In this section
We use light to develop advanced diagnostic tools, wearable sensors, and microscale robots for studying diseases and enabling minimally invasive treatments.
We use photonics to develop new technologies for medicine and to study the pathophysiology of disease. This includes new and improved diagnostic tools as well as microscale robotic devices for therapeutic applications. We use a variety of optical techniques for this purpose such as fluorescence, Raman and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, as well as microscopy and interferometry. We develop devices ranging from wearable sensors and fibre-optic probes for minimally invasive diagnostics through to microscale robots for cellular-scale manipulation and therapy.
Our research has a number of potential clinical applications including improved monitoring of clinical therapies and interventions (e.g. in inflammatory bowel disease and malnutrition), early diagnosis of infection, and even margin mapping in tumour resection surgery.
The devices we are developing can potentially provide less invasive and lower cost diagnostics. In turn, this may facilitate patient benefits including earlier diagnosis, earlier identification of relapse (e.g. in therapy response monitoring applications), more widespread deployment and more comfortable patient experiences (e.g. through use of less invasive probes and sensors).
Dr Belal Ahmad
Imperial College Research Fellow
Dr Qian Chen
Clinical Research Fellow
Dr Ahmed Ezzat
Research Postgraduate
Dr Nilanjan Mandal
Research Associate in Optical Sensing for LMICs
Dr Alexander J Thompson
Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sensing
Mr Zeyu Wang
Research Postgraduate
@article{Thompson:2021:10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323609,
author = {Thompson, A and Bourke, C and Robertson, R and Shivakumar, N and Edwards, C and Preston, T and Holmes, E and Paul, K and Gary, F and Douglas, M},
doi = {10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323609},
journal = {Gut},
pages = {1580--1594},
title = {Understanding the role of the gut in undernutrition: what can technology tell us?},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323609},
volume = {70},
year = {2021}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - Gut function remains largely underinvestigated in undernutrition, despite its critical role in essential nutrient digestion, absorption and assimilation. In areas of high enteropathogen burden, alterations in gut barrier function and subsequent inflammatory effects are observable but remain poorly characterised. Environmental enteropathy (EE)—a condition that affects both gut morphology and function and is characterised by blunted villi, inflammation and increased permeability—is thought to play a role in impaired linear growth (stunting) and severe acute malnutrition. However, the lack of tools to quantitatively characterise gut functional capacity has hampered both our understanding of gut pathogenesis in undernutrition and evaluation of gut-targeted therapies to accelerate nutritional recovery. Here we survey the technology landscape for potential solutions to improve assessment of gut function, focussing on devices that could be deployed at point-of-care in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We assess the potential for technological innovation to assess gut morphology, function, barrier integrity and immune response in undernutrition, and highlight the approaches that are currently most suitable for deployment and development. This article focuses on EE and undernutrition in LMICs, but many of these technologies may also become useful in monitoring of other gut pathologies.
AU - Thompson,A
AU - Bourke,C
AU - Robertson,R
AU - Shivakumar,N
AU - Edwards,C
AU - Preston,T
AU - Holmes,E
AU - Paul,K
AU - Gary,F
AU - Douglas,M
DO - 10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323609
EP - 1594
PY - 2021///
SN - 0017-5749
SP - 1580
TI - Understanding the role of the gut in undernutrition: what can technology tell us?
T2 - Gut
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2020-323609
UR - https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2021/06/07/gutjnl-2020-323609
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/89623
VL - 70
ER -
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