Pierre E. Dupont, PhD
| Department | Cardiac Surgery |
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| Hospital Title |
Staff Scientist, Cardiovascular Surgery; Chief, Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering |
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| Academic Title | Visiting Professor of Surgery, Harvard Medical School | |
| Phone | 617-919-3561 | |
| Fax | 617-730-0235 | |
| Pierre E. Dupont | ||
| Location |
300 Longwood Avenue |
Research Overview
Pierre Dupont's group develops new technologies for performing image-guided minimally invasive surgery. The research is interdisciplinary, drawing from many branches of engineering. Specific topics of interest include the design and control of novel medical robots and instruments, modeling tool-tissue interaction, the development of multi-probe or multi-modal imaging techniques for surgical guidance; and the teleoperation or automation of instrument motion.
The goal of his research is to create technology that enables minimally invasive interventions for procedures that are currently performed as open surgery. This approach minimizes the collateral trauma and risks of surgical interventions and, consequently, facilitates earlier intervention in the disease process.
About Pierre E. Dupont PhD
Pierre Dupont received a PhD in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University. He subsequently joined the College of Engineering at Boston University where he was a professor in the Departments of Mechanical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering. He recently moved his group from BU to Boston Children's Hospital.
Focus of Research
Our current focus is to develop robotic instruments and imaging technology that can be used to perform complex repairs inside the beating heart. Such surgeries are needed to correct congenital heart defects (the most common birth defect) in the fetal and pediatric heart as well as to repair the effects of heart disease in older patients.
The instruments are composed of a robotic delivery platform that can snake its way through the vasculature under joystick control. We are developing a collection of surgical tools that can be deployed at the robot's tip. . One of the tool technologies that we are investigating is a metal MEMS process that enables the fabrication of fully assembled millimeter-scale mechanisms.
To navigate instruments through the interior of the heart and to visualize tool-tissue interaction during surgery, we are developing imaging systems that employ both transmural and intracardiac 3D ultrasound imaging as well as fluoroscopy.
Translational Research
Our mission is to embed creative young engineers in a world-class pediatric clinical environment where they can identify and solve critical healthcare problems. Changing clinical practice is one of our metrics of success. Many lab members have entrepreneurial aspirations.
Key Publications
- Gosline A, Vasilyev N, Butler E, Folk C, Cohen A, Chen R, Lang N, del Nido P, Dupont P. Percutaneous Intracardiac Beating-heart Surgery using Metal MEMS Tissue Approximation Tools. Int J Robotics Research 2012: in press.
- Gosline A, Vasilyev N, Veeramani A, Wu MT, Schmitz G, Chen R, Arabagi V, del Nido P, Dupont P. Metal MEMS Tools for Beating-heart Tissue Removal. Conf Proc IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation 2012:1921-1936. Best Medical Robotics Paper Award.
- Mahvash M, Dupont P. Stiffness Control of Surgical Continuum Manipulators. IEEE Transactions on Robotics 2011; 27(2):334-345.
- Vartholomeos P, Qin L, Dupont P. MRI-powered Actuators for Robotic Interventions. Conf Proc IEEE/RSJ Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) 2011:4508-4515. Finalist for Best Paper Award.
- Dupont P, Lock J, Itkowitz B, Butler, E. Design and Control of Concentric Tube Robots. IEEE Transactions on Robotics 2010; 26(2):209-225. King-Sun Fu Best Paper Award of the IEEE Transactions on Robotics for 2010.
