Lab Highlights

1. What inspired you to establish this research lab, and what is its overarching mission? The brain is one of the most fascinating things we have observed in the universe. Brain is the source of our intelligence, creativity, thinking, and even consciousness. How does this biological tissue outperform our most  complex supercomputers in many forms of data processing? Even in power consumption, the human brain is far superior to anything human has ever made to this point in history. From the engineering point of view understanding the brain and its mechanisms of operation is quite useful. What we learn from the brain can be used to design future man-made machines. We can use this information to build complex brain-machine interface platforms to add memory or computational power to the brain or compensate the effect of brain diseases and injuries. If we learn how the brain processes information, we can generate vision for blind people or help people who have lost a limb by replacing that with a robotic arm that effectively communicates with the brain and integrates into the body. This is my motivation as an engineer. Understand how the brain operates as a system.

 

2. How does the research conducted in your lab contribute to addressing current challenges or advancing knowledge in your field?
   One line of research in our lab is the study of Alzheimer’s. Specifically, we are interested in developing procedures for early diagnosis of the disease. The challenge in Alzheimer’s is to detect the disease when the patient himself/herself is not aware of the problem. When the disease reaches the stage where nerve cells are dead and brain circuits are broken, there is hardly anything left to do to help. Usually, this is the point when patients approach physicians to seek help. Alzheimer’s should be detected at very early stages to have any chance for treatment. Our goal is to develop a simple and cost-effective procedure for early detection of Alzheimer’s. Our approach is based on developing methods to find Alzheimer’s through retinal imaging. Brain alterations in Alzheimer’s are accompanied by vision impairments, and etiology of the disease in the eye often parallels that of the brain. In our research we are looking at the correlation between changes in the brain and retina during Alzheimer’s. The goal is to detect Alzheimer’s through a simple non-invasive eye imaging procedure which can be integrated into peoples’ annual checkup routines. Data will be acquired by imaging systems and will be processed by AI powered algorithms to detect the disease.
   
   
3. What are the key focus areas or specialties of your research lab, and why are they important? The main expertise in our lab is optics, electronics, and electromagnetic design. We use these techniques to build brain imaging or brain interface platforms. Development of software for signal processing and implementation of machine learning algorithms is another skill that one can find in our lab. We are a group of engineers who use enabling technologies specifically to study the brain.

 

4. Can you highlight some of the most significant projects or breakthroughs that have emerged from your lab? We have two complex networks in the brain, network of nerve cells or neurons and network of blood vessels and capillaries. Dynamics of these two networks are coupled to each other to the point that by looking at the dynamics of one of these we can, with a reasonable accuracy, estimate the state of the dynamics of the other one. The coupling between these two network is disrupted in many form of brain diseases including Alzheimer's. In recent years, we development multiple brain imaging and brain interface systems to study the coupling between these two networks and the signaling pathways that mediate this coupling in health and under disease conditions. We developed mathematical models that can estimate the response of one of these networks if we apply some changes to the dynamics of the other network. The work was the basis of the research for early detection of Alzheimer's via looking at the vascular network of the retina.

 

5. How do you integrate undergraduate and graduate students into the research activities of your lab?
   Most of the work load in the lab is on graduate students and the principal investigator of the lab. We build systems from scratch. This includes the development of the hardware and software of these systems and even building the mechanical components with CNC machines etc. After building a new platform, we enter the data collection phase. There are always good opportunities for undergraduate students to get involved in this research, work with other members of the lab and gain some experience in conducting advanced research both in the system development phase and data collection and data analysis phase.

 

6. What are your future goals and aspirations for your research lab? The main goal is to push a research project that starts as an idea and at a very basic scientific level to the point that it can be used in the clinics. For example, in our Alzheimer's project and early detection of the disease, currently we are using lab animals for these studies to understand the science. Once the science is understood, in a step-by-step procedure, we move the developed technology to human level and hopefully, the technology will become a useful piece for people. That is our main goal and motivation.

 

7. Is there anything else you would like to share about your research lab that we haven't covered in our questions?
   Engineering is changing. Traditional methods of engineering by dividing the field to electrical or mechanical engineering is passed. Now, we live in the era of complex engineering disciplines like genetic engineering, protein engineering and neuro-engineering. We need to train a new generation of engineers who can work in these complex fields. Our lab can contribute to this endeavor at our beloved campus here in FAU.

At Florida Atlantic, Mahsa Ranji is a dynamic force in the field of biophotonics. As an Associate Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and an I-SENSE Fellow, she leads the Biophotonics Research Lab, where she focuses on designing and deploying advanced medical diagnostic instruments. Her work aims to transform disease diagnosis and therapy assessment.

With expertise in biophotonics, bio-instrumentation, and biomedical engineering, Professor Ranji's goal is to bring laboratory techniques into clinical settings. She develops optical imaging tools to investigate tissue biomarkers in real-time, providing insights into organ dysfunction and disease progression.

Her research bridges engineering, medicine, and biochemistry. Collaborating with Florida Atlantic’s School of Medicine, Biomedical Sciences, and I-Brain research institutes, as well as institutions like UW-Madison and the Medical College of Wisconsin, Professor Ranji has advanced our understanding of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and Alzheimer's disease.

Professor Ranji's work includes optical metabolic imaging in Alzheimer’s disease rodent models, shedding light on the metabolic response to mitochondrial dysfunction. Her research on optical imaging in cancer radiotherapy aims to improve treatment outcomes by identifying tissue biomarkers and distinguishing radiation responses.

In her lab, Professor Ranji has developed advanced optical imaging technologies, including bio-instrumentation, optical coherence tomography, in vivo fluorometry, and optical imaging, to study tissue characteristics and disease markers.

Committed to advancing biophotonics for medical breakthroughs, Professor Mahsa Ranji is making significant contributions to disease diagnosis, treatment, and personalized medicine, with a lasting impact on global health and well-being.