BME Seminar: Optical Molecular Imaging Beyond the Microscopy Depth Limit

Speaker: Xavier Intes, National University of Singapore

River Campus | Robert B. Goergen Hall | Sloan Auditorium (Room 101)

Optical imaging techniques are becoming central to the molecular investigation of samples at the macroscopic scale, with a wide range of biomedical applications ranging from pre-clinical assessments of new therapies to image-guided surgical procedures. Especially, fluorescence-based techniques offer the unique advantage of high sensitivity as well as imaging of multiple biomarkers via spectral encoding. Additionally, fluorescence imaging can also be implemented to sense and monitor fluorescence lifetime, providing an additional wealth of information. However, to date, the vast majority of macroscopic investigations are based on topographic imaging. Even though optical tomographic techniques have been developed over the last decade, there is still a lack of efficient approaches for robust 3D imaging, especially for lifetime-based studies and in the mesoscopic regime (beyond the microscopy depth limit).

Dr. Intes will present the efforts of his group towards establishing novel instrumental and theoretical approaches to performing 3D investigation of biotissues at the mesoscopic and macroscopic scale for optical molecular applications. These will include the development of wide-field time-resolved fluorescence molecular tomography based on structured light strategies in preclinical settings as well as mesoscopic fluorescence molecular tomography for high-resolution imaging in shallow tissues. The potential of these imaging platforms will be demonstrated within the context of targeted drug delivery assessment in live animal models and bioprinted tissue constructs.