Dr. Akhil Kallepalli, an Indian-origin researcher, is leading a pioneering effort to improve non-invasive monitoring of Alzheimer’s Disease at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. The innovative research led by an international team led by Professor Joseph Culver at Washington University in St. Louis will use light to better measure brain activity.
New Technique to Improve Brain Imaging
The proposed method uses single-pixel imaging to provide higher fidelity and cost-effective imaging of brain activity. This new approach is therefore meant to complement the present brain imaging techniques, including DOT, which is superb in measuring surface-level activity but is less effective in deeper tissue analysis.
In detail, she presented about the limitation of the currently available DOT technique. As she explained, “DOT is applied to the brain by an optical diode wearable headset. Since there exist types of brain activity not measured by DOT, the proposal is to develop the other technique that can carry that out.”
Deeper Exploration for Brain Tissue Imaging
Single-pixel imaging works by illuminating light and capturing the returned signal after it interacts with the target, which is captured by a ‘bucket’ detector such as a photomultiplier tube or single-photon avalanche diode. He dreams that maybe this technology can be combined with DOT to make imaging of the brain more precise and more profound. “We want to find out if we can use this in a DOT-compatible configuration to increase the fidelity of DOT for deep tissue imaging and to combine two separate techniques to look at the brain differently.
Dr. Kallepalli aims to probe deeper into brain tissue so as to understand the haemodynamics related to Alzheimer’s disease, which is marked by the aberrant buildups of protein such as amyloid, tau, and calcium.
Promising Future for Non-Invasive Alzheimer’s Monitoring
Dr. Kallepalli’s work is set to take place at Professor Culver’s lab within the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, renowned for its high-density DOT scanners. His project also involves researchers from Imperial College London, where Kallepalli holds an honorary visiting position.
The researcher highlighted the safety and affordability of using light-based techniques to explore Alzheimer’s as compared to more complex alternatives. “Using light is safer and less expensive than many more complex techniques for exploring Alzheimer’s,” he noted. “We are at the early stages of developing this technique, but we believe it is highly promising.”
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