Give

Graduate Exam Abstract


Weina Wang

Ph.D. Final
December 14, 2011, 2pm
Engineering E103
SINGLE CANCER CELL DETECTION WITH OPTOFLUIDIC INTRACAVITY SPECTROSCOPY

Abstract: The detection of cancer cells is the basis for cancer diagnostics, cancer

screening and cancer treatment monitoring. Non-destructive and

non-chemical optical methods may help reduce the complexity and cost of

testing for cancer cells, and thus make cancer diagnostics more available

to the public.



The label-free technique of optofluidic intracavity spectroscopy (OFIS)

uses light transmitted through a cellular body in a microfluidic optical

resonator to distinguish different types of cells by their spectral

signature.



The OFIS chips are fabricated in the CSU semiconductor clean room, and the

fabrication process has been modified to combine dielectrophoresis (DEP)

with the OFIS technique. Viability tests were carried out to investigate

the effect of heating (induced by DEP electrodes) on cells in chips built

with borosilicate and sapphire substrates.



Using OFIS chips fabricated with the modified process, OFIS spectra of

settled cells from canine hemangiosarcoma (HSA) cell lines and monocytes

in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected and analyzed.

A single characteristic parameter method was developed to classify whether

or not a cell is cancerous. This method had high statistically

significance, with a p-value as low as 10^-6. A receiver operating

characteristic (ROC) curve constructed from t-distributions fit to the HSA

and monocytes spectra single parameter distribution indicated that cell

classification of the HSA and monocyte populations can achieve 95%

sensitivity and 98% specificity simultaneously.



Furthermore, some features observed in the spectra of HSA cells motivated

new optical models of the cell loaded F-P cavity. Firstly a thin lens

model allowed the extraction of cells’ focal lengths from OFIS spectra.

And statistical analysis revealed that focal lengths could be used as a

cell malignancy indicator. Furthermore, a thick lens model was developed,

allowing extraction of more optical parameters related to cell morphology

and cell location in the cavity. This model was used to interpret

experimental results acquired from settled and suspended cells.





Adviser: Dr. Kevin Lear
Co-Adviser: N/A
Non-ECE Member: Dr. Kenneth Reardon, CBE
Member 3: Dr. Diego Krapf, ECE
Addional Members: Dr. V Chandrasekar, ECE

Publications:
i. H. Shao, W. Wang, S. E. Lana, and K.L. Lear, “Optofluidic intracavity spectroscopy of canine lymphoma and lymphocytes,” IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 20, no. 5-8, pp. 493-495, Mar-Apr, 2008. ii. W. Wang, and K. L. Lear, “A cell lens model for transverse modes in optofluidic intracavity spectroscopy,” Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics on Biophotonics, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 946-953, Jul-Aug, 2010. iii. W. Wang, D.W. Kisker D.H. Thamm, H. Shao, and K. L. Lear, “Optofluidic Intracavity Spectroscopy of Canine Hemangiosarcoma,” IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 58, no. 4, pp. 853 – 860, April, 2011.


Program of Study:
EE504
EE512
EE525
EE672
BIOM680
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NA
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