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Clinical Photonics

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

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

Citation

BibTex format

@inproceedings{Thompson:2011:10.1117/12.875120,
author = {Thompson, A and Manning, H and Brydegaard, M and Coda, S and Kennedy, G and Patalay, R and Waitong-Braemming, U and De, Beule P and Neil, M and Andersson-Engels, S and Itoh, Y and Bendsøe, N and Dunsby, C and Svanberg, K and French, PM},
doi = {10.1117/12.875120},
publisher = {Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)},
title = {Hyperspectral fluorescence lifetime fibre probe spectroscopy for use in the study and diagnosis of osteoarthritis and skin cancer},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.875120},
year = {2011}
}

Download

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - 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.
AU  - Thompson,A
AU  - Manning,H
AU  - Brydegaard,M
AU  - Coda,S
AU  - Kennedy,G
AU  - Patalay,R
AU  - Waitong-Braemming,U
AU  - De,Beule P
AU  - Neil,M
AU  - Andersson-Engels,S
AU  - Itoh,Y
AU  - Bendsøe,N
AU  - Dunsby,C
AU  - Svanberg,K
AU  - French,PM
DO  - 10.1117/12.875120
PB  - Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)
PY  - 2011///
SN  - 1996-756X
TI  - Hyperspectral fluorescence lifetime fibre probe spectroscopy for use in the study and diagnosis of osteoarthritis and skin cancer
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.875120
UR  - http://spie.org/x648.html?product_id=875120
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/44020
ER  -