Grant: Research Tools and Instruments

Optical methods that can image the structure and blood flow of biological tissue and probe its normal / abnormal function in-vivo, non-invasively and with cellular-level resolution, can be used clinically for real-time, non-contact optical (virtual) biopsy. As such, they have the potential to revolutionize the early diagnostics and to aid the treatment (surgical and non-surgical) of many diseases, from potentially blinding neurodegenerative retinal diseases to various types of cancer. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is an imaging modality that can image in-vivo, non-invasively and simultaneously the cellular structure, blood flow and physiological function of biological tissue. However, the OCT images suffer from optical aberrations such as defocus, astigmatism and chromatic aberrations, which cause image distortions and blur. Adaptive Optics (AO) can measure the wavefront aberrations and correct for them in the detected optical beam, thus generating high resolution, aberrations-free images of the imaged object. AO can be combined with other optical imaging modalities such as OCT, to improve their enaface spatial resolution. Recently, our research group has built a Line-Scan-OCT (LS-OCT) system that utilizes an ultrahigh speed camera and can acquire volumetric images of biological tissue at imaging rates of 5,000 fps or higher, while providing cellular level resolution of ~ 2 µm. Here, we propose to upgrade the LS-OCT system with an AO arm, to allow for correcting of aberrations in the LS-OCT images. To upgrade the LS-OCT system we require funds to purchase 2 components: a deformable mirror for correcting the aberrations in the OCT imaging beam; and a broad bandwidth light source to replace the laser that was used to power the LS-OCT and which recently broke down and is beyond repair. Students working on this research will benefit from research that is made more competitive through the development of the new AO-LS-OCT system and the capabilities it will provide. It will enable their work to be published in high-impact factor journals such as "Nature Biophotonics" and Light Science and Applications".