Research Interests
Ionizing Molecular Imaging Techniques and Instrumentation for Clinical and Preclinical Applications; Gamma and X-ray Imaging Solid-State Detectors; Design, Optimization and Validation of Adaptive Nuclear Medicine Imaging. Systems; Radiation Dosimetry, Radiation Spectrometry and Quantitative Imaging for Multifunctional Theragnostic Applications
Bio
Dr. Elena M. Zannoni is an assistant professor in the Walker Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin, as core faculty of the Nuclear and Radiation Engineering Program, adjuct faculty of Texas Robotics and with courtesy appointment in the Department of Diagnostic Medicine at the Dell Medical School.
Dr. Zannoni’s research focuses on the development of nuclear medicine imaging instrumentation and data analysis techniques for advanced applications in radiological science and molecular imaging. Since the beginning of her doctoral career, she has been involved in several NIH-funded multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary collaborations for the development of state-of-art imaging systems for clinical and preclinical applications. At the University of Texas at Austin, she directs the Translational Radiological Advanced Imaging Lab (TRAIL).
Dr. Zannoni received her Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2021, and her M.Sc. degree (2015) with honors in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pisa (Italy). Dr. Zannoni’s contribution has been recognized by several awards to young investigators, including the first place in the IEEE NPSS Christopher J. Thompson Student Paper Award at the 2017 IEEE Medical Imaging Conference, the first place in the Physics, Instrumentation and Data Science Council (PIDSC) Young Investigation Award at the 2021 Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) Annual Meeting, the 2022 IEEE NPSS Edward J. Hoffman Early Career Development Grant, and the 2022 Rising Stars in EECS. Recently, Dr. Zannoni has been recognized with the prestigious 2024 SNMMI Tracy Lynn Faber Memorial Award “for her contributions in advancing SPECT technology based on semiconductor detectors and new collimator designs”. Active in the international imaging community, she is currently the vice-chair elect of the Imaging Data Science interest group of the World Molecular Imaging Society, and a member of the Nuclear Medical and Imaging Sciences Committee of the IEEE Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Society. In 2025-2027, she serves as the "Instrumentation & Computational & Data Science" chair in the program committee of the World Molecular Imaging Congress.
Related Websites
Translational Radiological Advanced Imaging Lab
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