Kelsey Kubelick won the Best Student Paper Award at the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium (IUS) held on October 22-25, 2018 in Kobe, Japan. Kubelick is a member of the Ultrasound Imaging and Therapeutics Research Laboratory, where she is advised by Stanislav Emelianov, the Joseph M. Pettit Chair and Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar. They are both affiliated with the Georgia Tech School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering (BME) at Georgia Tech and Emory University School of Medicine. 

Kubelick’s paper is titled "Ultrasound/Photoacoustic Imaging Platform to Expedite Development of Novel Glaucoma Treatments."  The paper was co-authored with Emelianov, Eric Snider and C. Ross Ethier of the Coulter Department; and Andrei Karpiouk of ECE. 

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness in the world, according to the British Journal of Ophthalmology. However, no cure for glaucoma exists and current treatments focus on symptom management. This collaborative work between the School of ECE and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of BME focuses on the development of an imaging platform to track stem cells in the anterior eye to facilitate image-guided therapy for novel glaucoma treatments. 

The goal of Kubelick’s work is to provide real-time feedback to researchers and physicians to assess and improve stem cell delivery. As a part of this project, the authors are also investigating magnetic nanoparticles, novel light delivery systems, and even developing a new animal model of glaucoma.