Course Advanced In-vivo Optical Imaging Techniques

The course B273/05 Advanced In-vivo Optical Imaging Techniques is being offered by the Graduate School of Health, Aarhus University, fall 2023.

Criteria for participation: University degree in medicine, dentistry, nursing, or master’s degree in other fields and/or postgraduate research fellows (PhD students and research-year medical students).

Recommended knowledge for participation: The student should have a background within the biomedical sciences or medicine. The student should have fundamental physiological and anatomical knowledge

Aim: To introduce advanced optical techniques for in vivo imaging and how these can be applied in research projects

Learning outcomes: 
The students should be able to understand the basis of different techniques, to learn their pitfalls, disadvantages, and advantages, and to plan research projects that include these techniques

Workload: The full workload of the course is expected to be 99 hours.

Content: 

Day 1: Course introduction and theoretical lectures introducing techniques.

Two-photon microscopy, Laser Speckle imaging, Optical Coherence Tomography, Laser Doppler, Optical Intrinsic Signal Imaging.

Day 2: Introduction to preparation of animals for optical imaging (2 hrs). Two laboratory practicals (demonstration/hands-on).

Day 3: Introduction to group work (2 hrs) and assignment of supervisor. Two laboratory practicals (demonstration/hands-on)

The students will be divided into 4 groups of 4 students. The task of each group is to make a project-plan for a study employing one or more of the techniques introduced on the course. The plan should include a detailed description of the hypothesis to be tested and the experimental setup and include references as would be required for a grant-proposal to a major foundation. Each group will be assigned a supervisor among the teachers at the course. The project plan should be submitted 1 week before the last day of the course. Each group will in addition be responsible for evaluating one other groups research plan. The evaluation will be oral at the last day of the course based on a presentation of each groups research plan.

Day 4: 1-day seminars. Presentation of on-going research projects using these techniques.

Day 5: Group assignment evaluation (peer learning).

Not scheduled: Literature reading and home assignment (group work).

Instructors: 

From Dept. of Clinical Medicine (CFIN): Dmitry Postnov, Eugenio Gutierrez 

From Dept of Biomedicine: Vladimir Matchkov, Line Mathilde Brostrup Hansen, Ida Damsgaard Larsen, Zaka Humlesen, Søren Degn, Thomas Wittenborn, Anders M Kristensen, Sebastian Frische, Ina M Schiessl

Venue: Aarhus University. To be announced.

Participation in the course is without cost for:

• PhD students, Research Year students and Research Honours Programme students from Aarhus University
• PhD students enrolled at partner universities of the Nordoc collaboration
• PhD students from other institutions in the open market agreement for PhD courses

Course dates:

• 14 August 2023 09:15 - 14:30
• 15 August 2023 10:30 - 15:30
• 16 August 2023 10:30 - 15:30
• 17 August 2023 09:15 - 15:00
• 01 September 2023 10:15 - 13:15