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The Photoacoustic Imaging Goup was founded in 2002 and forms a sub-group of the UCL Biomedical Optics Research Laboratory, BORL. It currently comprises 17 researchers, funded through a combination of UK research council grants and industrial sponsorship. Our activities are directed towards the development of a promising new method of non-invasive biomedical imaging based upon the use of laser-generated acoustic waves for visualising the internal structure and function of soft tissues. Potential applications include the clinical assessment of breast cancer, vascular disease and skin abnormalities. The technique also has important applications as a research tool in the basic life sciences for undertaking molecular and genomic imaging studies, for example studying tumour physiology. Our current research encompasses the full range of activities in photoacoustic methods: photoacoustic detection and excitation instrumentation, modelling of photoacoustic signals, image reconstruction algorithms, spectroscopic methods and the application of the technique in the clinical and life sciences.

In addition to biomedical photoacoustic imaging, a range of ultrasound field measurement and imaging tools based upon the use of Fabry Perot polymer film sensing interferometers is being developed. These include a miniature wideband fibre optic hydrophone for characterising medical and industrial ultrasound fields and high speed 2D arrays for field visualisation and imaging applications in medicine and industrial NDT.

Latest additions

Postdoctoral research positions available further details to follow

k-Wave - a Matlab toolbox for the simulation of photoacoustic and ultrasound fields

Recently published articles:

Allen TJ, Ogunlade O, Zhang E, Beard PC (2018), Large area laser scanning optical resolution photoacoustic microscopy using a fibre optic sensor, Biomedical optics express, 9(2), 650-660. Download PDF file

Ogunlade O, Connell JJ, Huang JL, Zhang E, Lythgoe MF, Long DA, Beard P (2018), In vivo three-dimensional photoacoustic imaging of the renal vasculature in preclinical rodent models, American journal of physiology. Renal physiology, 314(6), F1145-F1153. Download PDF file

Alles EJ, Noimark S, Maneas E, Zhang EZ, Parkin IP, Beard PC, Desjardins AE (2018), Video-rate all-optical ultrasound imaging, Biomedical Optics Express 9(8) Download PDF file

Maneas E, Xia W, Ogunlade O, Fonseca M, Nikitichev DI, David AL, West SJ, Ourselin S, Hebden JC, Vercauteren T, Desjardins AE (2018), Gel wax-based tissue-mimicking phantoms for multispectral photoacoustic imaging, Biomedical Optics Express 9(3) Download PDF file

Noimark S, Colchester RJ, Poduval RK, Maneas E, Alles EJ, Zhao T, Zhang EZ, Ashworth M, Tsolaki E, Chester AH, Latif N, Bertazzo S, David AL, Ourselin S, Beard PC, Parkin IP, Papakonstantinou I, Desjardins AE (2018), Polydimethylsiloxane Composites for Optical Ultrasound Generation and Multimodality Imaging, Advanced Functional Materials 1704919. doi: 10.1002/adfm.201704919 Download PDF file

Maneas E, Xia W, Nikitichev DI, Daher B, Manimaran M, Wong RYJ , Chang C-W, Rahmani B, Capelli C, Schievano S, Burriesci G, Ourselin S, David AL, Finlay MC, West SJ, Vercauteren T, Desjardins AE (2018), Anatomically realistic ultrasound phantoms using gel wax with 3D printed moulds, Physics in Medicine and Biology 63, 015033 Download PDF file

Finlay MC, Mosse CA, Colchester RJ, Noimark S, Zhang EZ, Ourselin S, Beard PC, Schilling RJ, Parkin IP, Papakonstantinou I, Desjardins AE (2017), Through-needle all-optical ultrasound imaging in vivo: a preclinical swine study, Light: Science & Applications 6, e17103 Download PDF file

Stahl T, Bofinger R, Lam I, Fallon KJ, Johnson P, Ogunlade O, Vassileva V, Pedley RB, Beard PC, Hailes HC, Bronstein H, Tabor AB (2017), Tunable Semiconducting Polymer Nanoparticles with INDT-Based Conjugated Polymers for Photoacoustic Molecular Imaging, Bioconjugate Chemistry 28 (6) 1734-1740 Download PDF file

Xia W, West SJ, Finlay M, Mari J-M, Ourselin S, David AL, Desjardins AE (2017), Looking beyond the imaging plane: 3D needle tracking with a linear array ultrasound probe, Scientific Reports 7 3674-3682. Download PDF file

Poduval RK, Noimark S, Colchester RJ, Macdonald TJ, Parkin IP, Desjardins AE, Papakonstantinou I (2017), Optical fiber ultrasound transmitter with electrospun carbon nanotube-polymer composite, Appl. Phys. Lett. 110 223701 doi: 10.1063/1.4984838 Download PDF file

Alles EJ, Fook Sheung N, Noimark S, Zhang EZ, Beard PC and Desjardins AE, A reconfigurable all-optical ultrasound transducer array for 3D endoscopic imaging (2017), Scientific Reports 7 1208 Download PDF file

Arridge S, Beard P, Betcke M, Cox B, Huynh N, Lucka F, Ogunlade O and Zhang E (2016), Accelerated High-Resolution Photoacoustic Tomography via Compressed Sensing, Phys Med Biol 61(24) 8908-8940 doi:10.1088/1361-6560/61/24/8908 Download PDF file

Schneider C, Johnson SP, Gurusamy K, Cook RJ, Desjardins AE, Hawkes DJ, Davidson BR and Walker-Samuel S (2017), Identification of liver metastases with probe-based confocal laser endomicroscopy at two excitation wavelengths, Lasers in Surgery and Medicine doi:10.1002/lsm.22617 Download PDF file

For a full list of publications, click here