Polarization Cellular Imaging and Diagnosis (NNJ05JC13C)
In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the propagation of polarized light in randomly
scattering media. The investigation of backscattered light is of particular interest since most medical
applications aimed at the in-vivo characterization of biological tissue rely on backscattered light. By
recording the spatially dependent response of a medium to a polarized point source, one may obtain
information about the scattering particles that are not accessible to mere intensity measurements. In this
program, Boston Applied Technologies Incorporated (BATI), together with Virginia Tech (VT) proposes an innovative NIR polarization imaging solution based on high performance
fast tunable phase retarder and novel algorithm. It will have the ability to record both scattering images
and Stokes polarization imaging. It allows very fast recording the polarization images at the speed limit
of a CCD. It contains no moving parts and can accommodate to most of the existing CCD cameras. The
unique measurement procedure allows efficient, accurate sensing of the polarization imaging. A computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) software will be developed for the proposed polarization imaging
system.
Application of the proposed high performance polarization imaging system would find tremendous
applications in NASA mission. The development effort of this program will result a space applicable
instrument. Potential application of the proposed technology will allow microscopic imaging and
biophysical measurements of cell functions, effects of electric or magnetic fields, photoactivation, and
testing of drugs or biocompatible polymers on live tissues. The proposed portable device can also be a
powerful and convenient tool for non-biological studies during the NASA mission.
The potential for this device in commercial clinical practice is also enormous, from early detection of
skin cancers, to microscopic tissue analysis. It also can be used as an analysis tool for material research
and industrial processing.
Copyright
©2004, Computational Bioinformatics and Bioimaging Laboratory
(CBIL), Advanced Research Institute, Virginia Tech.
Last
Updated: 03/03/2009. Suggestions/Comments
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