This week we sat down with optical scientist David Vega, who performs optical design in Dr. Jennifer Barton’s tissue optics lab at the University of Arizona. David discusses how he found his way into the optical design field, and specifically biomedical optics. From there, we discuss the challenges that endoscopy imposes on optical design, and the unique additional challenges encountered when designing endoscopes for ovarian cancer detection.

Further Resources:

1) Dr. Barton’s Lab: http://bmeoptics.engr.arizona.edu/

2) Ovarian Cancer Wikipedia Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovarian_cancer

3) Histology Wikipedia Page, offers excellent images showing what a histologist will typically have to look through to make a diagnosis. :https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Histology