Thomas H. Foster Professor of Imaging Sciences (and Physics) Medical Physics office: phone: Medical Center 3-5333, P.O. Box 648 (585) 275-1347 fax: email: (585) 273-1033 thomas.foster@rochester.edu home page: http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/rad/foster/index.html

Biographical Sketch

Professor Foster received his B.S. in Physics from Stevens Institute of Technology (1983). Following two years at the General Electric Research and Development Center, he came to the University of Rochester where he received the Ph.D. in Physics (1990). He joined the faculty at the University as an Assistant Professor of Radiology in 1990 and was appointed as a joint Assistant Professor of Physics in 1992. He was promoted to Associate Professor in 1994 and is currently Professor of Imaging Sciences (formerly Radiology), of Physics, and of Optics. On two occasions, Professor Foster received the Shu-Ren Lin Award for Excellence in Radiology Resident Teaching (1991, 2002). In 2001, he was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Photochemistry and Photobiology and a member of the National Institutes of Health Radiation Therapeutics and Biology Study Section.

Research

Professor Foster's research activities within the field of Biological Physics exploit optical methods in medicine and biology. Preclinical and clinical problems in photodynamic therapy (PDT) are an important emphasis. PDT is a relatively new cancer intervention that has received limited regulatory agency approval in the U.S. and several other countries. It makes use of tumor seeking compounds which, when irradiated with visible or near infrared light, initiate photochemical reactions that destroy tumors through a combination of direct and indirect mechanisms. Our group has designed and built instrumentation that integrates the delivery of the PDT treatment light with reflectance and fluorescence spectroscopic evaluation of tumor response to therapy. One such system is already in clinical trials in skin cancer patients. Other current projects include studies of light scattering from intact cells, fluorescence imaging of gene expression and of immune cell infiltration in tumors in vivo, optical property measurements of human cancer, and detailed mathematical modeling of photodynamic therapy dosimetry.

Recent Publications

1. Index of refraction-dependent sub-cellular light scattering with organelle-specific dyes
   J.D. Wilson, W.J. Cottrell, and T.H. Foster
   J. Biomed. Opt. 12, 014010 (2007)
   
   
2. A comprehensive mathematical model of microscopic dose deposition in photodynamic therapy
   K.K.-H. Wang, S. Mitra, and T.H. Foster
   Med. Phys. 34, 282 (2007)
   
   
3. Confocal fluorescence polarization microscopy in turbid media: Effects of scattering-induced depolarization
   C.E. Bigelow and T.H. Foster
   J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 23, 2932 (2006)
   
   
4. Light scattering from intact cells reports oxidative-stress-induced mitochondrial swelling
   J.D. Wilson, C.E. Bigelow, D.J. Calkins, and T.H. Foster
   Biophys. J. 88, 2929 (2005)
   
   
5. Effect of pigment packaging on diffuse reflectance spectroscopy of samples containing red blood cells
   J.C. Finlay and T.H. Foster
   Opt. Lett. 29, 965 (2004)
   
   

For further details, go to Prof. Foster's home page at: http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/smd/rad/foster/index.html

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