Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
5.2
3.0
Journals
Micromachines
Special Issues
Optical Tools for Biomedical Applications
share announcement

Optical Tools for Biomedical Applications

A special issue of Micromachines (ISSN 2072-666X). This special issue belongs to the section "B：Biology and Biomedicine".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2025 | Viewed by 5003

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Suvranta Tripathy

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Natural Sciences, University of Michigan - Dearborn, Dearborn, MI 48128, USA
Interests: optical tweezers; microscopy; intracellular transport; molecular motors; microtubule; biophysics
Prof. Dr. Yonggun Jun

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Physics, National Central University, Taoyuan City 32001, Taiwan
Interests: optical tweezers; non-equilibrium physics; molecular motors; biophysics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Optical tools offer non-invasive approaches for studying biological samples with high spatiotemporal resolutions. The development of the present and future generations of medical instruments and techniques for diagnostic, therapy, and surgical applications rely on the power of optics. New techniques and instruments lead to new discoveries and open new avenues to diagnose biological problems. This Special Issue, "Optical Tools for Biomedical Applications", is a platform to show high-quality research and new technological development in the field of biomedical optics. The aim of this Issue is to collect a broad range of innovations in diagnostic methods and devices such as optical microscopy, optical tweezers, fiber-optics, optical coherence tomography, multi-modal imaging, methods in cancer diagnostics, detection of infectious disease, and any other instrumentation developments in the field biomedical optics. The Special Issue will accept all forms of contributions, including research papers, communications, methods, and review articles that represent the current state of the art in biomedical optics.

Dr. Suvranta Tripathy
Prof. Dr. Yonggun Jun
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Micromachines is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2100 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biomedical optics
  • medical imaging
  • optical tweezers
  • biophotonics
  • optical coherence tomography
  • fiber-optics
  • microscopy
  • image processing
  • Raman spectroscopy

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

15 pages, 2061 KiB  
Article
Transfer Learning-Based Approach for Thickness Estimation on Optical Coherence Tomography of Varicose Veins
by Maryam Viqar, Violeta Madjarova, Elena Stoykova, Dimitar Nikolov, Ekram Khan and Keehoon Hong
Micromachines 2024, 15(7), 902; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi15070902 - 10 Jul 2024
Viewed by 1029
Abstract
In-depth mechanical characterization of veins is required for promising innovations of venous substitutes and for better understanding of venous diseases. Two important physical parameters of veins are shape and thickness, which are quite challenging in soft tissues. Here, we propose the method TREE [...] Read more.
In-depth mechanical characterization of veins is required for promising innovations of venous substitutes and for better understanding of venous diseases. Two important physical parameters of veins are shape and thickness, which are quite challenging in soft tissues. Here, we propose the method TREE (TransfeR learning-based approach for thicknEss Estimation) to predict both the segmentation map and thickness value of the veins. This model incorporates one encoder and two decoders which are trained in a special manner to facilitate transfer learning. First, an encoder–decoder pair is trained to predict segmentation maps, then this pre-trained encoder with frozen weights is paired with a second decoder that is specifically trained to predict thickness maps. This leverages the global information gained from the segmentation model to facilitate the precise learning of the thickness model. Additionally, to improve the performance we introduce a sensitive pattern detector (SPD) module which further guides the network by extracting semantic details. The swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) is the imaging modality for saphenous varicose vein extracted from the diseased patients. To demonstrate the performance of the model, we calculated the segmentation accuracy—0.993, mean square error in thickness (pixels) estimation—2.409 and both these metrics stand out when compared with the state-of-art methods. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Tools for Biomedical Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 1985 KiB  
Article
Optical Halo: A Proof of Concept for a New Broadband Microrheology Tool
by Jorge Ramírez, Graham M. Gibson and Manlio Tassieri
Micromachines 2024, 15(7), 889; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi15070889 - 7 Jul 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1599
Abstract
Microrheology, the study of material flow at micron scales, has advanced significantly since Robert Brown’s discovery of Brownian motion in 1827. Mason and Weitz’s seminal work in 1995 established the foundation for microrheology techniques, enabling the measurement of viscoelastic properties of complex fluids [...] Read more.
Microrheology, the study of material flow at micron scales, has advanced significantly since Robert Brown’s discovery of Brownian motion in 1827. Mason and Weitz’s seminal work in 1995 established the foundation for microrheology techniques, enabling the measurement of viscoelastic properties of complex fluids using light-scattering particles. However, existing techniques face limitations in exploring very slow dynamics, crucial for understanding biological systems. Here, we present a proof of concept for a novel microrheology technique called “Optical Halo”, which utilises a ring-shaped Bessel beam created by optical tweezers to overcome existing limitations. Through numerical simulations and theoretical analysis, we demonstrate the efficacy of the Optical Halo in probing viscoelastic properties across a wide frequency range, including low-frequency regimes inaccessible to conventional methods. This innovative approach holds promise for elucidating the mechanical behaviour of complex biological fluids. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Tools for Biomedical Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

11 pages, 13258 KiB  
Article
Investigating the Influence of Probe Pressure on Human Skin Using Diffusive Reflection Spectroscopy
by Israr Ahmed, Murad Ali and Haider Butt
Micromachines 2023, 14(10), 1955; https://doi.org/10.3390/mi14101955 - 20 Oct 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1551
Abstract
The skin has emerge as a compelling subject for investigation owing to its accessibility and the relatively straightforward application of optical procedures to it. Diffusive reflection spectroscopy (DRS) was employed to study the influence of probe pressure on human skin. A comprehensive non-invasive [...] Read more.
The skin has emerge as a compelling subject for investigation owing to its accessibility and the relatively straightforward application of optical procedures to it. Diffusive reflection spectroscopy (DRS) was employed to study the influence of probe pressure on human skin. A comprehensive non-invasive study was conducted, which covers almost all the important body parts for in vivo measurements. Reflection spectra were measured for the fingertip, forearm, forehead, neck, and foot under a set of probe pressures (0–265 kPa). Importantly, each tissue type’s unique composition and morphology influenced the shape, size, intensity, and position of the recorded peak, highlighting the tissue-specific responses to pressure. In addition, time-based reflection spectroscopy was also performed on the forearm under blood occlusion for 5 min to study the effect. DRS measurements were performed on volunteers of different skin tones, including dark, medium, and fair. Later, a change in the intensity of the oxyhemoglobin peak was confirmed using a green laser light of a wavelength of 532 nm. Besides the dermal studies, diffusive reflection spectroscopy was also employed to investigate the probe pressure effect on human nails. A probe pressure ranging from 0 to 385 kPa was applied for nail spectroscopy. The same trend of intensity change was observed following the previous measurements. The suggested sensing system may be crucial in applications requiring pressure sensing when the human body is subjected to varying pressures, such as exercise, weightlifting, and other sports. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Optical Tools for Biomedical Applications)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop