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
@inbook{Thompson:2018:10.1007/978-3-319-69748-2_6,
author = {Thompson, AJ and Yang, G-Z},
booktitle = {Implantable Sensors and Systems},
doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-69748-2_6},
editor = {Yang},
pages = {439--505},
publisher = {Springer},
title = {Tethered and Implantable Optical Sensors},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69748-2_6},
year = {2018}
}
TY - CHAP
AB - Optical imaging and sensing modalities have been used in medical diagnosis for many years. An obvious example is endoscopy, which allows remote wide-field imaging of internal tissues using optical fibers and/or miniature charge-coupled device (CCD) cameras. While techniques such as endoscopy provide useful tools for clinicians, they do not typically allow a complete diagnosis to be made. Instead, physical biopsies may be required to confirm or refute the presence of disease. Furthermore, endoscopic procedures are both invasive and time-consuming. As such, much research is currently directed toward the development of devices that can provide a complete in vivo diagnosis without the requirement for a physical biopsy. Ideally, such devices should also be minimally or non-invasive, and they should provide immediate identification of disease at the point of care. Additionally, there is significant interest in the development of implantable diagnostic devices that can be left within patients’ bodies for extended periods of time (for several days or longer). Such systems could be used for automated disease diagnosis, and example applications include the detection of post-surgical infections as well as monitoring of the health status of patients undergoing chemotherapy. This chapter focuses on the development of optical instruments that can provide in situ diagnosis at the point of care, with an emphasis on progress towards miniature devices that may function as implants in the future.
AU - Thompson,AJ
AU - Yang,G-Z
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-69748-2_6
EP - 505
PB - Springer
PY - 2018///
SN - 978-3-319-69747-5
SP - 439
TI - Tethered and Implantable Optical Sensors
T1 - Implantable Sensors and Systems
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-69748-2_6
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/71244
ER -
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