Qinggong Tang
Associate Professor of Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering
Endowed Stephenson Professor
Associate Member – Stephenson Cancer Center
Bio: Dr. Qinggong Tang is an Associate Professor with Endowed Stephenson Professorship at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. He received his Bachelor’s degree in Optoelectronics from the Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China, and his Ph.D. in Bioengineering from the University of Maryland. His research has been focused on the development of translational optical imaging devices and novel machine-learning-based computer-aided diagnosis algorithm for biomedical applications including organ evaluation and cancer research. Sponsored by NIH, NSF, Oklahoma state and other funding agencies, his research has led to >40 peer-reviewed articles in highly acclaimed biomedical journals and over 60 presentations and invited talks in leading biomedical conferences and seminars. Dr. Tang is the NSF EPSCoR Research Fellow and recipient of the NSF CAREER award in 2022.
Title: A Pre-Transplantation Donor Liver Evaluation System (LIVES)
Abstract: Liver transplantation for severe hepatic diseases faces a critical shortage of donor livers globally. Utilizing marginal donor livers could alleviate this issue, yet current biopsy-based assessments are limited in evaluating their viability comprehensively. We propose employing polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) to noninvasively scan multiple regions of donor livers, providing detailed microstructural and tissue property evaluations. Our approach integrates texture feature extraction and machine learning to correlate PS-OCT findings with pathological assessments, demonstrating its potential to enhance pre-transplantation viability evaluations for liver. PS-OCT can serve as a promising tool for transplant clinics, offering precise, noninvasive insights into liver tissue quality across the entire donor liver.
