Multimodal Biomedical Systems

Our main application of the multimodal imaging and analysis technologies is cancer research. Thus, our short-term goal in cancer research is to build a translational multimodal endoscopic imaging and analysis tool which offers high-frequency ultrasound, spectral, confocal, and stereoscopic 3D imaging for detection and characterization of tumor lesions with enhanced image contrast and high specificity. Its application fields will range from gastrointestinal to ovarian cancer.  We built a preclinical multimode optical imaging and analysis system capable of fluorescence intensity, lifetime, spectral, 2-photon, and confocal imaging, for small animals. In addition, we have utilized the multimode optical imaging and analysis system to assess novel nanoparticles for both breast tumor detection and treatment during my postdoctoral period. Currently, we are combining high-frequency ultrasound and multiple optical imaging and analysis technologies in order to determine metastatic potentials of breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. For the last several years, various multimodal imaging and analysis tools have emerged and also gained great attention in the biomedical imaging field. However, the development of innovative imaging and analysis tools, which are capable of being translated into the clinic with high sensitivity and specificity, is still needed for better cancer detection and characterization. Therefore, with my unique and extensive experience, knowledge, and technologies, we will build an innovative multimodal endoscopic imaging and analysis tool which can be rapidly translated into the clinic. I believe that the tool will offer complementary information in the detection of tumor lesions, and thus has the potential to be a decision-making tool for cancer detection with high accuracy.


Related Papers

  • Jihun Kim, Jun-Young Kim, Anna Seo, Eunjoo Kim, Jae Youn Hwang*,  “A Multimodal Biomicroscopic System based on High-frequency Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse and Multispectral Imaging Techniques for Tumor Characterization Ex vivo”, Scientific reports, (2017)
  • Jae Youn Hwang, Sebastian Wachsmann-Hogiu, V Krishnan Ramanujan, Zeev Gross, Harry B Gray, Julia Ljubimova, Lali K. Medina-Kauwe and Daniel L. Farkas, “A Multimode Optical Imaging System for Preclinical Applications In Vivo: Technology Development, Multiscale Imaging and Chemotherapy Assessment
  • Jae Youn Hwang*, Jinhyung Park, Jay Lubow, David Chu, Bong Jin Kang, Daniel L. Farkas, K. Kirk Shung, and Lali K. Medina-Kauwe, “Multimodality Imaging In Vivo for Preclinical Assessment of Tumor-targeted Doxorubicin Nanoparticles”, PLOS ONE, pp e34463, 2012.
  • Jae Youn Hwang, Sebastian Wachsmann-Hogiu, V Krishnan Ramanujan, Andreas G. Nowatzyk, Yosef Koronyo, Lali K. Medina-Kauwe, Zeev Gross, Harry B Gray, and Daniel L. Farkas, “Multimodal Wide-field Two-photon Excitation Imaging: Characterization of the Technique for In Vivo Applications”, Biomedical Optics Express, 2(2), pp 356-64, 2011.