About the Lab
The Diffuse Optical Imaging of Tissue (DOIT) Lab includes faculty, postdocs, Ph.D. students, M.S. students, and undergraduate students who perform independent research, lab rotations, guided research projects, or summer internships. We hold weekly group meetings, including regular joint research meetings with our collaborating groups.
Diffuse optical imaging is a non-invasive technique for low-resolution studies of biological tissues at a macroscopic scale. The limited spatial resolution (~10 mm) is balanced by a large optical penetration depth (tens of millimeters), high temporal resolution (tens of milliseconds), high intrinsic contrast associated with hemoglobin, and the capability of spectral discrimination of multiple chromophores (leading to quantitative oximetry in the case of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin).
Research activities in our group range from basic theoretical analyses to experimental studies, from instrumentation development to practical applications in vitro and in vivo, from new methods of data collection to new approaches of data analysis, all the way to pilot clinical applications. More specifically, research in the lab includes quantitative modeling of light propagation in optically turbid media, the generation of analytical relationships between measured optical signals in tissue and physiological quantities, the design of optical instruments for medical imaging, the development of novel near-infrared spectroscopy and imaging techniques for medical diagnostics, and a number of applications to human subjects. Specific applications are aimed at functional imaging of the brain, the assessment of cerebral microcirculation, hemodynamic monitoring of skeletal muscles, and quantitative tissue oximetry.
We attend major scientific conferences in the field, such as SPIE Photonics West BiOS and the Optica Biophotonics Congress. We also actively participate in academic and social activities in the department, which include the Tufts Optics Research club meetings, the annual Biomedical Engineering graduate retreat, and the summer department picnic.
We hope that you enjoy our group website and we encourage you to contact us for any questions.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/TuftsDOIT/
