Current scientific work / Activités Scientifiques:

• Molecular imaging with ultrasound / Imagerie moléculaire avec ultrasons 
• Targeted therapy / Thérapie ciblée
• Contrast agents detection / Détection d'agents de contraste
• Ultrasound-enhanced Drug delivery / Transport de médicaments induit par ultrasons

Education

Doctor of Philosophy in Medical Biophysics 
University of Toronto (2001-2007, reclassified to PhD in 2003)
Thesis supervisor: F. Stuart Foster (Senior scientist, associate-chair MBP)
Advisers: Peter N. Burns, Donald Plewes
 
Bachelor of Science in Physics (Honours program)
McGill University (1998-2001)
 
Diplome d’etudes collegiales in Sciences
CEGEP Edouard-Montpetit (1996-1998)

 

Publications

• 7 peer-reviewed publications (+2 submitted)
• 2 patents
• 13 conference proceedings

Research Experience / Expériences en Recherche

Postdoctoral research:  
Laboratoire Ondes et Acoustique, ESPCI (2007-present)
Research advisers: Drs. Mickael Tanter and Mathias Fink
 
• Development of ultrasound therapy focused on the underlying biology of disease using
time-reversal of waves and targeted contrast agents.  
• Development of ultrasound-induced drug-carrying agents in microfluidics.  

Doctoral research:  
 Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto (2001-2007)  
 Research adviser: Dr. F. Stuart Foster
 
• Development of nanoparticles for ultrasound contrast enhancement at high frequencies  
• Investigation of the acoustical behaviour of contrast agents in solution and bound to a
surface
• Theoretical analysis of the scattering of various targeted contrast agents in large densities.
 
Undergraduate Honours Research:  
Physics department, McGill University (2000-2001)    
Research adviser: Dr. Peter Grutter.   
 
• Atomic force microscopy of rat trachea cells affected by asthma
 
Undergraduate research project:  
INRS Energie et Materiaux (2000)  
Research adviser: Dr. Guy Ross
 
• Ionic implantation for the modification of the wetability of surfaces.

Funding / Financements

Postdoctoral fellowships: 
Fonds de la Recherche en Sante  du Quebec
Fondation Pierre-Gilles de Gennes
 
Graduate scholarships:
Ontario Graduate Scholarships (2002-2003, 2006-2007)
Ontario Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology
(2001-2002, 2003-2004,2004-2005, 2005-2006)
 
Undergraduate scholarships:
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (2000)
McConnell – McGill University (1998-1999, 1999-2000)

Journal Reviews 

• Physics in Medicine and Biology
• IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control

Teaching experience / Expériences d'Enseignement

Teaching assistant: 
Physics department, University of Toronto (2004-2006)
Course supervisor: Dr. Vatche Deyirmenjian
• First year physics laboratories (PHY138/110)
 
Teaching assistant: 
Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto (2006)
Course supervisor: Dr. Simon Graham
• Advanced Medical Imaging (MBP 1024)
 
Supervision of summer students: 
Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto (2002-2006)
Supervising professor: Dr. Stuart Foster
• Four students working on ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging
 
Supervision of summer students: 
Universite Paris VII (2008)
Supervising researcher: Dr. Mickael Tanter
• Two students working on microbubbles imaging and thermometry for therapy
 
Teaching assistant training program:
University of Toronto (2003)
• Certificate
Teaching interests
• Biophysics courses 
• Introductory physics courses 
• Introductory and advanced laboratories

 

Administration and University Services / Administration et Services Universitaires

Student association of the Department of Medical Biophysics 
President (2003-2004)
 Vice-President (2001-2003)
 
McGill Society for Physics Students
 Vice-president (2000-2001)
 
University of Toronto Varsity player
 Waterpolo (2003-2006) 

Peer-Reviewed Publications / Publications à Comité de Lecture

 [1] Couture O, Bevan PD, et al. (2006)."Investigating perfluorohexane particles with high-frequency ultrasound". Ultrasound Med Biol 32(1): 73-82. 

Patents / Brevets

2 brevets dans le domaines des ultrasons et de l'imagerie médicale

Conferences

 

[1] Couture O and Foster SF (2002). Investigation of nanoparticles for targeted
ultrasound imaging. Centre for Modeling Human Disease Symposium, Toronto.
 
[2] Couture O, Cherin E, et al. (2004). Acoustical Characterization of submicron particles
of perfluorocarbon in solution. IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control
Society, Montreal.
 
[3] Marshall M, Couture O, et al. (2005). Determining perfluorocarbon particle size using
nuclear magnetic resonance. International Society for Magnetic Resonance In Medicine,
Miami
 
[4] Couture O, Bevan PB, et al. (2005). A new model for the ultrasound reflectivity
enhancement due to the presence of micron-sized particles on a surface. IEEE
Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Society, Rotterdam.
 
[5] Cheung K, Couture O, et al. (2005). The effect of bubble size distribution and driving
frequency on the subharmonic response from Definity microbubbles. IEEE, Ultrasonics,
Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control Society, Rotterdam.
 
[6] Couture O, Rychak JJ, et al. (2006). A new model for the maximum reflectivity
enhancement from targeted contrast agents. IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and
Frequency Control Society, Vancouver.
 
[7] Couture O and Foster FS (2006). Modeling the ultrasound reflectivity of targeted
contrast agents. Imaging Network of Ontario, Toronto.
 
[8] Couture O and Foster FS (2006). Modeling the reflectivity of targeted contrast agents.
Ultrasonic Biomedical Microscanning, Corsica.
 
[9] Couture O and Foster FS (2007) “Quantification of high frequency ultrasound echoes
from targeted contrast agents” Molecular Imaging, Providence.
 
[10] Couture O, Montaldo G, et al. (2008) “Time-Reversal for the correction of nonlinear
propagation in pulse-inversion imaging”, European Symposium on Ultrasound Contrast
Agents, Rotterdam.

[11]  Tanter M, Couture O, Fink M (2008) "Time reversal of acoustic waves in the nonlinear regime: basic physics and applicaton to ultrasound contrast imaging" Acoustical Society of America, Paris.
 
[12] Couture O, Montaldo G, et al. (2008) “Suppression of tissue-harmonics for pulse-
inversion imaging using time-reversal” IEEE conference UFFC, Beijing.
 
[13] Couture O, Tanter M, Fink M (2008) “Molecular focusing of high-intensity
ultrasound: Time-reversal focusing applied to targeted ultrasound contrast agents”, IEEE
conference UFFC, Beijing.