Dongsuk Sung, Ph.D. student studying biomedical engineering in the joint Georgia Tech and Emory University program, wanted to do research that people don’t think about but is very important in reality. 

“Brain temperature was under-studied but a critical marker for our brain health, and clinicians in emergency departments told me that they need a tool to predict brain temperature accurately to treat patients better,” said Sung. “I have always wanted to help patients have longer, healthier lives after medical treatments.” 

Sung’s research includes the study and development of “next generation techniques for the estimation of human brain temperature.” 

According to Sung, core body temperature has been used as a substitute to brain temperature due to a lack of non-invasive techniques. However, it has been reported that the core body temperature and the brain temperature can be different after certain injuries, diseases, or strokes. 

The goal of Sung’s dissertation is to develop a method to predict brain temperature in an efficient and effective way. He developed a computational model that is both non-invasive and uses patient-specific data. 

“Ultimately, my research on computational model-based brain thermometry will potentially improve decisions from doctors and providing better patient outcomes, particularly in brain-based diseases or injuries, enabling longer and healthier lives,” said Sung. 

Sung’s research titled, “Comparisons of healthy human brain temperature predicted from biophysical modeling and measured with whole brain MR thermometry,” was published in Scientific Reports and recently earned a Chih Foundation Graduate Student Research Publication award. 

Sung is one of four graduate students awarded the 2023 Chih Foundation Graduate Student Research Publication. Congratulations to the following 2023 Chih Foundation Graduate Student Research Publication award recipients: Andrés-Felipe Castro Méndez, Dongsuk Sung, Hantian Zhang, and Vanessa Oguamanam. 

Each awardee receives $2,500 to pursue their research. 

“This award will provide me with more opportunities for me to explore deeply into this topic and introduce this topic to general audiences,” said Sung. “I’m really grateful for receiving this award so that I can confidently keep pursuing the biomedical research using medical imaging.”