Kai Yu

Research Scientist, Biomedical Engineering

Research Interests

• Neuromodulation
• Biomedical Functional Imaging
• Biomedical Instrumentation

Education

• Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of Minnesota, 2018
• M.S., Biomedical Engineering, Zhejiang University, China, 2012
• B.S., Biomedical Engineering, Zhejiang University, China, 2009
• UPA, Chu Kochen Honors College, Zhejiang University, China, 2008

Honors and Awards

• Principal Investigator: "Functional Imaging Guided Transcranial Focused Ultrasound for Neuromodulation at Human Motor Cortex", Samuel and Emma Winters Foundation, 2020-2021
• IEEE Brain Initiative Neurotech Entrepreneurs Workshop Award, Phoenix, AZ, 2019
• Outstanding Reviewer Award: Physics in Medicine and Biology, 2019

• Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship: "High-resolution Neuroimaging-guided Brain Stimulation using Low-intensity Transcranial Focused Ultrasound", Graduate School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA 2016-2017

• Distinguished Peer Reviewer: Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine 29 December 2015

• Best Student Poster Award 1st Place: "In Vivo Monitoring of Tumor Growth in A Mouse Cancer Model Using High-resolution Electrical-conductivity Contrast Imaging", The Institute for Engineering in Medicine 2015 Annual Conference and Retreat, Minneapolis, USA 21 September 2015

• MnDRIVE Graduate Research Fellowship: "MnDrive Brain Conditions Graduate Research Fellowship for the proposed work on acousto-electromagnetic stimulation of neural tissues", Minnesota's Discovery, Research and InnoVation Economy, Minneapolis, USA 25 August 2015 - 24 August 2016

• Gold Medal: P. Wang, K. Yu, Y. Wang, and D. Wang, "e-Nose for Lung Cancer Diagnosis: An Accurate, Fast, Low-cost and Non-invasive Method for Early Diagnosis of Lung Cancer", The 40th International Exhibition of Inventions, Geneva, Switzerland 18-22 April 2012

• Excellent Postgraduate Students Award: Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China March 2012

• Provincial Level Outstanding Graduate Award: Zhejiang Province, China March 2012

• 1st Place Award: K. Yu, Y. Wang, C. Zhao and L. Wang, "A Fast Screening System for Lung Cancer in the Early Stage", The 12th Challenge Cup Academic Works Contest of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China May 2011

• Best Innovation Award: K. Yu, Y.Wang, and N. Hu, "An Instrumentation Design of Electronic Nose for General Human Exhaled Breath Analysis", The 2nd NXP (Philips Semiconductors) Cup Innovation Contest of the Greater China, Shanghai, China December 2008

Editorial Services

• Guest Associate Editor in Brain Stimulation and Interfacing, Frontiers in Human Neuroscience 2022 - 2023

• Guest Associate Editor in Brain Stimulation in Cognition and Disease, Frontiers in Neuroscience 2021 - 2022

• Topic Editor and Topical Advisory Panel Member, Micromachines, MDPI 2021 - Present

Selected Publications

• M. G. Kim, K. Yu, R. Fouda, D. Argueta, S. Kiven, Y. Ni, X. Niu, Q. Chen, K. Kim, K. Gupta, and B. He, “Low-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound changes pain-associated behaviors by modulating pain processing brain circuits”, bioRxiv 2022.12.07.519518, doi: 10.1101/2022.12.07.519518.
• X. Niu, K. Yu, and B. He, “Transcranial focused ultrasound induces sustained synaptic plasticity in rat hippocampus”, Brain Stimulation, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 352-359, 2022, doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2022.01.015.
• K. Yu, C. Liu, X. Niu, and B. He, “Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation of Voluntary Movement-related Cortical Activity in Humans”, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 68, p. 1923-1931, 2021, doi: 10.1109/TBME.2020.3030892. (Featured Article)
  
• M. G. Kim, K. Yu, X. Niu, and B. He, “Investigation of displacement of intracranial electrode induced by focused ultrasound stimulation”, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, vol. 70, pp. 1-9, 2021, doi: 10.1109/TIM.2021.3125978.
• K. Yu, X. Niu, E. Krook-Magnuson, and B. He, “Intrinsic Functional Neuron-type Selectivity of Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Neuromodulation”, Nature Communications, vol. 12, p. 2519, 2021, doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22743-7. (Editors’ Highlights)
• K. Yu, X. Niu, and B. He, “Neuromodulation Management of Chronic Neuropathic Pain in the Central Nervous System”, Advanced Functional Materials, pp. 1908999, 2020, doi: 10.1002/adfm.201908999.
• X. Niu, K. Yu, and B. He, “On the Neuromodulatory Pathways of the In Vivo Brain by Means of Transcranial Focused Ultrasound”, Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering, vol. 8, pp. 61-69, 2018, doi: 10.1016/j.cobme.2018.10.004.
• K. Yu, A. Sohrabpour, and B. He, “Electrophysiological Source Imaging of Brain Networks Perturbed by Low-intensity Transcranial Focused Ultrasound”, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 63, no. 9, pp. 1787-1794, 2016, doi: 10.1109/TBME.2016.2591924. (Cover Article)
• K. Yu, Q. Shao, S. Ashkenazi, J. C. Bischof, and B. He, “In Vivo Electrical Conductivity Contrast Imaging in a Mouse Model of Cancer Using High-frequency Magnetoacoustic Tomography with Magnetic Induction (hfMAT-MI)”, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, vol.35, no.10, pp.2301-2311, 2016, doi:10.1109/TMI.2016.2560146.