FAIRFIELD UNIVERSITY
Grant: $219,395 - National Institutes of Health - Jul. 2, 2009
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Award Description: The long-term objective of the proposed research is to develop a novel noninvasive diagnostic and prognostic tool for microscopic imaging of the superficial layer of tissue. The proposed technique, low coherence enhanced backscattering tomography (LEBT), can image intact biological tissues at the microscopic scale ex vivo and in vivo based on optical contrast. Optical contrast is sensitive to the microarchitecture and the molecular conformation of biological tissues, relating to physiological states such as the morphological alteration due to carcinogenesis and the oxygenation of hemoglobin. Applications include diagnostics and prognostics of, for example, skin cancer, cervical cancer, and colon cancer. The proposed LEBT combines the high resolution advantage with use of low coherence light and the high sensitivity advantage of light scattering to tissue structure and composition. By detecting only low-order backscattering light via spatial coherence gating, LEBT solves the low spatial resolution problem due to light diffusion and achieves excellent depth selection. One unique strength of LEBT is that this approach allows us to obtain a high-resolution three dimensional (3D) image of the nuclear morphology and cellular structure for the superficial layer of tissue where most cancer initiates. A 3D morphometric and oxygenation image of < 105m axial resolution will be obtained by LEBT for the epithelium or the epithelium plus the underlying vascularized stroma, which are most diagnostic of tissue health. In the proposed work, the generated LEBT images for ex vivo tissues will be correlated with histopathology. The diagnostic value of LEBT will be evaluated. Three specific aims are adopted to address the goals of the proposal and are as follows: Aim 1. Development of system and method for low coherence enhanced backscattering tomography. Aim 2. Computational and experimental validation of low coherence enhanced backscattering tomography. Aim 3. Characterization of nuclear morphology and cellular structure of ex vivo tissues and correlation with histopathology. The proposed low coherence enhanced backscattering tomography is a novel noninvasive diagnostic and prognostic tool for microscopic imaging of the superficial layer of tissue where most cancer initiates. Since low coherence enhanced backscattering light is capable of detecting premalignant and malignant nuclear and cellular architectural changes in the superficial layer of tissue, the proposed tomography is suitable for early detection of cancer. This research has significant relevance to public health.
Project Description: Set up low coherence enhanced backscattering experiment system Perform experiments on tissue phantoms Data analysis of experimental results Outcome: ?Probing turbid medium structure using ultra low coherence enhanced backscattering spectroscopy ? by Bianca DeAngelo, Grant Arzumanov, Charles Matovu, Patrick Shanley, and M . Xu, resulting from the funding, will be presented in SPIE BiOS, part of Photonics West, in San Francisco in 2010.
Jobs Summary: The PI will lead the whole project and guide team members in achieving both computational and experimental goals listed in the proposal. The PI is also responsible for training the student assistants and developing the low coherence enhanced backscattering tomography. The responsibilities of the postdoctoral researcher include working with students on the experimental design, setup and validation of the low coherence enhanced backscattering tomography system. Technician is responsible for lab maintenance and technical assistance. Research students serve research roles in this project performing experiments and some data analysis under the guidance of the PI. (Total jobs reported: 0)
Project Status: Less Than 50% Completed
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