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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

@article{Coda:2014:10.1364/BOE.5.000515,
author = {Coda, S and Thompson, AJ and Kennedy, GT and Roche, KL and Ayaru, L and Bansi, DS and Stamp, GW and Thillainayagam, AV and French, PMW and Dunsby, C},
doi = {10.1364/BOE.5.000515},
journal = {Biomedical Optics Express},
pages = {515--538},
title = {Fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy of tissue autofluorescence in normal and diseased colon measured ex vivo using a fiber-optic probe},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/BOE.5.000515},
volume = {5},
year = {2014}
}

Download

RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - We present an ex vivo study of temporally and spectrally resolved autofluorescence in a total of 47 endoscopic excision biopsy/resection specimens from colon, using pulsed excitation laser sources operating at wavelengths of 375 nm and 435 nm. A paired analysis of normal and neoplastic (adenomatous polyp) tissue specimens obtained from the same patient yielded a significant difference in the mean spectrally averaged autofluorescence lifetime −570 ± 740 ps (p = 0.021, n = 12). We also investigated the fluorescence signature of non-neoplastic polyps (n = 6) and inflammatory bowel disease (n = 4) compared to normal tissue in a small number of specimens.
AU  - Coda,S
AU  - Thompson,AJ
AU  - Kennedy,GT
AU  - Roche,KL
AU  - Ayaru,L
AU  - Bansi,DS
AU  - Stamp,GW
AU  - Thillainayagam,AV
AU  - French,PMW
AU  - Dunsby,C
DO  - 10.1364/BOE.5.000515
EP  - 538
PY  - 2014///
SN  - 2156-7085
SP  - 515
TI  - Fluorescence lifetime spectroscopy of tissue autofluorescence in normal and diseased colon measured ex vivo using a fiber-optic probe
T2  - Biomedical Optics Express
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/BOE.5.000515
UR  - http://www.imperial.ac.uk/AP/faces/pages/read/Home.jsp?person=s.coda&_adf.ctrl-state=dbvv3e7m3_3&_afrRedirect=4851527184107293
UR  - http://www.opticsinfobase.org/boe/fulltext.cfm?uri=boe-5-2-515&id=277033
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/12890
VL  - 5
ER  -