Mentors
Project Description
Hypertension affects more than half of all adults in the United States, but one in five adults with hypertension remain undiagnosed. The current gold standard for non-invasive blood pressure estimation is the cuff-based sphygmomanometer, which can only provide discrete, intermittent measurements of blood pressure.
Continuous, cuff-less blood pressure measurements would enable blood pressure measurements outside of the clinic during daily life, which can provide a more accurate assessment of blood pressure. Speckle contrast optical spectroscopy (SCOS) is a technique that utilizes long coherence lasers to measure relative blood flow changes in tissue. When speckle images are acquired at a sufficient frame rate, blood flow and volume changes within each cardiac pulse can be resolved.
We have previously shown that SCOS improves cuffless blood pressure estimation. This project will focus on continuing the development of our SCOS device.
Research Participant
Program: PURSuE REU
Evan Biller, Research Experiences for Undergraduates.
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Research Goals
Learning Goals
Timeline
Weeks 1-2: Learn about the fundamentals of speckle contrast optical spectroscopy, our device, and basic biomedical optics principles. Design an experiment for acquiring SCOS measurements at different source detector separations.
Weeks 3-4: Prepare for experiment (designing and 3D printing fiber holders, create analysis plan, etc). Acquire initial measurements.
Weeks 5-6: Collect SCOS measurements at different source detector separations and positions. Develop data analysis codes.
Weeks 7-8: Continue data collection and analysis, present preliminary results.
Week 9-10: Conclude data analysis, make research poster, and present findings.