Overview: 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 scattering effects and reconstruct 3D refractive-index (RI) in optically thick samples. I will specifically discuss 1) novel computational microscope systems that enable high-NA, coded illumination for collecting a sample’s multiplexed scattering information; and 2) the design and practical implementation of large-scale computational nonlinear and nonconvex frameworks that enable robust RI reconstruction based on correlation analysis, digital refocusing, and low-rank initialization. Real-world bio-imaging will be demonstrated on multiple-scattering organisms popularly used in the basic-sciences. I will also discuss future research directions that can capitalize and extend these developments towards non-optical imaging, which may extend the utility of these computational frameworks to other regimes.
Speaker: Shwetadwip Chowdhury. Assistant Professor, University of Texas.
Date: 12:00 - 25 November 2025 (GMT-3)
Platform: