Reconstruction algorithms for time-domain diffuse optical tomography imaging of small animals

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This proposal is about the development of efficient computer programs (so-called algorithms) to obtain images in 3D of the interior of small laboratory animals (mice) used in biomedical research. The technique considered here for obtaining these images is diffuse optical tomography (DOT), a non-invasive medical imaging modality whereby non-ionizing light from a laser is used to illuminate an animal at several points on its skin. The light exiting the animal after its propagation through its body is measured (detected) at several positions again on its skin. The task of algorithms is to obtain from such surface measurements data a 3D image of the interior of the animal. For DOT, this is a difficult mathematical problem whose solution may take up to several hours on modern desktop computers before an image is obtained. Furthermore, a particularity of our work is that we resort to a detection technique, so-called time-domain optical measurements, that provides for information richer data. This has the potential of improving the spatial resolution of the images obtained and making them more quantitative, but since more data must be handled with such measurements, the computing time is further increased. Exploiting such data prompts for efficient numerical techniques to reduce the computational power needed by our algorithms. This proposal is about the development of such techniques that should lead to a decrease in computing times by an estimated factor of 10 to 100. This research is important because 3D pre-clinical imaging of small animals is a key tool in biomedical research that allows studying fundamental processes involved in disease development (cancer) and treatment (drug design, therapy assessment). This ultimately has impacts on the quality of treatments that can be offered to diseased patients, thus improving their quality of life and prognostics. The research program proposed here will provide end-users of DOT with faster feedback on their protocols which is important in their daily duties. Notably, optical imaging as developed here, allows studying processes that cannot be visualized with other medical imaging modalities, thus complementing these other modalities. The proposal will allow training 4 doctoral degree students along with initiating 5 bachelor’s degree students to research.