Fluorescence Sensing and Imaging: Towards Portable Healthcare

Level: Intermediate Length: 4 hours Format: In-Person Lecture Intended Audience: Engineers, scientists, students and managers who wish to learn more about fluorescent markers, tissue properties, design of fluorescence imaging systems, and their application in biomedical lab systems and in portable imaging. Some prior knowledge in microscopy and imaging is desirable. Description: Advances in medicine and technology are opening a new era of portable healthcare. Together with health apps, wearable/portable health monitoring systems are targeting medical diagnosis or health and wellness. The development of Wearable Health Monitoring Systems (WHMS) has been motivated mainly by increasing healthcare costs and by an aging world population. Fluorescent dyes are frequently used to mark biological samples, and track tissues, cells and individual molecules. In the lab, fluorescence is used to understand physiology and develop new cures to common diseases. In the clinic, fluorescence is used to diagnose health conditions and to evaluate treatments. Translating fluorescence imaging to portable healthcare systems will help us take better care of ourselves.

This course will review fundamental properties of fluorescent dyes, tissue absorption and scattering and show how these can be used to track vital signs and provide wellness indicators during a physical activity. Focusing on fluorescence imaging and sensing as a major technique for biomedical and healthcare applications, we will describe the design and optimization of an optical imaging system to specific dye spectra, and tailoring the optical system modules for specific applications such as bench-top microscopes, portable healthcare imaging, and in vivo fluorescence imaging in pre-clinical and clinical studies. We will review examples of portable fluorescence imaging systems in rapid disease diagnosis, and in health monitoring. Learning Outcomes: This course will enable you to: - describe dye properties such as excitation and emission spectra, quantum efficiency, and the schematic of a fluorescence process - summarize the different main classes of fluorescent markers including small molecule dyes, nano-crystal quantum dots, and fluorescent proteins and their attributes - explain the principles of fluorescence microscopy and the main modules (lenses, filters, sensors, light sources) involved in fluorescence imaging systems - describe the design of miniature mobile fluorescence imaging systems and their unique challenges - summarize common applications of fluorescence imaging in portable health monitoring systems - explain some portable commercial fluorescence imaging solutions Instructor(s): Ofer Levi is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. He was a Visiting Professor at Stanford University in 2007-2018. He served as an Associate Editor in Biomedical Optics Express (OSA) and is a Fellow of OSA, and a member of IEEE-Photonics, and SPIE. He has spent over 25 years in academia and industry, designing and developing optical imaging systems, laser sources, and optical sensors. He specializes in design and optimization of optical bio-sensors, Bio-MEMS, and optical imaging systems for biomedical applications, including in cancer and brain imaging. Event: SPIE Photonics West 2025 Course Held: 28 January 2025