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{Power:2018:10.1002/smll.201703964,
author = {Power, MC and Thompson, A and Anastasova-Ivanova, S and Yang, G and Power, M and Thompson, AJ and Anastasova, S and Yang, G-Z},
doi = {10.1002/smll.201703964},
journal = {Small},
pages = {1703964--1--1703964--10},
title = {A monolithic force-sensitive 3D microgripper fabricated on the tip of an optical fiber using 2-photon polymerization},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smll.201703964},
volume = {14},
year = {2018}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - Microscale robotic devices have myriad potential applications including drug delivery, biosensing, cell manipulation, and microsurgery. In this work, a tethered, 3D, compliant grasper with an integrated force sensor is presented, the entirety of which is fabricated on the tip of an optical fiber in a single-step process using 2-photon polymerization. This gripper can prove useful for the interrogation of biological microstructures such as alveoli, villi, or even individual cells. The position of the passively actuated grasper is controlled via micromanipulation of the optical fiber, and the microrobotic device measures approximately 100 µm in length and breadth. The force estimation is achieved using optical interferometry: high-dimensional spectral readings are used to train artificial neural networks to predict the axial force exerted on/by the gripper. The design, characterization, and testing of the grasper are described and its real-time force-sensing capability with an accuracy below 2.7% of the maximum calibrated force is demonstrated.
AU - Power,MC
AU - Thompson,A
AU - Anastasova-Ivanova,S
AU - Yang,G
AU - Power,M
AU - Thompson,AJ
AU - Anastasova,S
AU - Yang,G-Z
DO - 10.1002/smll.201703964
EP - 1
PY - 2018///
SN - 1613-6810
SP - 1703964
TI - A monolithic force-sensitive 3D microgripper fabricated on the tip of an optical fiber using 2-photon polymerization
T2 - Small
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/smll.201703964
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29479810
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/58558
VL - 14
ER -
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