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Feature Announcement for Biomedical Optics Express

Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy: Technology and Applications

Submissions Open: 1 January 2024

Submission Deadline: 31 May 2024

Biomedical Optics Express welcomes submissions to a feature issue, "Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy: Technology and Applications." Diffuse optical spectroscopy (DOS) can be broadly defined as the use of light to interrogate the composition or function of multiple scattering materials. Though not strictly limited to living tissue, DOS is commonly applied to in vivo sensing and imaging applications, including clinical investigations, due to its non-invasiveness and low risk. Research in DOS theory, modeling, methods, devices, and applications has a rich history spanning the past 35 years, over which time has seen the formation of dozens of related companies and marketed medical devices. Indeed, DOS methods have been applied in virtually all areas of biomedical research including neuroscience and neurology, oncology, cardiovascular disease, exercise and muscle physiology, obesity, aging, rehabilitation, obstetrics, and critical care.

This feature issue will provide an updated “status report” both on the established and emerging uses of DOS. It will also act as a platform for dissemination of the development of new DOS-related techniques, technologies, and theory/analysis methods. For example, the field has realized, in the last 5 years, significant advancements in the miniaturization of DOS hardware enabling real-time, wearable systems, the development of new analysis methods including machine learning, and increases in the diverse uses, applications, speed and ease-of-use. It is expected that this feature issue will not only summarize these recent exciting advancements, but also provide commentary and roadmaps for the continued research needed to further translate DOS-related techniques to widespread clinical, consumer, and commercial use.

Topics to be covered include, but are not limited to:

  • Diffuse optical spectroscopy and tomography (Continuous wave, time-domain, frequency-domain, and spatial frequency domain)
  • Diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS)
  • Laser speckle imaging (LSI)
  • Speckle contrast optical spectroscopy (SCOS)
  • Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and functional NIRS (fNIRS)
  • Machine learning and artificial intelligence for diffuse optical spectroscopy
  • Theory and modeling of light transport in multiple scattering media
  • Clinical and non-clinical applications of diffuse optical spectroscopy
  • Optical spectroscopy biomarkers
  • Tissue phantoms and standardization
  • DOS hardware technology improvements (detectors, laser sources, others)
  • Diffuse optical spectroscopy at extended wavelengths (i.e., SWIR)

All submissions need to present original, previously unpublished work and will be subject to the normal standards and peer review processes of the journal. The standard Biomedical Optics Express Article Processing Charges will apply to all published articles.

Please prepare manuscripts according to the author instructions for submission to Biomedical Optics Express and submit through the Prism submission system, specifying from the drop-down menu that the manuscript is for the feature issue on Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy.

Feature Editors

Thomas D. O'Sullivan, University of Notre Dame, USA (Lead Editor)
Hamid Dehghani, University of Birmingham, UK
Rebecca Re, Politecnico di Milano, Italy