Research
Hemodynamics Monitoring
The development of hemodynamic measurement at the microvascular level using non-invasive techniques has direct and indirect implications in diagnosis, monitoring, therapy and pharmaceutical management in clinics. Optical technologies are excellect choices for a completely non-invasive assessment for hemodynamic parameters such as diameter and stiffness of blood vessels, flow velocity, blood pressure, shape and concentration of RBCs, and blood overall mechanical properties. We utilize different diffuse optics technologies to extract parameters related to hemodynamics for accurate prediction of disease conditions. We employ simulations to design the device, precise in-vitro models for validation and conduct clinical trials of in-house developed technology to demostrate applicability.
Assessing tissue composition using multi-modal optical spectroscopy: in-silico / in-vitro / in vivo studies
Non-invasive analysis of tissue composition is facilitated by different modalities of optical spectroscopy techniques, which are grouped under a plethora of ‘optical biopsy’ techniques. Optical spectroscopy is a cost-effective adjunct tool which can offer real-time solutions in medical diagnostics. We investigate the potential of optical spectroscopy in offering quantitative solutions with respect to concentration of various tissue ingredients and their localization. We employ simulations to design the device, precise in-vitro models for validation and conduct clinical trials of in-house developed technology to demostrate applicability.
Assessing tissue structure using polarized optical response of tissues
Tissue polarimetry has been gaining importance in extracting useful diagnostic information from the polarimetric attributes of tissues, which vary in response to the tissue health status and hence find great potential in medical diagnosis. We design and analyze various optical polarimeter configurations to understand and quantify the complexities associated with tissues during disease progression, with the help of simulations and experiments.
Design, development and characterization of artificial tissues for light tissue interaction studies
The heterogeneity, non-uniform nature, and ethical concerns in sourcing biological tissues pose several challenges to designing, calibrating, standardizing, and evaluating the performance of non-invasive optical biopsy instrumentation. We develop artificial models of tissues with long shelf-life which closely emulate the static and dynamic optical properties of different tissue types.
Artificial intelligence-assisted Biophotonics
The quantification of optical properties of tissues as well as extraction of information from optical signals and images for tissue classification has always been a challenging task due to various interfering factors arising from the medium. Noise factors from the detection electronics pose additional challenges. Incorporating ML/ DL techniques in analyzing optical signals / image analysis greatly help overcome these challenges. We adopt such strategies for better interpretation of results to aid medical diagnosis.
