SBIR Phase I: Fourier-domain Low Coherence Interferometry (fLCI) Optical Biopsy

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This Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Phase I project will develop a new instrument for the detection of early stage concern in human epithelial tissue based on a novel optical spectroscopic technique, Fourier-domain Low Coherence Interferometry (fLCl). Preliminary experiments with in vitro samples have shown that fLCl can probe nuclear morphology, a common pathological biomarker in assessing tissue health. The proposed fLCl instrument will serve as a guide to biopsy for clinicians, enabling evaluation of tissue health in situ, prior to tissue removal. Early cancer diagnosis is an enormous and steady growing market and extremely important for human health care. Traditional evaluation of potential cancer cells requires systematic tissue removal with subsequent examination by a pathologist. This has lead to many false negatives as well as false positives. The fLCl method described herein will provide a high resolution and accurate iv vivo measurement of nuclear morphology, the biomarker used for the diagnosis of pre-cancerous and cancerous tissues.