Jennifer Kehlet Barton

Director, BIO5 Institute

Thomas R. Brown Distinguished Chair in Biomedical Engineering

Professor, Agricultural-Biosystems Engineering

Professor, Biomedical Engineering

Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering

Professor, Medical Imaging

Professor, Optical Sciences

Professor, Cancer Biology - GIDP

Professor, BIO5 Institute

Member of the General Faculty

Member of the Graduate Faculty

Primary Department

BIO5 Institute

Department Affiliations

BIO5 Institute

Contact

(520) 626-0314

barton@arizona.edu

Work Summary

I develop new optical imaging devices that can detect cancer at the earliest stage. Optics has the resolution and sensitivity to find these small, curable lesions, and we design the endoscope that provide access to organs inside the body. .

Research Interest

Jennifer Barton, Ph.D. is known for her development of miniature endoscopes that combine multiple optical imaging techniques, particularly optical coherence tomography and fluorescence spectroscopy. She evaluates the suitability of these endoscopic techniques for detecting early cancer development in patients and pre-clinical models. She has a particular interest in the early detection of ovarian cancer, the most deadly gynecological malignancy. Additionally, her research into light-tissue interaction and dynamic optical properties of blood laid the groundwork for a novel therapeutic laser to treat disorders of the skin’s blood vessels. She has published over 100 peer-reviewed journal papers in these research areas. She is currently Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Optical Sciences, Agriculture-Biosystems Engineering, and Medical Imaging at the University of Arizona. She has served as department head of Biomedical Engineering, Associate Vice President for Research, and is currently Director of the BIO5 Institute, a collaborative research institute dedicated to solving complex biology-based problems affecting humanity. She is a fellow of SPIE – the International Optics Society, and a fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. Keywords: bioimaging, biomedical optics, biomedical engineering, bioengineering, cancer, endoscopes

Publications

Simultaneous multiplane imaging of human ovarian cancer by volume holographic imaging

Orsinger, G. V., Watson, J. M., Gordon, M., Nymeyer, A. C., de Leon, E. E., Brownlee, J. W., Hatch, K. D., Chambers, S. K., Barton, J. K., Kostuk, R. K., & Romanowski, M. (2014). Simultaneous multiplane imaging of human ovarian cancer by volume holographic imaging. Journal of biomedical optics, 19(3), 36020.

BIO5 Collaborators

Jennifer Kehlet Barton, Raymond K Kostuk

Ovarian cancer is the most deadly gynecologic cancer, a fact which is attributable to poor early detection and survival once the disease has reached advanced stages. Intraoperative laparoscopic volume holographic imaging has the potential to provide simultaneous visualization of surface and subsurface structures in ovarian tissues for improved assessment of developing ovarian cancer. In this ex vivo ovarian tissue study, we assembled a benchtop volume holographic imaging system (VHIS) to characterize the microarchitecture of 78 normal and 40 abnormal tissue specimens derived from ovarian, fallopian tube, uterine, and peritoneal tissues, collected from 26 patients aged 22 to 73 undergoing bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, hysterectomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, or abdominal cytoreductive surgery. All tissues were successfully imaged with the VHIS in both reflectance- and fluorescence-modes revealing morphological features which can be used to distinguish between normal, benign abnormalities, and cancerous tissues. We present the development and successful application of VHIS for imaging human ovarian tissue. Comparison of VHIS images with corresponding histopathology allowed for qualitatively distinguishing microstructural features unique to the studied tissue type and disease state. These results motivate the development of a laparoscopic VHIS for evaluating the surface and subsurface morphological alterations in ovarian cancer pathogenesis.

Spiral-scanning, side-viewing optical coherence tomography endoscope for three-dimensional fully sampled in vivo imaging of the mouse colon

Welge, W. A., & Barton, J. K. (2013). Spiral-scanning, side-viewing optical coherence tomography endoscope for three-dimensional fully sampled in vivo imaging of the mouse colon. ENDOSCOPIC MICROSCOPY VIII, 8575.

Jennifer Kehlet Barton