Our Team

Prof. Mamadou Diop

Medical Biophysics Undergraduate Chair and Associate Professor

Research Interests / Specializations: Time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy, diffuse correlation spectroscopy and multichannel derivative-spectroscopy
Biography: Dr Mamadou Diop is the Medical Biophysics Undergraduate Chair and an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medical Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering. He leads the Translational Biophotonics Lab and is also a Principal Investigator in the Imaging Division of the Lawson Health Research Institute at St. Joseph’s Healthcare London. Dr. Diop received a BSc in Physics from Dakar University (Senegal) and a PhD in Physics from Laval University (Quebec) for his work on colloidal photonic crystals. He subsequently completed a two-year postdoctoral training at the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa, working on optical trapping of living cells before joining Lawson. Dr Diop’s current research focuses on the development of optical techniques for noninvasive point-of-care neuromonitoring and early detection of sepsis.

Dr. Saeed Samaei

Postdoctoral Associate

Research Interests / Specializations: Time-resolve near-infrared spectroscopy and diffuse correlation spectroscopy, wearable near-infrared spectroscopy, interferometry
Biography: Saeed Samaei is a Postdoctoral Associate at Western University. His primary research interest lies in the development of non-invasive, light-based instruments and methodologies for assessing human brain functionality. This includes techniques such as diffuse correlation spectroscopy, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), and interferometry. At the Translational Biophotonics Lab, Saeed is currently working on developing a wearable wireless NIRS module aimed at neonatal brain monitoring.

Dr. Solaiman Ahmed

Postdoctoral Associate

Research Interests / Specializations: Time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy, Compress Sensing, Machine learning, signal processing for wearable devices in healthcare monitoring
Biography: Solaiman Ahmed is a Postdoctoral Associate at Western University. His primary research interest lies in developing machine learning and deep learning models for the reconstruction of near-infrared spectroscopy images with compress sensing. At the Translational Biophotonics Lab, Solaiman is currently developing deep learning-based optimization techniques with compress sensing for optical image reconstruction.

Natalie Li

PhD Student

Research Interests / Specializations: Hyperspectral time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy, compressive sensing, cytochrome-c-oxidase, adult brain monitoring
Biography: Natalie Li is a PhD candidate in Biomedical Engineering at Western University. She is developing an adult brain monitor that combines hyperspectral time-resolved near-infrared spectroscopy and compressive sensing techniques to acquire depth-sensitive measures of metabolism and blood oxygenation in real time.

Rasa Eskandari

MD-PhD Student

Research Interests / Specializations: Diffuse optics, sepsis, critical care, microcirculation, neuromonitoring, skeletal muscle
Biography: Rasa Eskandari is an MD-PhD student at Western University. At the Translational Biophotonics Lab, he is currently investigating non-invasive, point-of-care optical approaches for quantifying microcirculatory function. Rasa is specialized in hyperspectral near-infrared and diffuse correlation spectroscopy for continuous in vivo monitoring of cerebral and peripheral tissues.

Farah Kamar

MD-PhD Student

Research Interests / Specializations: Critical care, stroke, subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH), time-resolved NIRS, neuromonitoring
Biography: Farah Kamar is a second-year MD-PhD student at Western University. She is passionate about the clinical translation of new technologies. Farah completed her MSc at Western University using biomedical optics for intraoperative monitoring. She is currently investigating using optical monitoring (namely time-resolved NIRS and diffuse correlation spectroscopy) for monitoring cerebral perfusion, oxygenation, and metabolism in the intensive care unit.

Sophie Niculescu

Undergraduate Researcher

Research Interests / Specializations: Melanin, tissue-oxygenation monitoring
Biography: Sophie Niculescu is a fourth-year BMSc student studying Medical Biophysics at Western University. At the Translational Biophotonics Lab, she is currently investigating the effects of epidermal pigmentation on the accuracy of continuous-wave near-infrared spectroscopy (cwNIRS) methodologies (i.e. hyperspectral and commercially available approaches). Sophie is specialized on the fabrication of solid tissue-mimicking phantoms and the use of cwNIRS in phantom experiments.

Emma Zhang

Undergraduate Researcher

Research Interests / Specializations: Continuous-wave near-infrared spectroscopy, interferometry, medical imaging, machine learning
Biography: Emma is a third year BMSc student in the Department of Medical Biophysics at Western University. She is working on measuring optical pathlength in tissue using a low-coherence light source and interferometry.

Zoë Holliday

Undergraduate Researcher

Research Interests / Specializations: Near-infrared spectroscopy, artificial intelligence applications to imaging
Biography: Zoë Holliday is a third-year BMSc student in the HSP Medical Biophysics program at Western University. She is interested in the development of novel imaging methods to ameliorate diagnosis and treatment in the clinical setting. At the Translational Biophotonics Lab specifically, she is investigating the feasibility of using cytochrome-c-oxidase as a biomarker for oxidative metabolism with continuous-wave hyperspectral near-infrared spectroscopy while in the presence of the relatively stronger hemoglobin signal.

Ghali El Hajoui

Undergraduate Researcher

Research Interests / Specializations: Near-infrared spectroscopy, cytochrome-c-oxidase, simulation of light propagation in tissue
Biography: Ghali El Hajoui is a third-year BMSc student enrolled in the Honours Specialization in Medical Biophysics program. His research interests are centred on tissue spectroscopy, with a particular focus on understanding and estimating cytochrome-c-oxidase (CCO) concentration changes in biological systems. At the Translational Biophotonics Lab, he is currently using NIRFAST-based simulations to investigate the potential for measuring CCO concentration with just five wavelengths of light—a novel approach that could streamline instrumentation and broaden applications.