research focus

1. Optical Techniques for Breast Cancer Margin Assessment

Cancer margin assessment is key to improving the success rate of Breast Conservation Surgery (BCS). Different optical techniques such as transmission-based NIR, diffuse reflectance-based NIR, time-domain NIR, linear and circular polarization-based polarimetric tools can be used with varying efficacy to differentiate cancer from adjacent normal tissues. 

2. Multispectral polarization-sensitive Intraoral Cancer Probe for Low-Resource Settings 

Currently, the visual inspection by the clinician in the primary health center is inadequate for accurately diagnosing the type and stage of oral cancer. Using multispectral polarization-sensitive imaging, that selectively excites the intraoral cavity with different wavelengths based on the absorption peaks of HbO2 and Hb can help in characterizing the tissue. A portable and affordable intraoral cavity probe can be used in the primary health center which can potentially aid the clinician in improving the efficacy of oral cancer diagnosis.