Development of optical projection tomography for biomedical imaging

This PhD project concerns the development and application of novel techniques for 3-D optical imaging of "mesoscopic" biological samples in the sub-mm to cm range. Such techniques can permit biological processes to be imaging in situ in live intact organisms, such as drosophila, nematodes and zebrafish, and can facilitate high resolution 3-D histopathology of intact tissue specimens that are too fine or too delicate for mechanical sectioning. The project will particularly exploit optical projection tomography (OPT), which is a mesoscopic imaging technique that is particularly suited for larger samples and has great potential for wide deployment of relatively low cost devices for real-world applications. The PhD research would be undertaken within the Photonics Group laboratories and also in collaboration with colleagues from the Department of Life Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine. Novel approaches for 3-D imaging will be applied to biological samples, including live zebrafish (embryo-adult) for preclinical imaging of disease processes, e.g. associated with cancer, inflammation and bacterial infection, and 3-D histopathology of bulk intact tissue samples, including cleared samples of mouse pancreas and brain tissue.