My research focuses on two related areas of biomedical optics with the common goal of bringing quantitative and non/minimally-invasive techniques for early disease diagnosis and interventional guidance into clinical practice. The first aspect regards fundamental spectroscopic studies of light-tissue interactions, which provide a method for understanding the many changes associated with disease. Of particular interest are fluorescence and the Raman effect, which interrogate the very detailed chemical composition of tissue by using low power laser excitation. This specific information can be used for evaluating a wide variety of pathologies ranging from cancer to heart disease. My doctoral thesis work in the Spectroscopy Laboratory at MIT demonstrated that the chemical information contained in the Raman spectra of atherosclerotic arteries can be interpreted in terms of tissue morphology, thereby providing a bridge between the scientific and medical communities. The second focus deals with the application of these basic techniques to provide real-time clinical analysis. This requires the design and construction of novel, specialized optical devices. A major aspect of my doctoral thesis involved the development of a new optical fiber catheter, which is able to collect high-quality Raman spectra in less than 1 second. The performance of these probes was demonstrated during the first in vivo Raman spectroscopic studies of human atherosclerosis. Initial results from these studies have also provided an indication that Raman spectroscopy has the potential to identify the vulnerable atherosclerotic plaques that are responsible for the majority of myocardial infarctions.
I am currently working on two projects in the Wellman Optical Diagnostics Group. The first project involves the use of laser speckle to measure tissue perfusion. The development of an inexpensive, hand-held device that can provide this information rapidly will be useful in the management of burn patients by helping physicians decide the course of therapy. In the second project we are developing a new method for rapidly collecting fluorescence lifetime and excitation-emission spectra from samples. Exploiting this assortment of information will allow detailed analysis of complex chemical and biological samples.
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