Screening of Pre-Cancerous Oral Lesions via Dual-Spectral Autofluorescence

The proposed project will focus on expanding upon existing autofluorescence based cancer screening techniques. In particular, our efforts will be focused on using a dual-spectral approach to extract the intrinsic fluorescence of the sample. Current methods of autofluorescence based oral cancer screening capitalize on the fact that tumorous or pre-cancerous tissue exhibits reduced autofluorescence relative to healthy tissue. Because hemoglobin absorbs the autofluorescence emissions of interest, increased blood-flow to an area can results in false positives and unnecessary biopsies. Our proposed method is to quantify the amount of fluorescence signal being absorbed via a reflectance channel tuned to the wavelengths of the autofluorescence emission. By dividing the fluorescence signal by this channel, we expect to minimize the effects of hemoglobin absorption, which could potentially reduce false positives if employed in a clinical setting. The partner organization could potentially commercialize an apparatus such as this which would have the potential to streamline oral cancer screening.

Faculty Supervisor:

Marinko Sarunic

Student:

Partner:

MTT Innovation Inc

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Manufacturing; Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

Simon Fraser University

Program: