Abstract

Following the credo that “seeing is believing” and “a picture is worth a thousand words”, low-cost imaging technologies are now ubiquitously deployed in consumer devices – from digital cameras, to laptops and cell phones. Another area where imaging technology is having a significant impact is in the development of high-sensitivity, high-speed bioimagers for applications in medicine, biology, biomolecular sciences and chemistry. In this keynote presentation, we will discuss our on-going research work in developing low-cost, miniaturized and sensitive systems towards minimally invasive screening and diagnoses for early stage malignancies. This research is motivated by the premise that the sooner a disease is caught, the higher the chances are for recovery. At present, one of our foci is on minimally invasive endoscopic/brain imaging technologies that require expertise in multiple disciplines such as gastroenterology and neurology, minimally invasive surgery, medical instrument development, photonic, electronic and mechanical engineering, and image processing. More importantly, such a project requires real convergence among engineers, scientists and clinicians who must work collaboratively and synergistically for the realization of these new screening and diagnostic devices. As a specific example, not only do we have to develop optical imagers capable of single photon counting with high temporal resolution to investigate autofluorescence from biological samples, but the optics should be integrated so the system has a small form factor. And for in-vivo applications, biocompatible coatings with good optical transmission properties are required. In addition, the hardware and software should be user friendly to clinicians. In the talk, we will also highlight the importance of computing as well as data and image processing, some often overlooked areas in bioimaging systems. Finally, we will summarize our current work and recent accomplishments to illustrate not only convergence in general, but specifically convergence to tackle one of the most pressing issues in healthcare worldwide – that of low-cost screening towards early diagnosis of common diseases for better prognosis.

© 2015 Optical Society of America