Prof. Brendan Kennedy

Abstract: As the importance of mechanical properties in the origin and progression of disease becomes ever clearer, new elastography tools are required to map the mechanical properties of tissue on the micro-scale. Elastography and related methods have been developed over a wide range of spatial scales, from the cellular, for example, using atomic force microscopy, through to the whole organ, using ultrasound elastography and magnetic resonance elastography. However, existing techniques are not capable of probing tissue mechanical properties on the intermediate micro- to milli-scale: a scale critical in the onset and progression of many diseases, including most cancers. OCE aims to bridge the scale gap in elastography techniques. Through the utilization of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to measure tissue motion much higher than is possible using ultrasound or magnetic resonance imaging, and a sensitivity to tissue displacements on the nanometer-scale, providing the prospect to detect much finer changes in mechanical properties.

In this talk, prof. Kennedy will provide perspectives on emerging OCE techniques and, in particular, focusing on the work at The University of Western Australia and Nicolaus Copernicus University. He will describe their group’s efforts to apply OCE to tumour margin assessment in breast cancer and the development of handheld OCE probes for in vivo imaging of breast cancer in the surgical cavity.

Bio: Dr Brendan Kennedy is Professor in the School of Engineering at The University of Western Australia, head of BRITElab at the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research and visiting Professor in the Institute of Physics, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun. He is co-founder of OncoRes Medical and served as Chief Scientific Officer from 2017 to 2021. He received his PhD from Dublin City University in 2006. His doctoral thesis focussed on nonlinear polarization rotation in semiconductor optical amplifiers. His current research focusses on the development of optical coherence tomography and optical elastography and their application in a range of fields, particularly in mechanobiology, tissue engineering and surgery.