Technology

• Overview
• History
• More Information

The Comparative and Molecular Pathogenesis Branch (CMPB) provides toxicologic pathology leadership and laboratory animal medicine expertise to meet the goals of the NIEHS Division of Translational Toxicology (DTT) using new technologies in biomedical research. DTT is a team-based scientific organization, and its mission is to improve public health through development of data and knowledge that are translatable, predictive, and timely.

Welcome to the Section on Biomedical Optics!

We develop models, methods, and devices for understanding and controlling light interactions with biological tissues. These methods are used to perform real-time quantitative measurements of clinically-relevant information, including: tissue blood flow, oxygen extraction, metabolic rate of oxygen consumption, and body/tissue composition (lean mass, hydration, and fat mass).

The overall goal of the Brain Aging and Behavior Section (BABS) is to improve cognitive outcomes with aging.

Mustapha Bouhrara , Ph.D., Chief

Although rapid strides have been made in understanding the basic biology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), this knowledge has not been translated into earlier diagnosis and/or effective treatments for patients. The overarching goal of research in the Clinical and Translational Neuroscience Section (CTNS) is to comprehensively study the biologic basis of AD pathogenesis in humans.

This project will investigate methods to detect cocaine use from heart rate data captured by smartwatches. This approach may nicely complement self-report methods that suffer from temporal inaccuracy in reporting cocaine use in the field setting. Detection of cocaine use through smartwatches will build upon, and extend, recently developed methods to identify cocaine use from interbeat interval heart rate data obtained from electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors and physical activity from accelerometer data.