Lab Members
Principal Investigator
Paul Dayton, Ph.D
Distinguished Professor
Paul Dayton received his B.S. in Physics from Villanova University in 1995, his M.E. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Virginia in 1998, and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering in 2001, also from the University of Virginia. He pursued post-doctoral research and was later research faculty at the University of California at Davis. Much of Dr. Dayton’s training was under the mentorship of Dr. Katherine Ferrara, where his initial studies involved high speed optical and acoustical analysis of individual contrast agent microbubbles. In 2007, Dr. Dayton moved to the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at UNC Chapel Hill and NC State University, Raleigh, where he is now Associate Professor and Associate Department Chair. Dr. Dayton is currently Associate Director for Education for the Biomedical Imaging Research Center, and his research interests involve ultrasound contrast imaging, ultrasound-mediated therapies, and medical devices. Dr. Dayton is a member of the technical program committee for IEEE UFFC, and a member of the editorial boards for the journals IEEE Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control as well as Molecular Imaging, and Bubble Science, Engineering, and Technology.
Laboratory Staff
James Tsuruta, Ph.D
Research Assistant Professor
Dr. Tsuruta is a faculty member in the department of pediatrics and cell and developmental biology. His work involves the interactions of ultrasound with biological tissues. Dr. Tsuruta also contributes his knowledge of biochemistry to histology and molecular targeting applications.
Phillip Durham, Ph.D
Research Assistant Professor
Dr. Durham has worked in the fields of drug delivery, nanotoxicology and ultrasound imaging research for over a decade. His research in the Dayton Lab includes novel applications in both imaging and therapeutic ultrasound, using microbubbles and nanodoplets for disrupting bacterial biofilms, modulating radiotherapeutic efficacy, and delivery across the blood-brain barrier.
Brian Velasco, BA
Laboratory Operations Manager
Post-Doctoral Fellows
Graduate Students
Kathlyne Bautista
Kathlyne graduated with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in 2020. In Fall 2020, she joined the Dayton Lab as a PhD student. Her current projects include (1) advancing dual-frequency superharmonic ultrasound imaging (acoustic angiography) towards clinical translation (through simulations, hardware improvements, and machine learning) and (2) optimizing the therapeutic efficacy of nanodroplet-enhanced sonothrombolysis for the treatment of venous thrombosis.
Hatim Belgharbi
Hatim received his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnique Montreal in 2019. He received his Master’s degree in 2021 at the same university while under the supervision of Dr. Jean Provost. His master’s thesis focused on an anatomically-realistic simulation framework for ultrasound localization microscopy (ULM). He is now pursuing a Ph.D. in the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and NC State University. Hatim joined the Dayton and Pinton Labs in Fall 2021, where he is currently working on implementing clinically translatable ULM imaging.
Kelly Vantreeck
Kelly is a second year graduate student at UNC pursuing her PhD in pharmaceutical sciences. She graduated with B.S. in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University in 2019. Following graduation, she worked in reproductive health research and contraceptive development. Kelly joined the Dayton Lab in Spring 2023. Her research focuses on therapeutic applications of ultrasound, including using ultrasound and contrast to enhance cancer immunotherapy efficacy and antibiotic delivery to biofilm infections.
Jacob Mattern
Tyler Gildemeister
Tyler graduated with a B.S in biomedical engineering from Milwaukee School of Engineering University in 2023. Tyler joined the Dayton lab as a PhD student in Fall of 2023. Tyler’s research focus is on ultrasound imaging, specifically ultrasound localization microscopy.
Andrew Weitz
Roshni Gandhi
Roshni graduated with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2023. She joined the Dayton lab in Fall 2023 as a part of the Joint Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University to pursue a PhD. Her research interests include targeted therapeutics, ultrasound contrast agents, and therapeutic ultrasound.
Jadyn Cook
Undergraduate Students
Kamellia Karimpour
Andrew Hoang
Bryce Menichella
Emily Stein
Christian Nightingale
Christian is an undergraduate in the UNC-Chapel Hill/NCSU joint department of biomedical engineering focusing on regenerative and pharmaceutical engineering