FIP Joint Student Seminar: 1st Talk "Auto-Aligning Handheld Optical Coherence Tomography Probe for Pediatric Retinal Imaging" and 2nd Talk "Investigation of carbon-based black pigments with pump-probe microscopy"

1st Student Talk: "Auto-Aligning Handheld Optical Coherence Tomography Probe for Pediatric Retinal Imaging"

by Amit Narawane, Ph.D Candidate, Toth Lab, Chambers Scholar, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University
Handheld optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a useful imaging modality for assessing and monitoring retinal disease in pediatric patients. However, acquiring consistent and repeatable data in this population remains difficult, even with trained operators. We propose a novel handheld device capable of optical auto-alignment with the pupil to account for subject and operator motion and mitigate resulting artifacts. We evaluate our device for use in ongoing clinical studies in pediatric subjects. We believe our device has the potential to increase accessibility and improve repeatability and reproducibility of OCT imaging in children and neonates. 
Amit Narawane is a fifth year MD/PhD student advised by Joe Izatt and Cynthia Toth. His research is on developing and utilizing handheld and robotic optical coherence tomography systems for clinical applications in ophthalmology.

 

2nd Student Talk: "Investigation of carbon-based black pigments with pump-probe microscopy"

by Heidi Heidi Kastenholz, Ph.D. Candidate, Warren Lab, James Bonk Fellow, Department of Chemistry, Duke University

Scientific analysis of art informs our understanding of not only the history of the works but also the materials used to create them. Carbon-based black pigments are among the oldest and most widely used pigments across all forms of art and can be produced from a variety of materials. Studies of these pigments with linear spectroscopic techniques reveal little about their heterogeneity and have difficulties identifying the pigments in mixed samples. Pump-probe microscopy uses nonlinear interactions of two, tunable wavelengths with the sample to provide molecular specificity. Coupling data from pump-probe microscopy with a simple machine learning algorithm, we are able to separate the four carbon-based black pigments from one another when in a two-compound mixture and the same carbon-based black pigments from a selection of colorful pigments. Through pump-probe microscopy, we aim to identify a black pigment that is present in a work of art to aid in conservation efforts, to address the history of a work, and to develop a better understanding of the use of specific carbon-based black pigments.

Heidi is a fifth-year student in the Warren lab studying nonlinear optical systems and artists materials. She received her bachelor's degree in Chemistry from Butler University in Indiana. For the past year, she has been working with the Nasher Musuem of Art and served as the scientific consultant for the current exhibition On the Same Wavelength: Art, Science & Conservation.