Tisha Boodooram
BME PhD Proposal Presentation

Date: 2025-12-17
Time: 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Location / Meeting Link: HSRB I Room E260 / https://emory.zoom.us/j/99421626641

Committee Members:
Erin Buckley, Ph.D. (Advisor) Brooks Lindsey, Ph.D. Clinton Joiner, M.D., Ph.D. Ofer Sadan, M.D., Ph.D. Shella Keilholz, Ph.D.


Title: Shedding Light on Cerebral Haemodynamics: Non-Invasive, Diffuse Optical Assessment of Microvascular Brain Physiology in Subarachnoid Haemorrhage and Sickle Cell Disease

Abstract:
Cerebral haemodynamics are tightly regulated in the healthy brain to meet its high metabolic demands. Many diseases with neurological pathologies or effects can disrupt this delicate balance. Monitoring the timing and severity of these hemodynamic disruptions is clinically valuable and can help reveal underlying mechanisms or therapeutic targets. While there are useful tools already available for monitoring cerebral haemodynamics such as positron emission tomography (PET), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Xenon computed tomography (Xe-CT), and transcranial Doppler Ultrasound (TCD), these modalities are limited by safety of repeated measurements, cost, use at the bedside, sensitivity to only macrovascular changes, or any combination thereof. Many previous studies have seen success in implementing diffuse optical spectroscopy (DOS) to monitor cerebral haemodynamic trends, which provide promising insights such as increased sensitivity to vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) development in subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH), identification of trends in sickle cell disease (SCD) complications, and monitoring response to transfusion. However, previous optical studies predominantly report relative trends rather than absolute physiology, limiting their value for inter-patient comparisons and creating dependence on baseline measurements that may be unreliable, variable, or clinically unavailable. This proposal aims to advance the field by establishing the translational value of absolute, DOS-derived microvascular cerebral haemodynamics across acute (SAH, SCD) and chronic (silent cerebral infarct) disease states. By leveraging safe, low-cost, bedside tools suitable for repeated measurements, this work takes foundational steps toward using absolute DOS metrics to reflect meaningful microvascular and metabolic changes in neurological disease.