Mutlimodal Spectroscopy Imaging Platform for Intraoperative Tissue Characterization

Dr. Frédéric Leblond

Associate Professor, Department of Engineering Physics, Polytechnique Montéal

September 24, 2019 15:30 - 16:30

Herzberg Building Room 4351, Carleton University

Paid parking available on campus

abstract

Our laboratory is developing optical spectroscopy instruments with the objective of using data-mining techniques for detailed tissue characterization in several organ sites including brain, prostate, lung and the ovaries. The macroscopic imaging methods we have developed to date relied either on Raman spectroscopy for cancer resection guidance, fluorescence imaging for prostatic tissue characterisation, real-time diffuse reflectance for brain activity detection and spatial frequency domain imaging (SFDI) for quantification of absorption and scattering tissue properties. In those studies, the spectra served as training databases for learning algorithms developed in collaboration with pathologists that were responsible for tissue labels assignment.

More recently, we have initiated the development of multimodal intraoperative imaging tools based on an imaging platform combining Raman, fluorescence and diffuse reflectance (multi-spectral and SFDI) with the objective of gathering large spectral datasets across organ sites/pathologies and patients for the development of classification models using machine learning techniques. The combination of Raman, fluorescence and diffuse reflectance spectroscopic images offers the potential to provide a breadth of molecular features that can be employed for surface as well as for depth-resolved tissue characterisation. Using a versatile wide-field spectroscopic imaging platform, databases of tissue-specific spectroscopic information can be acquired for future artificial intelligence applications. Here we will present recent results relating with the development of each imaging modality as well as progress towards the development of the multimodal imaging platform and the wide-field intraoperative imaging probes to be used for data gathering in the scope of in vivo clinical studies.

biography

Frédéric Leblond, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Engineering Physics at Polytechnique Montreal and Director of the Laboratory for Radiological Optics (LRO). He is also a researcher at the CRCHUM medical research center and co-founder and chief scientist of the company ODS Medical. Professor Leblond holds a Bachelor's degree in Engineering Physics from Polytechnique Montreal, a Master's degree in Physics from Laval University and a PhD in Physics from McGill University. After his Ph.D., he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Chicago. His doctoral and postdoctoral research focused on theoretical physics, particularly in relation to quantum mechanics, cosmology and supercord theory. He was then a senior researcher for three years and worked on the development of medical instruments at a Montreal medical imaging company. Prior to joining Polytechnique, Professor Leblond was a professor of engineering at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, for five years, where he was also affiliated with the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Dr. Leblond's research is related to the development of light-based medical devices to characterize biological tissues to improve the accuracy and safety of surgical procedures, as well as to develop techniques to improve the accuracy of medical diagnostics. He holds about ten patents and has published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles.