CENS Technical Seminar Series

A new tool for TeleMedicine: Lensfree On-Chip Imaging for High-throughput Cytometry and Point-of-care Diagnostics

Invited Speaker: Aydogan Ozcan
Date: February 20, 2009
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Venue: Boelter Hall 4760

Abstract

A high-throughput on-chip imaging platform that can rapidly monitor and characterize various cell types within a heterogeneous solution over a depth-of-field of ~5 mm and a field-of-view of >10 cm2 is introduced. This powerful system can image/monitor multiple layers of micro-particles, including cells, within a volume of >5 ml all in parallel without the need for any lens, microscope-objective or any mechanical scanning. In this high-throughput particle imaging scheme, the holographic diffraction pattern (i.e., the shadow) of each micro-particle within the entire sample volume is detected in less than a second using an opto-electronic sensor array. The acquired shadow image is then digitally processed using a custom developed “decision algorithm” to enable both the identification of the particle location in 3D and the characterization of each micro-particle type within the sample volume. Through experimental results, we show that different cell types (e.g., red blood cells, fibroblasts, etc) or other micro-particles all exhibit uniquely different shadow patterns and therefore can be rapidly identified without any ambiguity using the developed decision algorithm, enabling high-throughput characterization of a heterogeneous solution. This lensfree on chip cell imaging platform shows a significant promise especially for medical diagnostic applications relevant to global health problems, where compact and cost-effective diagnostic tools are urgently needed in resource limited settings.

Biography

Prof. Aydogan Ozcan received his Ph.D. degree at Stanford University Electrical Engineering Department in 2005. After a short post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University, he is appointed as a Research Faculty Member at Harvard Medical School, Wellman Center for Photomedicine in 2006. Dr. Ozcan joined UCLA in the summer of 2007, where he is currently leading the Bio- and Nano-Photonics Laboratory at the Electrical Engineering Department. Prof. Ozcan’s research group is also part of UCLA California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), where he is currently serving as a member of the research committee.

Dr. Ozcan holds 11 US patents, 1 UK patent and another 9 pending patent applications for his inventions in nanoscopy, wide-field imaging, nonlinear optics, fiber optics, and optical coherence tomography. All of his patents are currently licensed by Northrop Grumman Corporation, which is the leading defense company in US. Dr. Ozcan is also the co-author of more than 70 peer reviewed research articles in major scientific journals and conferences. Dr. Ozcan is also serving in the Scientific Advisory Board of the Lifeboat Foundation, and is a member of the program committee of SPIE Photonics West Conference. He also serves as a panelist and a reviewer for National Science Foundation and for Harvard-MIT Innovative Technology for Medicine Program.

For his work on lensfree on-chip imaging and diagnostic tools, Prof. Ozcan received the prestigious 2008 Okawa Foundation Research Award, given by the Okawa Foundation, in Japan. Prof. Ozcan also received the 2009 IEEE Photonics Society’s (LEOS) Young Investigator Award for his pioneering contributions to non-destructive nonlinear material characterization and near-field and on-chip imaging & diagnostics. He is also the receipient of a National Science Foundation Award on “Biophotonics, Advanced Imaging, and Sensing for Human Health” for his on-chip plasmonic microscopy work. Dr. Ozcan was also awarded the Presidential Fellowship from the Turkish Ministry of Education in 1996 (declined).

Dr. Ozcan is a member of IEEE, LEOS, OSA, SPIE and BMES.