When
Monday, December 9, 2024 - 12:00 p.m.
Tom Knapp and Thomas Larsen
PhD Candidates
Biomedical Engineering
University of Arizona
Keating 103
Zoom link | Passcode: BearDown
Hosts: Alex McGhee and Swarna Ganesh
(Instructor permission required for enrolled students to attend via Zoom)
Persons with a disability may request a reasonable accommodation by contacting the Disability Resource Center at 520.621.3268 (V/TTY).
Tom Knapp
Sawyer Lab
"Leveraging Label-free Multiphoton Microscopy for Diagnostic Applications: Probing Tissue Biology for Enhanced Disease Detection and Analysis"
Abstract: Label-free optical imaging is a burgeoning field of diagnostic potential with rapid advancements in imaging and computational technology. This method of bioimaging relies on light-tissue interactions to generate detectable contrast. The interaction of light and tissue can result in numerous physical phenomenon such as the emittance of fluorescence from endogenous molecules and harmonic generation. These interactions that result in label-free contrast are directly influenced by tissue state, where different abundances and organization of contrast-producing molecules and structures give rise to unique signatures. This is highly relevant in cancer research and diagnostics due to the complexity of the disease. A model of this complexity can be found in gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NETs)which are a highly heterogeneous form of cancer that develops in the gastrointestinal tract. Development of optical imaging diagnostics have potential for improving our ability to rapidly assess disease states and infer the biological characteristics of tumors towards the deployment of personalized medicine, i.e., administration of therapies specific to a tumor subtype. This study investigates the application of label-free optical imaging in the form of multiphoton microscopy (MPM) as a diagnostic tool using GEP-NETs as a disease model. In this work we have investigated the use of MPM image features in fixed and fresh tissue to discern between normal and diseased tissue, and the combination of advanced gene sequencing with MPM to validate existing and investigate new image features that can discern between normal and subtypes of diseased tissue. The results of this study suggest potential diagnostic applications of MPM imaging for both fixed and fresh tissue, and that spatial transcriptomics may be used to enhance our understanding and applications of label-free imaging.
Thomas Larsen
Vedantham Lab
"Towards Translation of Dedicated Breast Cone-Beam CT for the Detection of Microcalcifications"
Abstract: Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer in women and the second most frequent cause of cancer death in women. Currently, the primary breast cancer screening modality is full-field digital mammography (DM), and itis being steadily replaced by digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) which provides quasi 3D images alongside a synthetic2D “mammogram.” The 2D nature of DM however suffers from tissue superposition, a situation where overlapping structures are blurred together and distinguishing between them is impossible. While DBT provides quasi-3D images, it suffers from out of plane artifacts which distort the image, and the information is incomplete due to limited angle acquisition. Dedicated breast CT (BCT) provides a solution to alleviate patient discomfort due to compression, while also providing full 3D images, potentially improving diagnostic capabilities. BCT, however, has faced obstacles in implementation due to inferior detection of microcalcifications, which is a significant marker of malignancy. This talk will explore an optimization approach to designing a new upright dedicated breast CT device through a cascaded system analysis. The findings will illustrate the motivation for focusing on microcalcification detection. It will also provide early quantitative measurements from the system.