Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Kaye Morgan works in x-ray imaging in the School of Physics and Astronomy in the Faculty of Science at Monash University, currently holding a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council (ARC). Previous to this, Kaye held a Veski Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, spending several years at the Technische Universität München as a Hans Fischer Fellowship. This followed an ARC Discovery Early Career Researcher Award, awarded in the year following her PhD.
Kaye works in the field of x-ray optics, developing new methods of imaging that reach new scales in resolution, speed and sensitivity, and access new contrast modalities. One such modality is phase contrast x-ray imaging (PCXI), which examines changes in the x-ray phase rather than the x-ray intensity, revealing soft tissue structures like the airways that are not seen in conventional x-ray imaging. Another is x-ray dark-field imaging, which reveals where sub-pixel unresolved structures scatter the x-ray wavefield. Dr Morgan is working both on developing and extending these methods and on applying them to medical research questions. Imaging is performed largely at the SPring-8 synchrotron, the Australian Synchrotron and the Munich Compact Light Source.
Research interests
- Single-grid PCXI
While many methods of PCXI offer either speed for dynamic imaging or high sensitivity in detecting subtle sample features, it is difficult to achieve both. Motivated by the challenge of imaging the liquid lining of the airways in real time, Dr Morgan developed single-grid imaging to realise sensitive high-speed x-ray movies (Optics Letters, Optics Express, Optics Letters, Optics Express). She also demonstrated that this approach does not require a perfect grid pattern and can use the speckle pattern seen when illuminating a piece of paper (Applied Physics Letters, Journal of Synchrotron Radiation). This technique has also been applied to segment a sample into composite materials (Optics Letters). - The application of PCXI to Respiratory Research
Dr Morgan has been involved in applying these techniques to help biomedical research (SPIE proceedings, Journal of Synchrotron Radiation). In collaboration with the Women's and Children's Hospital and the University of Adelaide, propagation-based and single-grid PCXI has been applied to study the airways affected by Cystic Fibrosis and the effectiveness for CF treatments (Journal of Anatomy, European Journal of Radiology). Collaborations with the Helmholtz Centre in Munich and Klinikum Rechts der Isar have looked at treatment delivery and clearance. Results have included imaging the clearance of debris along the airway surface (J. of Synchrotron Radiation, Respiratory Research), the delivery of treatments (Journal of Aerosol Medicine and Pulmonary Drug Delivery, Journal of Controlled Release), motion of the lungs (Biomedical Optics Express, Scientific Reports, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, Scientific Reports) and treatment-induced changes in the airway surface liquid (PLOS ONE, AJRCCM). This work has been covered in the media, including physicsworld (x2) and sciencedaily. - Modelling and measuring coherent x-ray imaging set-ups
Optimisation of PCXI is best performed with an accurate model of an x-ray source, the x-ray wavefield interactions and propagation, and the imaging system. This requires sound mathematical underpinnings, reasonable numerical models and careful measurements of the source characteristics. Recent work looked at how the Fokker-Planck Equation can be applied to describe x-ray phase and darkfield (Scientific Reports, Scientific Reports). Dr Morgan has compared numerical models for x-ray wavefield propagation through a sample (the projection approximation) with exact solutions, plotting Cornu spiral-like phase contrast signatures in the Argand plane (Optics Express, Optics Communications). Measurements have looked at the effect of a diffuser, commonly used to even out illumination, with some consequences in terms of spatial coherence (Optics Express, Optics Communications).
- Translating techniques to compact x-ray sources for wider adoption
Kaye is also looking at the translation of PCXI techniques from synchrotron sources to laboratory sources, for research accessibility and eventual clinical availability. This work has used both the Excillum liquid metal jet source and the world's first source driven by Inverse Compton Scattering, the Munich Compact Light Source (Physics in Medicine and Biology, Scientific Reports, Scientific Reports, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, Journal of Controlled Release, Scientific Reports).
You can watch a brief description of her research here and find more detail here.
For most recent publications, see GoogleScholar.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
External positions
Hans Fischer Fellow, Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich)
2015 → 2018
Research area keywords
- Synchrotron Imaging
- Airway Imaging
- X-ray Optics
- Phase Contrast X-ray Imaging
Network
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Phase-Contrast Neuroimaging for Early Detection of Brain Injury at Birth
Kitchen, M., Croton, L., Hooper, S., Cheong, J., Miller, S., Polglase, G., Crossley, K., Morgan, K. & Galinsky, R.
1/01/22 → 31/12/25
Project: Research
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IMPACT: IMplementation of x-ray PhAse-Contrast Tomography to transform cancer diagnosis
Brennan, P. J., Quiney, H. M., Lewis, S. J., Nugent, K., Peele, A., Taba, S. T., Morgan, K., Fox, J., Tromba, G., Lockie, D., Gureyev, T. E., Nesterets, Y. I., Dullin, C., Hausermann, D., Mayo, S. C., Dimmock, M., Jimenez, Y., Kitchen, M., Moayeri, F. & Giannotti, N.
1/01/22 → 31/12/26
Project: Research
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Dynamic Multi-modal X-ray Imaging
Australian Research Council (ARC)
1/01/19 → 31/12/23
Project: Research
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Translating cystic fibrosis gene-addition therapy for use in human lungs: Demonstrating efficacy, safety and scalability
Parsons, D. W., Donnelly, M., Morgan, K., Boucher, R. C. & Kuchel, T.
1/01/19 → 31/12/23
Project: Research
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Multi-scale, multi-modal X-ray imaging using speckle
Zdora, M. & Morgan, K.
31/12/23 → 30/12/26
Project: Research
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Accurate measures of changes in regional lung air volumes from chest x-rays of small animals
O’Connell, D. W., Morgan, K. S., Ruben, G., Croton, L. C. P., Pollock, J. A., Croughan, M. K., McGillick, E. V., Wallace, M. J., Crossley, K. J., Pryor, E. J., Lewis, R. A., Hooper, S. B. & Kitchen, M. J., 21 Oct 2022, In: Physics in Medicine & Biology. 67, 20, 11 p., 205002.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
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Dark-field tomography of an attenuating object using intrinsic x-ray speckle tracking
Alloo, S. J., Paganin, D. M., Morgan, K. S., Kitchen, M. J., Stevenson, A. W., Mayo, S. C., Li, H. T., Kennedy, B. M., Maksimenko, A., Bowden, J. C. & Pavlov, K. M., 1 May 2022, In: Journal of Medical Imaging. 9, 3, 14 p., 031502.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
2 Citations (Scopus) -
Improved in-vivo airway gene transfer via magnetic-guidance, with protocol development informed by synchrotron imaging
Donnelley, M., Cmielewski, P., Morgan, K., Delhove, J., Reyne, N., McCarron, A., Rout-Pitt, N., Drysdale, V., Carpentieri, C., Spiers, K., Takeuchi, A., Uesugi, K., Yagi, N. & Parsons, D., Dec 2022, In: Scientific Reports. 12, 1, 14 p., 9000.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access -
Mucociliary Transit Assessment Using Automatic Tracking in Phase Contrast X-Ray Images of Live Mouse Nasal Airways
Jung, H. W., Lee, I., Lee, S. H., Morgan, K., Parsons, D. & Donnelley, M., 2 Jul 2022, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of Medical and Biological Engineering. 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Review Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access1 Citation (Scopus) -
Precise phase retrieval for propagation-based images using discrete mathematics
Pollock, J. A., Morgan, K. S., Croton, L. C. P., Croughan, M. K., Ruben, G., Yagi, N., Sekiguchi, H. & Kitchen, M. J., Dec 2022, In: Scientific Reports. 12, 1, 11 p., 18469.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open Access
Prizes
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Faculty of Science Commendation Award for Excellence in Research by an Early Career Researcher
Morgan, Kaye (Recipient), 2014
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Monash Researcher Accelerator Program
Morgan, Kaye (Recipient), 2013
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Phillip Law Postdoctoral Award for Physical Sciences 2017
Morgan, Kaye (Recipient), 28 Sep 2017
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Spring-8 User Community Young Scientist Award
Morgan, Kaye (Recipient), 2015
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Activities
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Samantha Alloo
Kaye Morgan (Fellow) & Samantha Alloo (Fellow)
28 Feb 2021 → …Activity: External Academic Engagement › External HDR Supervision
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WHF Talbot Award Committee Member
Kaye Morgan (Fellow)
2017 → …Activity: External Academic Engagement › Committees and working groups
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Australian Synchrotron (External organisation)
Kaye Morgan (Member)
2017 → 2021Activity: Industry, Government and Philanthropy Engagement and Partnerships › Membership of an advisory panel/policy group/ board
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Scientific Reports (Journal)
Kaye Morgan (Editorial board member)
2016Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Editorial responsibility
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Regine Gradl
Kaye Morgan (Fellow) & Regine Gradl (Fellow)
1 Jul 2015 → 6 Nov 2019Activity: External Academic Engagement › External HDR Supervision