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Junjie Yao

Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering
Biomedical Engineering
Room 1427, Fitzpatrick CIEMAS, 101 Science Drive, PO Box 90281, Durham, NC 27708
Hudson Hall Annex 261, Durham, NC 27708
Office hours Monday to Friday: 9:30 am to 6:00 pm (walk-in welcome)  

Selected Publications


Dynamic synthetic-scanning photoacoustic tracking monitors hepatic and renal clearance pathway of exogeneous probes in vivo.

Journal Article Light, science & applications · October 2024 Advancements in precision medicine necessitate understanding drug clearance pathways, especially in organs like the liver and kidneys. Traditional techniques such as PET/CT pose radiation hazards, whereas optical imaging poses challenges in maintaining bot ... Full text Cite

Non-invasive Deep-Brain Imaging with 3D Integrated Photoacoustic Tomography and Ultrasound Localization Microscopy (3D-PAULM).

Journal Article IEEE transactions on medical imaging · October 2024 Photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) is a proven technology for imaging hemodynamics in deep brain of small animal models. PACT is inherently compatible with ultrasound (US) imaging, providing complementary contrast mechanisms. While PACT can quantify ... Full text Cite

Sound Out the Deep Clarity: Super-resolution Photoacoustic Imaging at Depths.

Journal Article IEEE transactions on ultrasonics, ferroelectrics, and frequency control · September 2024 Photoacoustic imaging (PAI), also known as optoacoustic imaging, is a hybrid imaging modality that combines the rich contrast of optical imaging with the deep penetration of ultrasound imaging. Over the past decade, PAI has been increasingly utilized in bi ... Full text Cite

Three-dimensional super-resolution passive cavitation mapping in laser lithotripsy.

Journal Article IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control · August 16, 2024 Kidney stone disease is a major public health issue. By breaking stones with repeated laser irradiation, laser lithotripsy (LL) has become the main treatment for kidney stone disease. Laser-induced cavitation is closely associated with the stone damage in ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

On-demand expansion fluorescence and photoacoustic microscopy (ExFLPAM).

Journal Article Photoacoustics · August 2024 Expansion microscopy (ExM) is a promising technology that enables nanoscale imaging on conventional optical microscopes by physically magnifying the specimens. Here, we report the development of a strategy that enables i) on-demand labeling of subcellular ... Full text Cite

Virtual-point-based deconvolution for optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy.

Journal Article Journal of biophotonics · June 2024 Optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) has been increasingly utilized for in vivo imaging of biological tissues, offering structural, functional, and molecular information. In OR-PAM, it is often necessary to make a trade-off between imaging ... Full text Cite

Advanced 3D imaging and organoid bioprinting for biomedical research and therapeutic applications.

Journal Article Advanced drug delivery reviews · May 2024 Featured Publication Organoid cultures offer a valuable platform for studying organ-level biology, allowing for a closer mimicry of human physiology compared to traditional two-dimensional cell culture systems or non-primate animal models. While many organoid cultures use cell ... Full text Cite

Subventricular zone stem cell niche injury is associated with intestinal perforation in preterm infants and predicts future motor impairment.

Journal Article Cell Stem Cell · April 4, 2024 Brain injury is highly associated with preterm birth. Complications of prematurity, including spontaneous or necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC)-associated intestinal perforations, are linked to lifelong neurologic impairment, yet the mechanisms are poorly und ... Full text Link to item Cite

Longitudinal intravital imaging of mouse placenta.

Journal Article Sci Adv · March 22, 2024 Featured Publication Studying placental functions is crucial for understanding pregnancy complications. However, imaging placenta is challenging due to its depth, volume, and motion distortions. In this study, we have developed an implantable placenta window in mice that enabl ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

Multi-molecular hyperspectral PRM-SRS microscopy.

Journal Article Nat Commun · February 21, 2024 Featured Publication Lipids play crucial roles in many biological processes. Mapping spatial distributions and examining the metabolic dynamics of different lipid subtypes in cells and tissues are critical to better understanding their roles in aging and diseases. Commonly use ... Full text Link to item Cite

On the Importance of Low-Frequency Signals in Functional and Molecular Photoacoustic Computed Tomography.

Journal Article IEEE transactions on medical imaging · February 2024 Featured Publication In photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) with short-pulsed laser excitation, wideband acoustic signals are generated in biological tissues with frequencies related to the effective shapes and sizes of the optically absorbing targets. Low-frequency photo ... Full text Cite

On the Importance of Low-Frequency Signals in Functional and Molecular Photoacoustic Computed Tomography.

Journal Article IEEE Trans Med Imaging · February 2024 Featured Publication In photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) with short-pulsed laser excitation, wideband acoustic signals are generated in biological tissues with frequencies related to the effective shapes and sizes of the optically absorbing targets. Low-frequency photo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sounding out the dynamics: a concise review of high-speed photoacoustic microscopy.

Journal Article Journal of biomedical optics · January 2024 Featured Publication SignificancePhotoacoustic microscopy (PAM) offers advantages in high-resolution and high-contrast imaging of biomedical chromophores. The speed of imaging is critical for leveraging these benefits in both preclinical and clinical settings. Ongoing ... Full text Cite

Photoacoustic imaging

Chapter · January 1, 2024 Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is an emerging imaging modality that shows great potential for preclinical research and clinical practice. As a hybrid technique, PAI uniquely combines the advantages of optical excitation and acoustic detection. Optical excitat ... Full text Cite

Shock waves generated by toroidal bubble collapse are imperative for kidney stone dusting during Holmium:YAG laser lithotripsy.

Journal Article Ultrasonics sonochemistry · December 2023 Featured Publication Holmium:yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Ho:YAG) laser lithotripsy (LL) has been the treatment of choice for kidney stone disease for more than two decades, yet the mechanisms of action are not completely clear. Besides photothermal ablation, recent evidence sugge ... Full text Cite

Self-enhancing sono-inks enable deep-penetration acoustic volumetric printing.

Journal Article Science (New York, N.Y.) · December 2023 Featured Publication Volumetric printing, an emerging additive manufacturing technique, builds objects with enhanced printing speed and surface quality by forgoing the stepwise ink-renewal step. Existing volumetric printing techniques almost exclusively rely on light energy to ... Full text Cite

Theoretical and experimental study on the detection limit of the micro-ring resonator based ultrasound point detectors.

Journal Article Photoacoustics · December 2023 Featured Publication Combining the diffusive laser excitation and the photoacoustic signals detection, photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) is uniquely suited for deep tissue imaging. A diffraction-limited ultrasound point detector is highly desirable for maximizing the sp ... Full text Cite

A frequency-domain model-based reconstruction method for transcranial photoacoustic imaging: A 2D numerical investigation.

Journal Article Photoacoustics · October 2023 Featured Publication Phase aberration caused by the skull is a major barrier to achieving high quality photoacoustic images of human and non-human primates' brains. To address this issue, time-reversal methods have been used but they are computationally demanding and slow due ... Full text Cite

Multiscale photoacoustic tomography using reversibly switchable thermochromics.

Journal Article Journal of biomedical optics · August 2023 Featured Publication SignificanceBased on acoustic detection of optical absorption, photoacoustic tomography (PAT) allows functional and molecular imaging beyond the optical diffusion limit with high spatial resolution. However, multispectral functional and molecular ... Full text Cite