Development of advanced microscopy tools for pathology

This PhD project aims to leverage recent advances in optical microscopy to develop new capabilities for pathology, particularly clinical histopathology, implemented using open-source hardware and software such that these new capabilities could be implemented and maintained in Low and Middle Income Countries. To this end the student will develop an open source brightfield and fluorescence microscope based on the openFrame platform developed in our laboratory at Imperial and will develop and evaluate modules for super-resolved microscopy and hyperspectral imaging. The former will be based on our easySTORM approach, which will be implemented in a slide-scanning microscope and for which we will explore cluster analysis to provide quantitative readouts. The latter will be applied to unmix multiple immunofluorescence labels for cost-effective spatial proteomics, e.g., for use with minimal diagnostic panels of clinical antibodies, and to explore autofluorescence for label-free diagnostic capability. We will also explore quantitative phase imaging and polarisation-resolved imaging as complementary readouts to immunofluorescence and autofluorescence -based readouts.