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Kunal Mitra

Professor | Biomedical Engineering and Science

Contact Information

Personal Overview

Fellow, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

Fellow, American Society of Laser Medicine and Surgery (ASLMS)

Senior Member, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Associate Editor, ASME Journal of Medical Device

Associate Editor, Heat Transfer Research, Begell House

Associate Editor, Frontiers in Medical Technology (Regenerative Medicine)

Associate Editor, MDPI Micromachines (Biology and Biomedicine)

Board Member, Florida Photonics Cluster (FPC)

BMES Membership Committee Member

Chief Faculty Advisor, Tau Beta Pi (Engineering Honor Society)

Committee Member, Regenerative Medicine Engineering Society

Educational Background

B.S. Jadavpur University, Calcutta, India 1991

M.S. NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, 1993

Ph.D. NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering, 1996

Professional Experience

Professor, Florida Institute of Technology, 05/08 – Present

Department Head, Department of Biomedical Engineering , 07/13 – 5/14

Program Chair, Biomedical Engineering Program, 08/08 – 06/13

Associate Professor, Florida Institute of Technology, 05/02 – 04/08

Assistant Professor, Florida Institute of Technology, 08/97 – 04/02

Director, Laser, Optics, and Instrumentation Laboratory, Florida Institute of Technology, 08/00 - present

University Research Council Committee, 08/17 - Present

Member, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, 08/12 - Present

Chief Advisor, Tau Beta Pi Chapter at Florida Tech, 08/20 - Present

Graduate Council Representative, 08/00 - 12/13

Research Associate, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1996-1997

Research Staff, Polytechnic University, 1996

Current Courses

BME 4050 / 5790 - Space-Based Biomedical Engineering Applications

BME 4410 / 5259 - Biomedical Imaging

BME 5730 - Biophotonics and Microscopy

BME 5103 - Biotransport

Selected Publications

h index = 25

Book Series

Mitra, K., and Miller, S., “Short Pulse Laser Systems for Biomedical Applications,” Springer Briefs in Biomedical Engineering, ISBN: 978-3-319-54252-2, Springer (March, 2017).

Book Chapters

Prasad, R., Seshadri, N.P., Periyasamy, R., Miller, S., Bit, A., and Mitra, K., “EEG and NIRS Based Hybrid Biomarker for Brain Imaging,” Bioelectronics and Medical Devices, Chapter 9, edited by Pal et al., Elsevier (January, 2019).

Miller, S., Gross-Jones, C., and Mitra, K., “Modeling and Experimental Analysis for Thermal Therapy during Short Pulse Laser Irradiation,” Modeling of Microscale Transport in Biological Processes, Chapter 10, edited by Becker, pp. 243-259, ISBN: 978-012-804595-4, Elsevier (December, 2016).

Ganguly, M., O’Flaherty, R., Sajjadi, A., and Mitra, K., “Tissue Response to Short Pulse Radiation,” Heat Transfer and Fluid Flow in Biological Processes, Chapter 2, edited by Becker and Kuznetsov, pp. 43-58, ISBN: 978-012-408077-5, Elsevier (January, 2015).

Suratkar, A., Sajjadi, A., and Mitra, K., “Non-Destructive Evaluation for Naval/Marine Composites: Damage Detection in Fiber Reinforced Polymer Life Boats,” Non-Destructive Testing: Evaluation and Application within Polymer Matrix Composites, Chapter 25, pp. 649-667, Woodhead Publishing (May, 2013).

Kumar, S., Hsu, P.F., Mitra, K., Garetz, B., Guo, Z., and Aber, J., “Radiative Transfer Modeling and Experiments Using Short Pulse Lasers,” Modeling and Simulation Based Life Cycle Engineering, ed. by Ken P. Chong, Sunil Saigal, Stefan Thynell, Harold S. Morgan, ISBN: 0415266440 by Taylor & Francis (2002).

Kumar, S., and Mitra, K., “Microscale Aspects of Thermal Radiation Transport and Laser Applications,” Advances in Heat Transfer, Vol. 33, pp. 187-294, Academic Press, San Diego (1999).

Seleced Journal Publications

Deshmukh, K., Mitra, K., and Bit, A., “Influence of Non-Newtonian Viscosity on Flow Structures and Wall Deformation In Compliant Serpentine Micro Channels: A Numerical Study,” Micromachines, Vol. 14, 1661 (2023). https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14091661

 

Henn, A., Perira, T., Hunsberger, Mitra, K., Izadifar, Z., Muschler, G., Yerden, R., “Cytocentric Measurement for Regenerative Medicine,” Frontiers in Medical Technology, Vol. 5 (2023). doi: 10.3389/fmedt.2023.1154653

Deshmukh, K., Gupta, S., Mitra, K., and Bit, A., “Numerical and Experimental Analysis of Shear Stress Influence on Cell Viability in Serpentine Vascular Network,” Micromachines: Section B: Biology and Biomedicine - Special Issue "Advances and Challenges in Biofabrication and Organ-on-a-Chip Platforms, 13, 1766 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13101766

Henn, A., Mitra, K., Hunsberger, J., Sun, X., Nardone, M., Simon, C., Atala, A., Yerden, R., “Applying the Cytocentric Principles to Regenerative Medicine for Reproducibility,” Current Stem Cell Reports, 2022. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40778-022-00219-8

Gupta, S., Patel, L., Mitra, K., and Bit, Arindam., Fibroblast Derived Skin Wound Healing Modeling on Chip Under the Influence of Micro-capillary Shear Stress, Micromachines: Section B: Biology and Biomedicine, 13, 305 (2022). https://doi.org/10.3390/mi13020305

Nunes, A., Weigl, M., Noureddine, S., Yu, L., Saccon, T., Mitra, K., Beltran, E., Kirland, J., Tchkonia, T., Robbins, P., Masternak, M., “miR-146a-5p Modulates Cellular Senescence and Apoptosis in Visceral Adipose Tissue of Long-Lived Ames Dwarf Mice and in Cultured Pre-Adipocytes,” GeroScience (November 2021); https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-021-00490-3

Nihal, V., Gupta, S., Mitra, K., Rizvanov, A., Ezgi, A., Salehi, M., Ehterami, A., and Bit, A, “From 3D Printing to 3D Bioprinting: The Material Properties of Polymeric Materials and its Derived Bioink for Achieving Tissue Specific Architectures,” Cell and Tissue Banking (2022). https://doi-org.portal.lib.fit.edu/10.1007/s10561-021-09975-z

Somasekhar, L., Huynh, N., Vecheck. A., Kishore, V., Bashur, C., and, Mitra, K., “3D Printing of Cell-Laden Microporous Constructs using Blended Bioinks,” Journal of Biomedical Materials Research: Part A, 1-12 (August 2021); https://doi.org/10.1002/jbm.a.37303

Kharel, P., Vecheck, A., Somasekhar, L., and Mitra, K., “Self-Contained 3D Bioprinter for Cardiovascular Research,” ASME Journal of Medical Device- Special Issue on 3D Printing, Vol. 13 (September, 2019);  https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4043960

Miller, S., and, Mitra, K., “NIRS-Based Cerbrovascular Regulation Assessment: Exercise and Cerebrovascular Reactivity,” SPIE Neurophotonics, Vol 4(4), 041503 (2017), https://doi.org/10.1117/1.NPh.4.4.041503

Rusovici, R., Dalli, D., Mitra, K., Ganiban, G., Grace, M., Calhoun, M., and Mazzocchi, R., “Finite Element Modeling, Validation, and Parametric Investigations of a Retinal Reattachment Stent,” International Journal for Numerical Methods in Biomedical Engineering; e2885 (2017); https://doi.org/10.1002/cnm.2885

Pliskow, B., Mitra, K., and Kaya, M., “Simulation of Scalp Cooling by External Devices for Prevention of Chemotherapy-induced Alopecia,” Journal of Thermal Biology, Vol. 56, pp. 31-38 (2016).

Bhowmik, A., Repaka, R., Mishra, S.C., and Mitra, K., “Thermal Assessment of Ablation Limit of Subsurface Tumor during Focused Ultrasound and Laser Heating,” ASME Journal of Thermal Sciences and Engineering Applications, Vol. 8 (2016).

Ganguly, M., Miller, S., and Mitra, K., “Model Development and Experimental Validation for Analyzing Initial Transients of Irradiation of Tissues during Thermal Therapy using Short Pulse Lasers” Lasers in Surgery & Medicine, Vol. 47, No. 9, pp. 711-722 (2015). DOI 10.1002/lsm.22407

Ganguly, M., and Mitra, K., “Analyzing Thermal and Mechanical Effects of Pulsed Laser Irradiation on Tissues,” Computational Thermal Sciences, Vol. 7(5-6), pp. 459-465, Begell House (2015).

Bhowmik, A., Repaka, R., Mishra, S.C., and Mitra, K., “Analysis of Thermal Signals from Normal and Malignant Human Skins subjected to a Short-Pulse Laser” International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, Vol. 68, pp. 278-294 (2014).

Sajjadi, A., Mitra, K., and Grace, M. 2013. Expression of Heat Shock Proteins 70 and 47 in Tissues Following Short-Pulse Laser Irradiation: Assessment of Thermal Damage and Healing. Medical Physics and Engineering. http://www.medengphys.com/article/S1350-4533(13)00065-9/abstract

Sajjadi, A., Mitra, K., and Guo, Z. 2013. Thermal Analysis and Experiments of Laser-Tissue Interactions: A Review. Heat Transfer Research Begell House 44(3-4):347-390.

Sajjadi, A., Suratkar, A., Mitra, K., and Grace, M. 2013. Short-Pulse Laser-Based System for Detection of Tumors: Administration of Gold Nanoparticles Enhances Contrast. ASME Journal of Nanotechnology in Engineering and Medicine 3: 021002-021006.

Sajjadi, A., Mitra, K., and Grace, M. 2011. Ablation of Subsurface Tumors Using an Ultra-Short Pulse Laser. Optics and Lasers in Engineering. 49(3): 451-456.

 Muthukumaran, R., Mishra, S., and Mitra, K. 2011. Assessment of Signals Resulting from A Human Tissue Phantom Subjected to Radiation Sources of Temporal Spans of the Order of A Nano-, a Pico- and a Femto-Second – A numerical Study. Numerical Heat Transfer Part A 60: 1-17.

Jaunich, M.K., Raje, S., Kim, K., Mitra, K., and Guo, Z. 2008. Bio-heat Transfer Analysis during Short Pulse Laser Irradiation of Tissues. Special Issue of International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 51: 5511-5521.

Fahey, M., Mitra, K., Onyejekwe, O., and Mason, H.L. 2008. Precise Dental Ablation Using Ultra-Short Pulsed 1552 nm Laser. Special Issue of International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 51: 5732-5739.

Pal, G., Dutta, A., Mitra, K., Grace, M., Amat, A., Romanczk, T., Wu, X., Chakrabarti, K., and Anders, J., Gorman, E., Waynant, R.W., Tata, D. 2007. Effect of Low Intensity Laser Interaction with a Human Skin Fibroblast Cell using Fiber-Optic Nano-Probes. Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology 86: 252-261.

Pal, G., Basu, S., Mitra, K., and Vo-Dinh, T. 2006. Time-resolved Optical Tomography System Using Short Pulse Laser for Detection of Tumors in Tissues. Applied Optics 45 (24):6270-6282.

Mishra, S.C., Chugh, P., Kumar, P., and Mitra, K. 2006. Development and Comparison of the DTM, the DOM and the FVM Formulations for the Short-Pulse Laser Transport through a Participating Medium. International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer 49:1820-1832.

Banerjee, A., Ogale, A., and Mitra, K . 2006. Experimental Simulation of Lightning Optical Emissions in Clouds. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics 39: 575-583.

Banerjee, A., Ogale, A., Mitra, K., and C.S. Subramanian. 2005. Temperature Distribution in Different Materials Due to Short Pulse Laser Irradiation. Heat Transfer Engineering 26 (8):56-65.

Trivedi, A., Basu, S., and Mitra, K. 2005. Temporal Analysis of Reflected Optical Signals for Short Pulse Laser Interaction with Nonhomogeneous Tissue Phantoms. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 93:337-348.

Das, C., Trivedi, A., Mitra, K. and Vo-Dinh, T. 2003. Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Short Pulse Laser Interaction with Tissue Phantoms containing Inhomogeneities. Applied Optics 42 (25):5173-5180.

Rath, P., Mishra, S.C., Mahanta, P., Saha, U.K., and Mitra, K. 2003. Discrete Transfer Method Applied to Transient Radiative Transfer Problems in Participating Medium. Numerical Heat Transfer, Part A: Applications 44:183-197.

Sakami, M., Mitra, K., and Vo-Dinh, T. 2002. Analysis of Short-Pulse Laser Photon Transport through Tissues for Optical Tomography. Optics Letters 27 (5):336-338.

Sakami, M., Mitra, K., and Hsu, P. 2002. Analysis of Light-Pulse Transport Through Two-Dimensional Scattering-Absorbing Media. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer 73:169-179.

George, S. and Mitra, K. 2001. Analysis of Ablation Characteristics of Absorbing Dielectrics Due to Short Laser Pulses. AIAA Journal of Thermophysics and Heat Transfer 15 (2):190-196.

Kumar, S. and Mitra, K. 1999. Micro-scale Aspects of Thermal Radiation Transport and Laser Applications. Invited paper in Advances in Heat Transfer 33:187-294.

Mitra, K. and Churnside, J.H. 1999. Transient Radiative Transfer Equation Applied to Oceanographic Lidar. Applied Optics 38 (6):889-895.

Mitra, K. and Kumar, S. 1999. Development and Comparison of Models for Light Pulse Transport through Scattering Absorbing Media. Applied Optics 38 (1):188-196.

Recognition & Awards

NASA Centennial Challenges Vascular Tissue Prize Team Finalist

https://www.neworgan.competitionsciences.org/prizes/vascular-tissue-prize/teams/

Selected as a participant for NASA STAR (Spaceflight Technology, Applications and Research) course

Faculty Excellence in Research 2014-15, March, 2015

Faculty Excellence in Service, College of Engineering, September 2013

ASME Journal of Heat Transfer Outstanding Reviewer, 2014

Research

(includes current and past funded projects)

3D Bioprinted Organoids forStudying the Mechanism of Cerebrovascular Aging (National Science Foundation)

Studying the Effects of Ionizing Radiation Exposure on Cardiovascular System using Functional 3D Bioprinted Vascularized Cardiac Tissue (NASA Florida Space Grant)

Portable NIRS System for Monitoring of Cerebrovascular Dysfunction Using Head-Down Tilt Mechanism (NASA Florida Space Grant)

Fibrin Organoids (Pierce Surgical)

Screening of Alzheimer’s Disease using NIRS (Brevard Community Foundation)

Evaluation of Role of Ionization Radiation Using 3D Bioprinted Tissue (NASA Florida Space Grant)

Computationally Guided Laser Based Tumor Diagnosis and Therapy (SPARC Govt. of India)

3D Cell Culture Model for Liver Cancer Treatment (Brevard Community Foundation)

Novel Inexpensive Biomanufacturing Platforms for 3D Culture Models For Spaceflight Applications (NASA Florida Space Grant)

Non-invasive Cerebrovascular Regulation Assessment (National Science Foundation and NASA Florida Space Grant)

Capstone Design Projects in Rehabilitation to Aid Persons with Disabilities (National Science Foundation)

Optical tomography system using short pulse laser for early lung cancer detection (Florida Department of Health and Florida Photonics Center of Excellence)

Tumor ablation using short pulse laser (Raydiance Inc. and U.S. Food and Drug Administration)

Development and Pre-Clinical Testing of Intraocular Retinal Stent (OptiStent Inc.)

Analysis of Mechanical Properties and Thermal Effects of Cornea Following Femtosecond Laser Intrastromal Refractive Surgery (National Science Foundation)

Non-thermal dental ablation using ultra-short pulsed laser (Raydiance Inc.)

Cellular interrogation using fiberoptic nanobiosensors (National Science Foundation and Florida Space Grant Consortium)

Study of optical tomography for biomedical imaging of tissues using short pulse lasers (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)

Transient radiative transfer modeling and experiments with short pulse lasers (NSF/Sandia National Laboratory)

Understanding Bone Loss in Microgravity (Florida Space Grant Consortium-NASA)

Non-destructive detection of thermal tile systems debonding using short pulse laser (Florida Space Grant Consortium-NASA)

Pulsed Lasers for Modifying Glass Substrates (Lighting Sciences Inc.)

Landmine detection in shallow water using pulsed laser (Northrop Grumman)

Temperature dependent optical properties of thin films (Florida Solar Energy Center)

Solar Powered Hybrid Lighting System (Department of Energy Megawatt Venture Program)

Nanomaterial polymer based light weight high efficiency photovoltaic cells (Solar Flex, Inc & Florida Space Grant Consortium)

Novel auxiliary mirror drive mechanism for photovoltaic cells (Florida Solar Energy Center)

Research & Project Interests

Dr. Mitra’s primary research interests are in the following areas:

Biomanufacturing - 3D bioprinting of vascular tissues for Space and Earth-based applications. One project is focused on understanding the effects of space radiation and microgravity on cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease using 3D bioprinted organoids. Another project involves developing a micro-fluidic based tissue organoid model for studying aging-related diseases during exposure to various stressors.

Biophotonics - Use of optical technologies for disease detection and treatment. The goal of one project is to develop a novel flexible low-power quantum dot LED-based near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system and algorithms to measure regional cerebral oxygen saturation and cerebral blood flow (CBF) for monitoring of traumatic brain injury and cerebrovascular dysfunction in astronauts during long duration flights. Another project focused on the development of an optical tomography system for cancer detection and subsequent ablation of tumors using short-pulse lasers. Another project focused on the use of optical coherence tomography utilizing image segmentation and deep learning analysis for the detection of cancerous lesions.

Biotransport- Bio-heat transfer and radiation transport modeling. The goal of this research is to analyze the propagation of short-pulse lasers through tissues and characterize the heat-affected zones for therapeutic applications.

PATENTS

US Patent # 8,190,245B2- Mitra, K., “Optical Tomography System using Short Pulse Laser for Early Cancer Diagnostics,” (May 2012); Fee based Licensing Agreement with a company.

US Patent # 6,847,700- Mitra, K., and Lambert, C., “Method and Apparatus for Delivery of X-Ray Irradiation,” (January 25, 2005).

 

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