford University. Magdalena leads the X-ray Cancer Imaging and Therapy Experimental (XCITE) lab at UVic and her current research interests include Monte Carlo simulations and experiments of x-ray fluorescence and photon-counting CT imaging, FLASH radiotherapy and low-cost radiotherapy. She is the recipient of the 2018 John S. Laughlin Young Scientist Award awarded by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine. In 2023, Magdalena was inducted in the College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists of the Royal Society in Canada.