Screening for and monitoring the progression of cancer remains a complex task in medicine today, further complicated by the variety of both cancer types and treatments. Each patient's response to treatments and cancers is unique, calling for a personalized approach to healthcare. Early detection and correct treatment of cancer are critical for controlling disease progression and improving patient outcomes.
This dissertation describes a photonic crystal-based detection and analysis system to improve cancer screening and treatment by increasing sensitivity to low concentrations of cancer biomarkers. There are two main methods of increasing sensitivity: automating detection and analysis to reduce time and user error, and improving coupling efficiency by optimizing photonic crystal design parameters. I address both these methods in this work: the former by increasing sensitivity in the screening for oropharyngeal cancer, and the latter in the design of two new photonic crystals. The first of these photonic crystals is designed for enhanced excitation of multi-colored quantum dots, instead of traditional fluorescent dyes, for the investigation of multiplexed treatment progression monitoring of prostate cancer. The second of these photonic crystals is a design for metamaterial-based photonic crystals that improves coupling efficiency and offers additional design flexibility. This new photonic crystal is interchangeable with the photonic crystal designed to enhance quantum dots but can also be used in a standard microscope setup. The objective is to retain high enhancement while improving coupling to the photonic crystal resonance to increase fluorescent output.
This work presents my efforts toward the development of technologies that will enable low-cost, portable screening and disease monitoring to improve outcomes for patients around the world. The ultimate goal is to improve patient access to vital healthcare practices while keeping expenses low and standard of detection high
