People

Principal Investigator

Sergio Fantini

Diffuse Optical Imaging of Tissue Lab
Tufts University
4 Colby Street, Room 267E
Medford, MA 02155

Office: 617-627-4356

Sergio Fantini is Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Tufts University. Professor Fantini's research focus is in biomedical optics, and specifically in diffuse near-infrared spectroscopy and imaging of biological tissues. His research laboratory has ongoing projects aimed at non-invasive functional imaging of the brain, the assessment of cerebral microcirculation, and the development of novel instrumentation for optical mammography. Together with Professor Irving Bigio, he has co-authored a textbook on "Quantitative Biomedical Optics" for Cambridge University Press.

Lab Members

Professor Angelo Sassaroli

Angelo Sassaroli is currently 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: optical mammography, small-tissue oxygenation measurements, and peripheral nerves studies. He has been particularly involved in brain imaging studies, including data collection and analysis. He has collaborated with McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA on concurrent studies of fMRI and fNIRS. In his free time, he likes running and doing Yoga.

Thao Pham

Thao Thanh Pham is a PhD student in Professor Fantini's lab. She is from Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. Thao received her BE in Biomedical Engineering from International University VNU in 2014. During her undergraduate degree, she worked with functional Near-infrared Spectroscopy to investigate human brain activities, especially human mental workload. In August 2015, she started at Tufts in Professor Fantini's diffuse optical imaging lab with an interest in non-invasive brain imaging for clinical applications. Thao enjoys reading and music in her free time.

Giles Blaney

Giles Blaney is a PhD student in the Diffuse Optical Imaging of Tissue (DOIT) lab at Tufts University. He is from Wenham, MA, a small town north of Boston. He received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and Physics from Northeastern University in 2017. Additionally, at Northeastern Giles 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 the collection, using Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), and analysis of hemodynamic data using the Coherent Hemodynamics Spectroscopy (CHS) technique. In Giles' free time he enjoys 3D printing, electronics prototyping, and generally making. Aside from his engineering like hobbies he also enjoys cooking, hiking, and overall being outdoors.

Cristianne Fernandez

Cristianne Fernandez is a PhD student in Professor Fantini’s lab. She is from Miami, FL and completed a degree in Biomedical Engineering from Florida International University. During her undergraduate degree, Cristianne's research focused on long term non-contact near infra-red Imaging for real-time assessment of oxygenation changes and perfusion changes in wound healing of diabetic foot ulcers. Cristianne joined Dr. Fantini's lab to continue working on non-invasive imaging applications with an interest in devices and clinical applications. She is currently working on a method to determine scalp hemodynamics. In her free time, Cristianne enjoys boating and fishing.