We use light to develop advanced diagnostic tools, wearable sensors, and microscale robots for studying diseases and enabling minimally invasive treatments.

Head of Group

Dr Alex Thompson

Office B411, Bessemer Building,
South Kensington Campus

⇒ X @_Thompson_Alex

 

 

What we do

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.

Why it is important?

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.

How can it benefit patients?

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).

Meet the team

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  • Journal article
    Coda S, Thompson AJ, Lenz MO, Roche KL, Kennedy GT, Talbot CB, Alexandrov Y, Munro I, Neil MA, Stamp G, Elson DS, Dunsby C, French PM, Thillainayagam AVet al., 2012,

    Sa1609 Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging and Spectroscopy for Label-Free Contrast of Gastrointestinal Diseases

    , Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, Vol: 75, Pages: AB219-AB220, ISSN: 0016-5107
  • Journal article
    Thompson AJ, Coda S, Sorensen MB, Kennedy G, Patalay R, Waitong-Bramming U, De Beule PAA, Neil MAA, Andersson-Engels S, Bendsoe N, French PMW, Svanberg K, Dunsby Cet al., 2012,

    In vivo measurements of diffuse reflectance and time-resolved autofluorescence emission spectra of basal cell carcinomas

    , JOURNAL OF BIOPHOTONICS, Vol: 5, Pages: 240-254, ISSN: 1864-063X
  • Conference paper
    Coda S, Kennedy GT, Thompson A, Talbot CB, Alexandrov Y, Munro I, Neil MA, Stamp GW, Elson DS, Dunsby C, French PM, Thillainayagam AVet al., 2011,

    FLUORESCENCE LIFETIME IMAGING FOR LABEL-FREE CONTRAST OF GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASES

    , International School of Physics "Enrico Fermi", Course CLXXXI "Microscopy Applied to Biophotonics"

    INTRODUCTION: Autofluorescence (AF) has been used to distinguish between normal and diseased tissue, but its molecular basis is still unclear and making quantitative intensity measurements is challenging. Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) measures the decay rate of the autofluorescent signal from tissue, providing quantitative AF contrast. FLIM has been recently implemented by our group in three endoscopic instruments consisting of a confocal laser endomicroscope, a wide-field fibre-optic endoscope and a single point fibre-optic probe. FLIM has the potential to report on tissue structure and function in real-time during endoscopy, providing a label-free means to detect the early onset of diseases that cause changes in tissue AF. We are developing these 3 modalities for in vivo clinical application, supported by ex vivo studies on freshly-biopsied/resected GI tissues.AIMS & METHODS: The aim of this work is to translate our FLIM instrumentation from the optical bench to in vivo clinical application. AF from 43 endoscopic samples from different GI sites was excited using a conventional confocal FLIM microscope in the range 405-420nm, which is compatible with our FLIM endoscopes, and which is the range needed to excite a number of important endogenous GI tissue fluorophores such as porphyrins, flavins, collagen and elastin. The samples were collected from patients undergoing endoscopy, transported to the FLIM laboratory to be imaged and then submitted for histopathology. The following disorders were investigated: Barrett’s oesophagus, gastric cancer, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, adenomatous polyps and colon cancer. The accuracy of FLIM in discriminating dysplastic/cancerous samples from normal tissue has been tested by measuring the Area Under the Curve (AUC).RESULTS: Our preliminary data show that premalignant or neoplastic samples display either shorter or longer fluorescence lifetime than that of normal tissue. Increased lifetime val

  • Conference paper
    Coda S, Kennedy G, Thompson A, Talbot C, Alexandrov Y, Munro I, Neil M, Stamp G, Elson D, Dunsby C, French P, Thillainayagam Aet al., 2011,

    FLUORESCENCE LIFETIME IMAGING OF GASTROINTESTINAL CANCERS

    , European-Society-for-Medical-Oncology (ESMO) 13th World Congress on Gastrointestinal Cancer, Publisher: OXFORD UNIV PRESS, Pages: v65-v66, ISSN: 0923-7534
  • Journal article
    Thompson AJ, Paterson C, Neil MAA, Dunsby C, French PMWet al., 2011,

    Adaptive phase compensation for ultracompact laser scanning endomicroscopy

    , OPTICS LETTERS, Vol: 36, Pages: 1707-1709, ISSN: 0146-9592
  • Conference paper
    Coda S, Kennedy GT, Thompson A, Talbot CB, Alexandrov Y, Munro I, Neil MA, Stamp GW, Elson DS, Dunsby C, French PM, Thillainayagam AVet al., 2011,

    FLUORESCENCE LIFETIME IMAGING FOR LABEL-FREE CONTRAST OF GASTROINTESTINAL DISEASES

    , Digestive Disease Week, Publisher: Elsevier, ISSN: 0016-5107

    INTRODUCTION: Autofluorescence (AF) is a means to distinguish between normal and diseased tissue, but its molecular basis is unclear and intensity-based contrast is often not sufficiently specific. Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) maps the decay rate of fluorescence emitted from tissue samples, providing quantitative AF contrast. FLIM has been recently implemented by our group in three endoscopic instruments consisting of a confocal laser endomicroscope, a wide-field fibre-optic endoscope and a single point fibre-optic probe. FLIM has the potential to report on tissue structure and function in real-time during endoscopy, providing a label-free means to detect the early onset of diseases that cause changes in tissue AF. We are developing these 3 modalities for in vivo clinical application, supported by ex vivo studies on freshly-biopsied/resected GI tissues.AIMS & METHODS: In this study, autofluorescence from 25 endoscopic samples from different GI sites was excited using a conventional confocal FLIM microscope in the range 405-420nm, which is compatible with our FLIM endoscopes, and which is the range needed to excite a number of important endogenous GI tissue fluorophores such as porphyrins, flavins, collagen and elastin. The samples were collected from patients undergoing endoscopy, transported to the FLIM laboratory to be imaged and then submitted for histopathology. The following diseases were investigated: Barrett’s oesophagus, gastric cancer, ulcerative colitis, adenomatous polyps and colon cancer. ROC curve analysis was used to statistically test the significance of the differences described.RESULTS: Our preliminary data reveals that lifetime of dysplastic or neoplastic samples may be either shorter or longer than that of normal tissue. Increased lifetime values have been observed in Barrett’s oesophagus, colon cancer and polyps. Gastric cancer and ulcerative colitis have shown a decrease in lifetime. In addition, a broadening of

  • Conference paper
    Thompson A, Manning H, Brydegaard M, Coda S, Kennedy G, Patalay R, Waitong-Braemming U, De Beule P, Neil M, Andersson-Engels S, Itoh Y, Bendsøe N, Dunsby C, Svanberg K, French PMet al., 2011,

    Hyperspectral fluorescence lifetime fibre probe spectroscopy for use in the study and diagnosis of osteoarthritis and skin cancer

    , SPIE Photonics West 2011, Publisher: Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE), ISSN: 1996-756X

    We present the application of two fibre-optic-coupled time-resolved spectrofluorometers and a compact steady-state diffuse reflected light/fluorescence spectrometer to in vivo and ex vivo studies of skin cancer and osteoarthritis. In a clinical study of skin cancer, 27 lesions on 25 patients were investigated in vivo before surgical excision of the region measured. Preliminary analysis reveals a statistically significant decrease in the autofluorescence lifetime of basal cell carcinomas compared to neighbouring healthy tissue. A study of autofluorescence signals associated with the onset of osteoarthritis indicates autofluorescence lifetime changes associated with collagen degradation.

  • Conference paper
    Kennedy GT, Coda S, Thompson AJ, Elson DS, Neil MAA, Stamp GW, Thillainayagam A, Viellerobe B, Lacombe F, Dunsby C, French PMWet al., 2011,

    Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Endoscopy

    , Conference on Endoscopic Microscopy VI, Publisher: SPIE-INT SOC OPTICAL ENGINEERING, ISSN: 0277-786X
  • Journal article
    Tillmann HL, Thompson AJ, Patel K, Wiese M, Tenckhoff H, Nischalke HD, Lokhnygina Y, Kullig U, Goebel U, Capka E, Wiegand J, Schiefke I, Guethoff W, Gruenfreiff K, Koenig I, Spengler U, McCarthy J, Shianna KV, Goldstein DB, McHutchison JG, Timm J, Nattermann Jet al., 2010,

    A Polymorphism Near <i>IL28B</i> Is Associated With Spontaneous Clearance of Acute Hepatitis C Virus and Jaundice

    , GASTROENTEROLOGY, Vol: 139, Pages: 1586-+, ISSN: 0016-5085
  • Conference paper
    Thompson AJ, Fellay J, Ge D, Urban T, Shianna K, Sulkowski M, Muir A, Afdhal N, Jacobson I, Esteban R, Poordad F, Lawitz E, Mc Cone J, Shiffman M, Galler G, Lee W, Reindollar R, King J, Kwo P, Ghalib R, Freilich B, Nyberg L, Patel K, Tillmann H, Noviello S, Bopari N, Koury K, Pedicone L, Brass C, Albrecht JK, Goldstein D, Mc Hutchison JGet al., 2010,

    GENOME WIDE ANALYSIS OF PATIENTS FROM THE IDEAL STUDY IDENTIFIES A CAUSAL ROLE FOR ITPA GENETIC VARIATION IN RIBAVIRIN-INDUCED HEMOLYTIC ANEMIA

    , 45th Annual Meeting of the European-Association-for-the-Study-of-the-Liver, Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV, Pages: S470-S470, ISSN: 0168-8278

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