Miguel Ángel Lago Ángel
PhD, Postdoctoral researcher

RESEARCH INTERESTS

During my PhD I developed a methodology for the in-vivo characterization of the biomechanical behavior of the breast using medical images. This estimation was performed using an iterative search algorithm which optimizes the elastic constants of the constitutive models of the breast tissues. The search is based on the iterative variation of these parameters in order to increase the similarity between a simulated deformation of the organ and the real one. The methodology is based on the simulation of the compression of the breast during an MRI-guided biopsy. This research allowed me to stay at the University of Pennsylvania in one of the best research groups dedicated to simulate the breast anatomy, the X-ray Physics Laboratory.

I moved to University of California, Santa Barbara after finishing my PhD to work on image quality assessment. At UCSB I have been developing models of the human visual system. We study how humans explore 3D volumes such as Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) or Digital Breast Tomosynthesis (DBT) by using an eye tracker. We developed a new foveated visual model observer that processes the image differently depending on the distance to the fixation point. Thus, things that are far from the fixation point would be processed with less accuracy. This model was incorporated to an eye movement model and a 3D scroll model (for 3D images) and proved to predict human performance when reading volumetric images, unlike traditional standard model observers. This new human model observer can be used to get an estimation of the image quality and, ultimately, can be used to improve it.

EDUCATION

2014

PhD. in Computer Engineering
Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain

  • Thesis topic: A new approach for the in-vivo characterization of the biomechanical behavior of the breast and the cornea
  • Advisors: Prof. Dr. Carlos Monserrat Aranda and Dr. María José Rupérez Moreno
  • Qualification: Excellent Cum Laude
  • Download

2011

Master Degree in Artificial Intelligence, Pattern Recognition and Digital Imaging
Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain

  • Thesis topic: Volume Comparison: application to the analysis of the behavior of biomechanical models of organs
  • Advisor: Prof. Dr. Carlos Monserrat Aranda

2009

Computer Engineer
Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain

  • Best student record award

EXPERIENCE

2016 - now

Postdoctoral Researcer at Vision and Image Understanding LabUniversity of California, Santa Barbara, California, USA

  • Development of foveated visual model observers to assess imagequality in 3D Digital Breast Tomosynthesis.
  • Supervision of Prof. Miguel P. Eckstein and Dr. Craig K. Abbey

2015 - 2016

Research Engineer at Universitat Politècnica de València

2012 - 2013

Visiting scholar at University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA

  • Department of Radiology: X-ray Physics Lab
  • Supervision of Dr. Andrew D. Maidment and Dr. Predrag R. Bakic

2009 - 2014

PhD Student at Universitat Politècnica de València

  • Thesis Topic: A new approach for the in-vivo characterization of thebiomechanical behavior of the breast and the cornea

2009

Internship at SETIVAL

  • Software developer for mobile devices and interactive television

2009

Internship at Tissat

JOURNALS

2020

Miguel A. Lago, Ioannis Sechopoulos, François O. Bochud, Miguel P. Eckstein, Measurement of the useful field of view for single slices of different imaging modalities and targets, J. Med. Imag. 7(2) 022411 (2020) doi.org/10.1117/1.JMI.7.2.022411

2016

Delia Lorente, Francisco Martínez-Martínez, María J. Rupérez, Miguel A. Lago, Marcelino Martínez-Sober, P. Escandell-Montero, José M. Martínez-Martínez, Sandra Martínez-Sanchis, Antonio J. Serrano-López, Carlos Monserrat, José D. Martín-Guerrero (2016). A framework for modelling the biomechanical behaviour of the human liver during breathing in real time using machine learning. Expert Syst. Appl. doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2016.11.037

2015

Miguel A. Lago, María J. Rupérez, Carlos Monserrat, Francisco Martínez-Martínez, Sandra Martínez-Sanchis, Eugenia Larra, María A. Díez-Ajenjo, Cristina Peris-Martínez (2015). Patient-specific simulation of the intrastromal ring segment implantation in corneas with keratoconus. J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. doi:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2015.07.023

Miguel A. Lago, María J. Rupérez, Francisco Martínez-Martínez, Sandra Martínez-Sanchis, Predrag R. Bakic, Carlos Monserrat (2015). Methodology based on genetic heuristics for in-vivo characterizing the patient-specific biomechanical behavior of the breast tissues. Expert Syst. Appl. doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2015.05.058

Miguel A. Lago, María J. Rupérez, Francisco Martínez-Martínez, Carlos Monserrat, Eugenia Larra, José L. Güell, Cristina Peris-Martínez (2015). A new methodology to in-vivo estimate the elastic constants that characterize the patient-specific biomechanical behavior of the human cornea. J. Biomech. doi:10.1016/j.jbiomech.2014.11.009

2013

Francisco Martínez-Martínez, Miguel A. Lago, María J. Rupérez, Carlos Monserrat (2013). Analysis of several biomechanical models for the simulation of lamb liver behaviour using similarity coefficients from Medical Image. Comput. Meth. Prog. Bio. doi:10.1080/10255842.2011.637492

Francisco Martínez-Martínez, María J. Rupérez, José D. Martín-Guerrero, Carlos Monserrat, Miguel A. Lago, Eugenia Pareja, Sara Brugger, Rafael López-Andújar, Estimation of the elastic parameters of human liver biomechanical models by means of medical images and evolutionary computation. Comput. Meth. Prog. Bio. doi:10.1016/j.cmpb.2013.05.005

CONFERENCES

2020

Miguel A. Lago, Bruno Barufaldi, Predrag R. Bakic, Craig K. Abbey, Andrew D. Maidment, and Miguel P. Eckstein, Foveated Model Observer to Predict Human Search Performance on Virtual Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Phantoms. In Proc. SPIE, Medical Imaging, 2020. doi.org/10.1117/12.2550485

Aditya Jonnalagadda, Miguel A. Lago, Bruno Barufaldi, Predrag R. Bakic, Craig K. Abbey, Andrew D. Maidment and Miguel P. Eckstein, Evaluation of Convolutional Neural Networks for Search in 1/f2.8 Filtered Noise and Digital Breast Tomosynthesis Phantoms. In Proc. SPIE, Medical Imaging, 2020. doi.org/10.1117/12.2549362. This paper obtained a honorable mention student poster.

2019

Miguel A. Lago, Craig K. Abbey, Miguel P. Eckstein, A foveated channelized Hotelling search model predicts dissociations in human performance in 2D and 3D images. In Proc.SPIE, Medical Imaging, 2019. doi.org/10.1117/12.2511777

2018

Miguel A. Lago, Craig K. Abbey, Bruno Barufaldi, Predrag R. Bakic, Susan Weinstein, Andrew D. Maidment,Miguel P. Eckstein, Interactions of lesion detectability and size across single-slice DBT and 3D DBT. In Proc. SPIE, Medical Imaging, 2018. doi.org/10.1117/12.2293873

Craig K. Abbey, Miguel A. Lago, Miguel P. Eckstein, Observer templates in 2D and 3D localization tasks. In Proc. SPIE, Medical Imaging, 2018 doi.org/10.1117/12.2293026

Miguel P. Eckstein, Miguel A. Lago, Craig K. Abbey, Evaluation of search strategies formicrocalcifications and masses in 3D images. In Proc. SPIE, Medical Imaging, 2018 doi.org/10.1117/12.2293871

Bruno Barufaldi, Predrag R. Bakic, David D. Pokrajac, Miguel A. Lago, Andrew D. Maidment, Developing populations of software breast phantoms for virtual clinical trials. In Proc. of International Workshop on Breast Imaging (IWBI 2018), 2018 doi.org/10.1117/12.2318473

2017

María J. Rupérez, Francisco Martínez-Martínez, Marcelino Martínez-Sober, Miguel A. Lago, Delia Lorente, Predrag R. Bakic, Antonio J. Serrano-López, Sandra Martínez-Sanchis, Carlos Monserrat, José D. Martín-Guerrero, Modeling the Mechanical Behavior of the Breast Tissues Under Compression in Real Time.In VipIMAGE 2017. ECCOMAS 2017 doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68195-5_63

Miguel A. Lago, Miguel P. Eckstein, Craig K. Abbey. Foveated model observers to predict human performance in 3D images. Proc. SPIE 10136, Medical Imaging 2017 doi:10.1016/10.1117/12.2252952

Miguel P. Eckstein, Miguel A. Lago, Craig K. Abbey. The role of extra-foveal processing in 3D imaging. Proc. SPIE 10136, Medical Imaging 2017 doi:10.1117/12.2255879

2014

Miguel A. Lago, María J. Rupérez, Francisco Martínez-Martínez, Carlos Monserrat (2014). Genetic algorithms for estimating the biomechanical behavior of breast tissues. In Proceedings of IEEE-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI), pages 760-763 doi:10.1109/BHI.2014.6864475

HONORS

2014

Student Oral Communication Award, IEEE-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics, Valencia, Spain

2013

Student Poster Award at the 11th International Symposium on Computer Methods in Biomechanichs and Biomedical Engineering, Salt Lake City, UT

2012

TEE Erasmus Mundus Scholarship

2010

Doctoral Scholarship of Spanish Ministry of Education

2009

Best Student Record Award of the Promotion

2006

Second category award in Data Structures and Algorithms course

OTHER SKILLS

Programming Languages: Matlab, Python, PHP, C, C++, Java, JavaScript

Others: HTML, SQL, CSS, LATEX

Coursera: Machine Learning, Data Science

That quite definitely is the answer. I think the problem, to be quite honest
with you, is that you’ve never actually known what the question is.

Deep Thought, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Douglas Adams

Go to Top