Researcher:
Brian Wilson, Professor of Medical Physics, University of Toronto
Project:
Identifying and quantifying brain-tumor tissue to allow surgeons who are resecting a tumor to determine if any cancerous cells remain
Problem:
Wilson encountered a trifecta of confounding factors that often plague in vivo fluorescence: Background autofluorescence masks the signal; optical absorption and scattering can reduce both excitation and emission intensity; and changes in position, angle, and distance of the light source and camera all influence the measured intensity.
Solution:
Wilson developed a protocol that compensates for all three problems at once. He harnesses an endogenous fluorophore, protoporphyrin-IX (PpIX), to act...
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