By exploring the properties of light, tissue, and their interactions, our laboratory invented, discovered or pioneered optical microangiography, full-range complex Fourier domain optical coherence tomography, optical clearing of biological tissue, elastic-wave sensing of elastic properties of tissue, phase-sensitive optical coherence vibrometry, multifunctional nanoparticle contrast agents and their applications in imaging tissue morphology, cerebral blood flow, retinal blood perfusion, cochlear blood perfusion, and embryonic heart development. The research topics currently active in the laboratory include:

 

• Optical Imaging System Developments

 

                o Optical Coherence Tomography

 

                                  Time-domain OCT

                                  Frequency-domain OCT

                                  Doppler OCT

                                  Polarization-sensitive  OCT

                                  Whole-field OCT

                                  Optical coherence elastography

                                  3-D optical microangiography (OMAG)

                                  Photothermal OCT

 

                o  Photoacoustic Imaging

 

                o  Laser-Speckle and Doppler Imaging

 

                o Contrast agent development

 

                o Multiphoton microscopy

 

                o Optical Projection Tomography

 

                o Transillumination optical computed tomography

 

 

• Imaging Applications

 

              o Transcranial imaging for small animal models: Cerebral blood perfusion and tissue morphology.

 

              o Imaging ischemic stroke, aging and neurodenegerative diseases (dementia and Alzheimer's disease)

 

              o Translational imaging of posterior and anterior segment for the eye (Pre-clinical and clinical).

 

              o Optical imaging of cochlea in animal models and human: Cochlear blood perfusion and tissue morphology.

 

              o Translational optical imaging in dermatology: wound healing, cancer, cosmetic etc.

 

              o Translational optical imaging for oral cavity.

 

              o Imaging of embryonic developments, including chick embryos.

 

              o Tissue engineering.

 

              o Early disease diagnosis and treatment planning based on optical contrasts.