Special Session: Translational And Clinical Applications Of Photoacoustic Imaging

Photoacoustics (PA) is an emerging new hybrid bioimaging modality which combines acoustical detection and EM absorption contrast. PA imaging not only provides structural but also functional information of biological tissues. Multi-Spectral PA imaging is capable of high resolution three dimensional (3D) visualizations of molecular probes located deep in scattering living tissues, with resolution and speed representative of ultrasound. This method can simultaneously deliver anatomical, functional and molecular information with both high resolution and penetration capabilities. PA imaging and sensing technologies have allowed investigators to probe hypoxia, monitor blood glucose level and nutrition gradients, visualize fat metabolism, as well as study cell viability, proliferation and drug response potentials. Thus PA has already been established as a useful tool for preclinical experiments, and is being increasingly used for clinical measurements/trials in human subjects. In the special session we would like to showcase the technological innovations that will be instrumental in aiding the translation of the powerful and promising PA technology from the laboratory to clinical practice – and allow us to �hear the molecules’ in action. Further, we will highlight selected works on basic physical and engineering advancements in the field which has enabled translational and clinical applications of photoacoustic imaging.