Talk Abstract: Optical imaging is a major research tool in the basic sciences and is the only imaging modality that routinely enables non-ionized imaging with subcellular spatial resolutions and high imaging speeds. In biological imaging applications, however, optical imaging is limited by tissue scattering to short imaging depths. This prevents large-scale bio-imaging by allowing visualization of only the outer superficial layers of an organism, or specific components isolated from within the organism and prepared in-vitro.

I present recent developments in our lab that design inverse-scattering methods to computationally unscramble the effects of scattering in optically thick samples. I will specifically discuss 1) novel computational microscope system designs that enable novel methods for data collection; and 2) the design and practical implementation of large-scale computational nonlinear and nonconvex frameworks that enable robust inverse-scattering. Real-world bio-imaging will be demonstrated on multiple-scattering organisms popularly used in the basic-sciences.

Speaker Biography: Shwetadwip Chowdhury is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. His research interests are in developing next generation optical imaging technologies for applications in science and medicine. A key emphasis in his work is the joint design of novel optical imaging systems and advanced computational frameworks. This co-design of hardware and software enables imaging capabilities not possible in traditional optical imaging systems. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at University of California Berkeley, in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. Before that, he received his Ph.D. and B.S. degrees from the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University