Nonreciprocal broken-ray tomography: applications to optical fluorescence imaging and X-ray dual-energy imaging

This PhD project aims to develop new theoretical and computational tools for advanced biomedical imaging, specifically, for

1. Optical biomedical imaging of mesoscopic systems such as epithelial tissue, engineered tissues, cancer cell cultures, and model organisms. This is relevant for a series of clinical applications (for instance, in dermatology), as there is a great need for tools for comprehensive epithelial tissue characterisation for objective, in-vivo lesion assessment, as well as for preclinical and evolutionary biology studies.
2. Dual-energy X-ray imaging based on measurements Compton-scattered radiation Dual-energy imaging is a stringent need for advancements in both diagnostic imaging and cancer radiotherapy treatment planning.

Both these types of imaging technologies will be addressed within the common general framework of nonreciprocal broken-ray tomography introduced recently [1]. This new approach to image reconstruction enables achieving additional information about the biological tissue: in fluorescence optical tomography, it is possible, for the first time, to reconstruct simultaneously the intrinsic attenuation coefficients at two energies and the concentration of the contrast agent; in X-ray imaging, it is possible, for the first time, to reconstruct simultaneously the attenuation coefficient at two energies and the electron density.

The PhD project will develop image reconstruction algorithms as well as software codes for image reconstruction. To guide the experimental implementation, the technologies will then be validated and optimised based on numerical experiments.

This project is part of the general effort for developing novel and transformative approaches to cancer management and next generation healthcare

[1] L. Florescu et al, "Nonreciprocal broken ray transforms with applications to fluorescence imaging," Inverse Problems 34, 094002 (2018)