#7 List of Research Questions/Problems

T1 Improvement
-How do we accurately simulate an MRI scan?
-What is the typical quality of signal for an MRI scan (signal to noise ratio)?
-Is there an upper limit to how well t1 measurement can be improved?
-Is the limit due to a force outside of our control, perhaps due to the behavior of particles at the atomic level?
-Why is it important to have an accurate scale of measurable t1 values?
-Who will benefit from an effort to improve the measurement of t1?
-How do we make a good compromise between an accurate scan and scan time?
-Could hospitals, clinics, etc. benefit from this technique monetarily?
-Would hospitals, clinics be interested in implementing a system that would improve measuring t1? or is this current state of the art sufficiently good?


Biological Signals
-Why is measuring biological signals accurately important to science and medicine?
-What kinds of amplitudes are we considering when we talk about all the biological signals?
-On what order of magnitude do these signals present themselves? (nanovolts? microvolts? picovolts? volts?)
-What kinds of materials are necessary to measure biological signals accurately? and safely! …to that end: the best way to measure, say, a potential generated by the heart, is by placing two electrodes directly on the surface of the heart. Obviously this is not practical! How do we measure such a signal from a distance (i.e. on the skin) without sacrificing quality?
-What are some of the fastest biological signals present in the human body (that is, which signals are the ones that happen rarely and quickly)?
-Some biological signals must be measured invasively -- can we develop a way to collect data non-invasively?

Mimicking healthy human body systems
-Can an organ system (nervous, cardiovascular, etc.) be modeled as a linear system of transfer functions?
-Can a system be modeled in hardware?
-Can hardware perform the same functions as an organ?
-Could we develop a sort of synthetic blood?
-How do we develop hardware to perform the same function as an organ, but have it be sufficiently 'low-power' so as not to expose an individual to any risk?
-Materials placed inside the body can't be interpreted as 'foreign,' or the body will reject the material. How do we develop a system in hardware that meets this criterion?