Shadi Masoumi
Position: Ph.D Student in Biophotonics, Université Laval, Québec, Canada
Academia:
Master’s degree in Photonics, Shahid Beheshti University, Teheran, Iran
Bachelor’s degree in Physics, Semnan University, Iran
Advisor: Prof. Daniel Côté
Guiding Deep Brain Stimulation Neurosurgery using Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT)
Differentiating tissue types plays an important role in disease diagnosis and surgical guidance. However, diseased and healthy tissues are hard to discriminate by human vision. Moreover, some imaging techniques such as MRI have some limitations like: They cannot be done intraoperatively and images are hard to accomplish especially in large organs where the target structure lies deep within the body. On the other hand, optical methods with the abilities that overcome the aforementioned limitation are widely used in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of many diseases. Of great importance in neurosurgery is guiding Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) needle probe which needs precise and detailed navigation within the brain tissue. Ploarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) is a powerful imaging tool that can be used to obtain detailed information within the tissue at different depths based on the low coherent light interferometry and birefringence properties of the tissue by exploiting polarimetric methods. It is noteworthy to mention that PS-OCT exhibits great resolution and sensitivity while is very fast and can be done intraoperatively.
Biography
Shadi grew in Iran and her interest for optics came from her curiosity of how her glasses were made when she was a child. To fullfill her interests in physics, Shadi obtained her Bachelor degree in Atomic Physics in 2015. During her Master, she worked on Tissue Optical Clearing methods in combination with Diffuse Reflection Spectroscopy. She graduated her Master’s degree in 2018 at Shahid Beheshti University (Iran). Since 2020, she is working on her Ph.D which is about Polarization Sensitive Optical Coherence Tomography (PS-OCT) as a tool for neurosurgical guidance in the DDC lab and in collaboration with Prof. Martin Villiger at Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Boston, USA. She also has worked on Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Microscopy up to now in DCC lab. Being a researcher in future has motivated her to pursue her studies. Her choice of research group (located in Qc, Canada) fits well with her love of winter. She is passionate about travelling and nature too!