Webinar #3: Translation of higher harmonic generation microscopy - Prof. dr Marie Louise Groot

Title: Translation of higher harmonic generation microscopy into the clinic for tumor tissue assessment

Abstract: For patients with lung cancer, a fast and accurate diagnosis is important for optimal treatment allocation. With the current lung tissue sampling techniques, multiple biopsies are taken which might result in prolonged procedures, patient discomfort, and increased risk of complications. Therefore, techniques that can assess fresh lung tissue with a speed that enables ‘live’ feedback to the endoscopists while they perform the procedure, are required.
Higher harmonic generation (HHG) microscopy is a novel promising imaging technique that meets these requirements. This technique is non-invasive, label-free, and provides 3D images with a high, sub-cellular resolution, within seconds. Before, we demonstrated that HHG microscopy can generate high quality images of freshly excised unprocessed lung and brain tissue, in less than a minute with information content comparable to that of the gold standard, histopathology [1,2].
In our most recent study we brought a mobile HHG microscope into the hospital to image freshly excised lung biopsies. The results so far show that HHG microscopy enables real-time 3D imaging of the biopsies and reveals pathological hallmarks which are important for lung tumor diagnosis, including fibrosis, elastosis, disruption of lung architecture, increased cellularity, and the presence of immune cells. The use of this technique may reduce the need for the number of biopsy samples, and reduce endoscopy time.
Finally, automatic image analysis would eliminate the need for a pathologist to be present in the endoscopy suite or operation theatre. We will show our progress towards using convoluted neural networks in the assessment of brain tissue.

Bio: Prof. dr Marie Louise Groot is a chair in the section Biomedical Photonics and Medical Imaging at the VU. She received her PhD in physics from the Vrije Universiteit in 1997. She is an expert in developing and applying state-of-the-art technologies (from color-resolved 3-pulse photon echoes, coherent infrared emission, femtosecond infrared transient spectroscopy, to nonlinear microscopy) to biological relevant problems. She collaborates with clinicians in neurosurgery, tissue regeneration and pulmonology and experts in automated image analysis, to translate the higher harmonic imaging technique into the clinic, with success. This research line led to the startup company Femtodiagnostics B.V. She has been actively involved in managerial roles, a/o as vice-dean of the Faculty of Sciences, and currently serves as program director of a bachelor and master program that involves overseeing the teaching from 6 different departments, including Amsterdam UMC, see https://tinyurl.com/MLGLabVU.