Medical diagnostics is moving towards
non-invasive, portable and inexpensive methods. The Biomedical Optics
Research Laboratory (BORL) at the Department of Neonatology, University
Hospital Zurich is focused on the development of diagnostic tools using
light and their research or clinical application. The wide field of
expertise and research includes:
- Quantitative
near-infrared spectrophotometry (NIRS), a non-invasive, continuous
technique at the bedside, which uses light to analyze tissue, e.g.
quantitative measurement of hemoglobin concentration and oxygenation.
The expertise of the Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory (BORL)
includes the development of NIRS instrumentation (sensors, electronics,
spectrometers, chip design), software (drivers, graphic user interfaces,
and post-processing) and algorithms (signal analysis, physiological
parameter extraction). BORL successfully invented, developed and
clinically applied optical technology to study brain, muscle, cervix,
breast oxygenation, perfusion and function.
- 3D near-infrared
optical tomography (NIROT), where BORL works on instrumentation to
investigate tissue in reflection mode up to 3cm deep or transmission
mode up to 7cm deep with an unprecedented 3D spatial resolution of ~5mm.
These instruments will be capable of non-invasively, rapidly and
quantitatively measuring the concentration of oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin,
oxygen saturation, cytochrome aa3 redox state, water, lipids and
contrast agents in 3D. So far a resolution of 5mm was achieved in the
laboratory, which is leading in the field.
- The development of a
new sensor principle based on smart materials, which enables to
quantitatively and non-invasively measure the concentration of different
molecules in the blood.
- Clinical testing and research, such as
the assessment of tumor, muscle and brain function, perfusion and
oxygenation and the measurement of tissue composition in patients in the
hospital during clinical studies. One key application is the functional
investigation of the brain. The aim is to develop a method to assess
the functional severity of brain lesions in neonatal intensive care
patients at the bedside. Brain activity can be observed non-invasively
through the intact skull using light. We are using imaging techniques,
which allow an online assessment of a whole region of the brain.
Links
Biomedical Photonics Network
www.bmpn.ch
Swiss Society for Optics and Microscopy
www.ssom.ch
Forschungsdatenbank der Universität Zürich
www.research-projects.uzh.ch/a390.htm
