University of Waterloo Biomedical discussion roup - Dr. Michael Patterson

Professor, Juravinski Cancer Centre, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON
Title of presentation:  "Quantitative Optical Molecular Imaging in Small Animals"
Coffee/refreshments will be available
All are welcome!

Please contact the Host, Dr. Qing-Bin Lu, if anyone would like to meet with Dr. Patterson during his visit.

Abstract:  Bioluminescence and fluorescence are powerful techniques for visualizing biological processes such as gene expression and disease
progression in vivo. The visible light that makes this possible is intensely scattered in tissue, so bioluminescence and fluorescence images are not accurate representations of the location or magnitude of the internal light sources. This talk will describe our efforts to reconstruct the true three-dimensional distribution using a three-step approach and an integrated x-ray/optical imaging system. First, x-ray computed tomography is used to provide an anatomical image of the  urface and interior organs. Next, optical transmission images are  acquired using external light sources and a map of the internal absorption and scattering coefficients is estimated by diffuse optical tomography. Finally, bioluminescence or fluorescence images are captured in the same geometry and the true source distribution is recovered using the anatomy and optical property information gained in the previous steps.