Research Summary:
My research work focuses on the development of ultrasound/fiber optic imaging systems for in vivo imaging and detection of early-stage cancer. Pathological angiogenesis (abnormal rapid proliferation of blood vessels) is crucial for cancer growth and metastasis, by enabling oxygen and nutrients in the blood to be supplied to the growing tumor; tumor vascularization is therefore an important hallmark for the presence and stage of cancer. It turns out that blood has high absorption for near-infrared (NIR) light, and therefore yields excellent contrast when used to probe cancer tumor. My research work entails the development of novel NIR-based imaging modalities using fiber optic technology for light delivery to the tumor area. To image tumors located deep inside tissue, we integrate ultrasound transducers into our optical systems to aid in signal detection through the photoacoustic effect in biological tissues. This allows us to circumvent the scattering of light in tissue that limits imaging to only shallow regions, to obtain diagnostic images of deep-seated tumors with excellent optical contrast at ultrasound resolution.
Selected Publications:
1. “Design of miniaturized illumination for transvaginal co-registered photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging,” (Hassan S. Salehi, Tianheng Wang, Patrick D. Kumavor, Hai Li, and Quing Zhu), Biomedical Optics Express, vol.5, pp. 3074-3079 (2014).
2. “A low-cost photoacoustic microscopy system with a laser diode excitation,” (Tianheng Wang, Sreyankar Nandy, Hassan S. Salehi, Patrick D. Kumavor, and Quing Zhu), Biomedical Optics Express, vol.5, pp. 3053-3058 (2014).
3. “Interlaced photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging system with realtime for ovarian tissue characterization,” (Umar Alqasemi, Hai Li, Guangqian Yuan, Patrick Kumavor, Saeid Zanganeh, and Quing Zhu), Journal of Biomedical Optics, vol. 19, pp. 076020-1 – 076020-8 (2014).
4. “Co-registered pulse-echo/photoacoustic transvaginal probe for real time imaging of ovarian tissue,” (P.D. Kumavor, U. Alqasemi, B. Tavakoli, H. Li, Y. Yang, X. Sun, E. Warych, and Q. Zhu), Journal of Biophotonics, vol. 6, pp. 475-484 (2013).
5. “Photoacoustic imaging enhanced by indocyanine green-conjugated single-wall carbon nanotubes,” (Saeid Zanganeh, Hai Li, Patrick D. Kumavor et al.), Journal of Biomedical Optics, vol. 18, p. 096006 (2013).