People

Tumour Angiogenesis, Radiotracer Development, In vitro testing, Method Development

My scientific interest involves Molecular Imaging applied to oncology field. In particular, I support the use of PET imaging in order to evaluate and assess a tumour's stage and metabolism, and set up a proper therapeutic strategy.

Zhihong's main research interests are in medical ultrasound and photonics, working closely with clinicians and industrial collaborators to maximise research impact and facilitate translation into practice. She utilises acoustics and optics as tools to understand and explore the mechanisms of tissue response, which in turn support new research initiatives on tissue characterization and interventional medical devices.

She leads a wide range of activities incorporating tissue mimicking phantom fabrication; mechanical, acoustic, thermal and optical characterization of tissue; 3D reconstruction of human anatomy and simulation, vibration analysis and robotics.

Uniquely, her group have developed a method to combine ultrasound and photonics to investigate the underlying, common physical mechanisms in three diverse areas: ultrasound and photonics instrumentation for ultrasonic surgical tool design and characterization; sono- and optical- elastography for medical diagnosis; and image guided and robotic assisted interventions.

Cancer research and development, drug discovery of antitumoral agents, targeted therapies, molecular imaging as innovative tool of diagnosis and treatment of brain tumours, medicinal chemistry of PARP inhibitors, radiochemistry, pre-clinical studies.

Dr Pernet is a senior academic fellow, teaching MRI/fMRI/EEG and researching on methods (statistics) for clinical applications (brain tumours, stroke). He is also the Edinburgh Imaging scientific contact for functional MRI studies, and support data management and open science activities.

Dr Pernet, obtained a PhD in Cognitive Neuropsychology from the University of Toulouse III in France in 2004. He was then working with Prof. JF Demonet and Dr P Celsis on neurodevelopmental disorders using MRI, functional MRI and EEG. He next obtained a post-doc fellowship from the Fyssen Foundation to work in Finland with Prof. R. Salmelin on reading using MEG. He moved to UK in 2006, working in Glasgow with Prof. B. Belin as post-doc research assistant, working on auditory (voice) processing using fMRI and EEG. He joined the Brain Research Imaging Center, Edinburgh in 2007, as fMRI lead for SINAPSE (Scottish Imaging Network A Platform for Scientific Excellence). 

Research interests in bioorganic/medicinal chemistry with Imaging Technologies, particularly Positron Emission Tomography (PET) with applications in brain imaging and oncology.