Through-needle all-optical ultrasound imaging in vivo: a preclinical swine study

This work was funded through a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC-2012-StG, Proposal 310970 MOPHIM), an Innovative Engineering for Health award from the Wellcome Trust (WT101957) and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) (NS/A000027/1), and the EPSRC and European Union project FAMOS (FP7 ICT, Contract 317744). This work was partially funded by National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre and the National Institute for Health Research Barts and the London Biomedical Research Unit

A practical guide to photoacoustic tomography in the life sciences

The life sciences can benefit greatly from imaging technologies that connect microscopic discoveries with macroscopic observations. One technology uniquely positioned to provide such benefits is photoacoustic tomography (PAT), a sensitive modality for imaging optical absorption contrast over a range of spatial scales at high speed. In PAT, endogenous contrast reveals a tissue's anatomical, functional, metabolic, and histologic properties, and exogenous contrast provides molecular and cellular specificity. The spatial scale of PAT covers organelles, cells, tissues, organs, and small animals. Consequently, PAT is complementary to other imaging modalities in contrast mechanism, penetration, spatial resolution, and temporal resolution. We review the fundamentals of PAT and provide practical guidelines for matching PAT systems with research needs. We also summarize the most promising biomedical applications of PAT, discuss related challenges, and envision PAT's potential to lead to further breakthroughs