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<td><img src="https://www.egr.uh.edu/sites/www.egr.uh.edu/files/enews/2022/images/dissertation1.png" alt="Dissertation Defense Announcement at the Cullen College of Engineering" width="600" height="171">
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<div style="font-size:24px; color:rgb(200,16,46); line-height:28px">Manipulating Scattering and Absorption to Enable Super-resolved Deconvolution in Emerging Tissue Imaging Methods<strong><br>
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<div style="font-size:18px; margin-bottom:5px">Dilani Gunawardhana<br>
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August 1, 2022; 2:00 PM - 4:00 PM (CST)<br>
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Location<span style="color:rgb(34,34,34); font-family:"Times New Roman",serif; font-size:14.6667px">: </span>N325 Eng Bld 1<br>
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<strong>Committee Chair:</strong><br>
David Mayerich, Ph.D.<br>
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<strong>Committee Members:</strong><br>
Badri Roysam, Ph.D. | Paul Ruchhoeft, Ph.D. | Rohith Reddy, Ph.D. | Jason Eriksen, Ph.D.</p>
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<strong>Abstract</strong></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial; margin:0in 0in 8pt; line-height:107%; font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">
<font size="2"><span style="line-height:107%; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial">Biological tissue is inherently
a three-dimensional structure.</span><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">
</span><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">Therefore, detailed biological investigations require three-dimensional imaging of cells and tissue </span><span style="line-height:107%; font-family:Arial,sans-serif"><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">microstructures.</span><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">
</span><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">Given the limitations in traditional light microscopy and a lack </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">of
photostable labeling, multiplexed imaging of biological molecules with high precision is difficult to achieve.</span><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">
</span><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">While recent advances in super-resolution microscopy </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">(SRM)
address some of the limitations associated with conventional optical imaging, they impose severe limitations on acquisition speed and are technically challenging. Expansion microscopy (ExM) is a recent development in SRM that enables </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">nanoscale
imaging on conventional microscopes.</span><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">
</span><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">ExM is a relatively simple tissue </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">processing
technique that relies on embedding a tissue specimen within a swellable </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">polyelectrolyte
hydrogel. When the hydrogel expands, the corresponding molecular </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">labels
smoothly expand within a diffraction-limited region, significantly improving </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">spatial
resolution.</span><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box"> </span>
<span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">While increasing the tissue volume by 4x-20x dramatically im</span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">proves
resolution, confocal imaging becomes impractical for large samples.</span><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">
</span><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">This is </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">because
label de-crowding dilutes fluorescence signal and prolonged exposure results </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">in
photobleaching of adjacent fluorophores. This dissertation focuses on overcoming </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">these
limitations by developing a fast tissue imaging methodology capable of multi</span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">plex
three-dimensional imaging at super-resolution. This method combines widefield </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">imaging
with quantum dot nanoparticles (Qdots) in ExM labeling and deconvolution </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">for
contrast enhancement. Three major contributions leveraging the advancement of </span></span><span style="background-image:initial; background-position:initial; background-size:initial; background-repeat:initial; background-origin:initial; background-clip:initial"><span role="presentation" style="box-sizing:border-box">ExM
in fluorescence imaging are discussed to this end. ExM compatible Qdot labeling</span>
</span></span><span style="line-height:107%; font-family:Arial,sans-serif">for improved photostability, widefield imaging for improved signal-to-noise ratio with fast imaging speed, and deconvolution for further contrast, resolution improvement in three-dimensional
volume rendering. The whole research opens the door to fast and relatively simple 3D nanoscale imaging for applications in biology and medicine at low-cost settings.<br>
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<td><font size="2"><img src="https://www.egr.uh.edu/sites/www.egr.uh.edu/files/enews/2022/images/dissertation2.png" alt="Engineered For What's Next" width="600" height="82"></font></td>
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