People
Principal Investigator
Sergio Fantini
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Tufts University
4 Colby Street, Room 267E
Medford, MA 02155
Tel: 617-627-4356
Email: sergio.fantini@tufts.edu
Faculty ProfileEmail Dr. Fantini
Sergio Fantini is Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University. Professor Fantini's research interests are in biomedical optics, specifically in diffuse near-infrared spectroscopy and imaging of biological tissue. His research laboratory has ongoing projects aimed at the development of techniques for non-invasive functional imaging of the brain, the assessment of cerebral and skeletal muscle perfusion, and quantitative tissue oximetry. Together with Professor Irving Bigio, he has co-authored a textbook on "Quantitative Biomedical Optics" for Cambridge University Press.
Lab Members
Angelo Sassaroli
Angelo Sassaroli is a research assistant professor working with Professor Fantini. He graduated from the University of Florence (Italy) in April 1996. He received his PhD in Physics from the University of Electro-Communication in Tokyo, Japan. He has been helping Professor Fantini in supervising several projects including optical mammography, small-tissue oxygenation measurements, and peripheral nerves studies. More recently, he has been particularly involved in brain imaging studies, including data collection and analysis, and the development of innovative methods for frequency-domain near-infrared spectroscopy. In his free time, he likes running and doing Yoga.
Giles Blaney
Giles Blaney is an Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Award (IRACDA) postdoctoral scholar in the Diffuse Optical Imaging of Tissue (DOIT) lab at Tufts University. Giles earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Biomedical Engineering from Tufts in 2022 after 5 years in the DOIT lab. He is from Wenham, MA, a small town north of Boston. Before coming to Tufts, Giles received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Physics from Northeastern University in 2017. Additionally, at Northeastern he minored in Electrical Engineering and Mathematics. During that time, he was an undergraduate researcher in the Northeastern Optical Science Lab (OSL). Giles has had engineering co-ops at Medtronic as a tooling engineer, 24M as a manufacturing engineer, and at Quantum Diamond Technologies Incorporated (QDTI) as a research and development engineer/scientist. Currently, he is researching diffuse optical techniques to detect changes deeper within a scattering medium. In Giles' free time he enjoys all sorts of making related hobbies. Aside from his engineering like hobbies he also enjoys cooking, hiking, and overall being outdoors.
Jodee Frias
Jodee Frias is a second-year PhD student in the DOIT Lab at Tufts University. She is from Avon, MA and received a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University in 2022. During her undergraduate degree, she conducted research on a wearable SWIR optical probe to monitor hydration in hemodialysis patients. Jodee is currently working on functional NIRS measurements, and is extremely interested in non-invasive imaging techniques for clinical applications. In her free time, Jodee enjoys baking, exploring Boston, reading, and spending time with her cats, Risotto and Ziti.
Fatemeh Tavakoli
Fatemeh Tavakoli is a second-year Ph.D. student in the Diffuse Optical Imaging of Tissue (DOIT) lab under the advisement of Professor Sergio Fantini at Tufts University (Medford, Massachusetts). Her current field of research is Frequency-Domain Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) and Diffuse Optics to investigate non-invasive techniques for medical applications, such as hemodynamic monitoring of skeletal muscles and brain function. Before that, she received an M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, in 2020 (Tehran, Iran). During her master's degree, she found Fractal geometry to be a unique way of looking at the world, and she successfully designed a perfect absorber based on self-similar nanoparticles, allowing for tuning optical properties for near-infrared applications. In her free time, Fatemeh enjoys Aerobic exercise and meditation.