A bold step toward noninvasive, high‑resolution tissue imaging
A University of Arizona research team is advancing a transformative approach to viewing living tissues noninvasively. With nearly $2.7 million from the NIH Common Fund Venture Program, the interdisciplinary effort aims to push the boundaries of optical imaging so clinicians can see deeper into skin and soft tissues while preserving high contrast and fine detail. The project is one of only four nationwide funded under a major initiative to advance noninvasive optical imaging for biological systems.
What is synthetic wavelength imaging and why it matters
The core technology behind the project is optical synthetic wavelength imaging (SWI). SWI uses two separate illumination wavelengths to computationally generate a virtual, synthetic imaging wavelength. The longer synthetic wavelength reduces light scattering as it travels through tissue, enabling clearer views deeper below the surface. At the same time, researchers can exploit the high contrast provided by the original illumination wavelengths. The result is a noninvasive imaging modality that can threaten the traditional tradeoffs among depth, resolution and contrast.
Focus on nonmelanoma skin cancers and potential clinical impact
The team’s immediate focus is nonmelanoma skin cancers, such as basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. These cancers can present with diverse lesion sizes, depths and invasion patterns, making accurate margin assessment and treatment monitoring challenging. The researchers aim to create tunable imaging systems capable of balancing depth penetration with resolution and imaging contrast—an improvement over existing modalities that often struggle at greater depths.
“From a translational standpoint, this limitation is particularly important,” said Dr. Clara Curiel-Lewandrowski, chair of Dermatology at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and co‑director of the Skin Cancer Institute at the UArizona Cancer Center. “Patients with nonmelanoma skin cancers present with lesions that vary widely in size, depth and pattern of invasion. Our tools must be versatile enough to accurately assess margins at diagnosis and robust enough to monitor response over time.”
Bridging technology and patient care
Led by Florian Willomitzer, associate professor of optical sciences, the team views SWI as a bridge between physics and clinical practice. The research will be supported by advanced computational evaluation algorithms that extract meaningful information from the synthetic wavelength data, enabling clinicians to detect invasive lesions earlier, define tumor margins more precisely and observe how lesions respond to non-invasive therapies in real time.
Co‑investigator Jennifer Barton of biomedical engineering emphasizes the collaborative strength of the project. “This work exemplifies how health sciences, engineering and optical sciences investigators at the University of Arizona can pool expertise to push non-invasive optical imaging forward,” she said.
Beyond skin cancer: broader implications and future directions
While the current work targets nonmelanoma skin cancers, the researchers anticipate that the tunable SWI platform could extend to other applications. Possible avenues include improved detection methods for breast cancer and deeper imaging inside the brain for certain neurological investigations. The team envisions a clinical pathway that begins with imaging skin lesions more accurately and ends with real‑time monitoring of treatment responses, potentially reducing unnecessary surgeries and guiding personalized interventions.
Looking ahead: milestones, clinical translation and impact
According to Willomitzer, synthetic wavelength imaging offers a rare combination: resilience to scattering in deep tissue without sacrificing high tissue contrast at the original optical wavelengths. When coupled with sophisticated computational analyses, SWI could redefine how depth, resolution and contrast are balanced in biomedical imaging. The current project seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of clinical translation, with the long-term aim of noninvasively revealing cellular and tissue structures at resolutions that are clinically meaningful and practically deployable.
What this means for patients and the future of cancer care
Ultimately, the team hopes to enable earlier detection of invasive skin cancers, clearer delineation of tumor margins at diagnosis and real‑time monitoring of non‑invasive treatments. If successful, these advances could help tailor intervention length and dosing to individual patients, improving outcomes while potentially reducing exposure to unnecessary procedures.
As Curiel-Lewandrowski notes, the vision is to translate this imaging innovation into routine clinical practice, bringing sharper, deeper views of living tissues from the lab to the clinic with meaningful benefits for patient care.
