Travis Sawyer on Early Cancer Detection with Multimodal Optical Imaging

Dr. Travis Sawyer, Professor of Optical Sciences, Biomedical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Health Sciences, and Medicine, was kind enough to speak with me about how multimodal optical imaging can improve early cancer diagnosis in ovarian and esophageal cancers. Travis discusses existing diagnostic methods, the need for improved techniques and why OCT, two-photon imaging, and fluorescence hold potential for cancer diagnostics. He expanded upon how these methods can be combined in a compact physical form via endocscopy, and the challenges with combining imaging results, and the future for the field. I hope you enjoy as much as I did; Dr. Sawyer is advancing not only a highly interesting field, but one that holds a potential for improving humanity in a very tangible way. Links: 1) Dr. Sawyer's Lab - Biomedical Optics and Optical Measurement Laboratory: https://wp.optics.arizona.edu/tsawyer/ 2) Dr. Sawyer's Dissertation: https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/657772 3) Dr. Jennifer Barton's Lab: https://bmeoptics.engr.arizona.edu/

4) Texture Analysis of OCT in ovarian tissue: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6560/aaefd2/meta

5) Evaluation of illumination system uniformity for wide-field biomedical hyperspectral imaging :https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2040-8986/aa6176/meta

6)Fluorescence and Multiphoton Imaging for Tissue Characterization of a Model of Postmenopausal Ovarian Cancer: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/lsm.23251

7) Milford Track: https://www.newzealand.com/us/feature/milford-track/