Prof. Sergio Fantini
Sergio Fantini is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Associate Dean for Graduate Education in the School of Engineering at Tufts University. Professor Fantini’s research focus is in the area of biomedical optics, specifically in diffuse near-infrared spectroscopy and imaging of biological tissues. His research laboratory has ongoing projects aimed at non-invasive functional imaging of the brain, the study of optical signatures of peripheral nerve activation, and the development of novel instrumentation for optical mammography.

Prof. Angelo Sassaroli
Angelo Sassaroli is currently a research assistant professor working with Prof. Fantini. He graduated from the University of Florence (Italy) in April 1996. He received his PhD in Physics from the University of Electro-Communication in Tokyo, Japan. He has been helping Prof. Fantini in supervising several projects: optical mammography, small-tissue oxygenation measurements, and peripheral nerves studies. He has been particularly involved in brain imaging studies, including data collection and analysis. He has collaborated with McLean Hospital in Belmont, MA on concurrent studies of fMRI and fNIRS. In his free time, he likes running and doing Yoga.

Ning Liu is a Ph.D. candidate in Biomedical Engineering Department at Tufts University. As a Research Assistant in Prof. Fantini’s lab, she works in the field of optical imaging of tissue. She is mainly involved into two projects, the ‘optical mammography’ project and the ‘diffuse optical imaging with enhanced spatial resolution and depth discrimination’ project. She graduated from Sichuan University (China) with a B.S. in Physics, and a M.S. in Radio Electronics, where her interests centered on the effect of biochemical reaction under the radiation of radio-frequency electromagnetic wave. She received her second M.S. degree in electrical Engineering from Tufts University, where she focused on digital signal processing and analysis.

Debbie Chen is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Prof. Fantini’s lab. She received her B.S. in Bioengineering from the University of California, San Diego in 2005. Her thesis project is on the optical response to electrical stimulation of the peripheral nerves, which is a collaborative project with Dr. Peter Bergethon at the Boston University School of Medicine. She enjoys the being active and enjoying the outdoors. Two accomplishments that she is proud of are (1) completing a sprint triathlon in San Diego and (2) summiting Mt. Washington twice, one of which was a part of a 3-day presidential range hike. Although she misses the beaches of southern California, she recently learned how to snowboard and plans to take advantage of the long winter months in Boston. When she is not in the lab or in the outdoors, she loves to explore all the best restaurants that Boston has to offer.

Yang Yu is a Ph.D. candidate in Prof. Fantini’s lab. Originally from the northern part of China, he received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering at Peking University, located in the capital of China—Beijing and very near to the beautiful Summer Palace. His current project is on optical mammography, which is aimed at developing an improved breast cancer detection scheme. This involves a platform hardware design, machine control, data processing software and near-infrared optical spectrum analysis to obtain both structural and functional information about breast tissue. During his leisure time, Yang likes playing squash and is loves to travel.

Feng Zheng is a Ph.D. candidate in Prof. Fantini’s lab. He was born in 1982 in Wuhan, a beautiful Chinese metropolitan city with the Yangtze River crossing through. He lived there for 22 years, completing a four-year college study at Wuhan University, where he received a B.S. in Physics. He spent three years gaining research experience in cancer research using Raman Spectroscopy at Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai. With growing interests in biomedical engineering, he moved to the United States in 2007 to start a PhD program in Prof. Fantini’s group. Currently, his main research goal is to study human-computer interaction using fNIRS and fMRI to recognize and distinguish mental workloads. In his leisure time, he likes to watch movies and sports. His favorite food is native Wuhan cuisine and he can cook some well, especially the spicy dishes. His favorite sports teams are A.C. Milan in soccer, and world champions Boston Celtics in basketball. His two favorite players are Ricky Kaka and Rajon Rondo.

Chia-hui Chen is a M.S. candidate in Prof. Fantini’s lab. In 2006, she graduated from National Yang-Ming University in Taipei, Taiwan with a B.S. in Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences. Her current research project is on brain imaging using a whole head fNIRS helmet. She is enjoying her time in the U.S. and exploring American culture.

Mike Coutts is a M.S. candidate in Prof. Fantini’s lab. He grew up in Barrington, Rhode Island and received his BS in biomechanics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.  Mike is currently studying the use of near-infrared light to measure working memory in the frontal cortex of the brain by designing and testing a helmet-probe to be placed on the forehead of subjects.

Xiao Da is a M.S. candidate in Prof. Fantini's lab. He was born in Shanghai, a very beautiful Chinese metropolitan city with a long history and glorious culture. He graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, School of Medicine with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering. Xiao is currently studying to use fNIRS to do brain imaging, analyze and process these optical data. In his leisure time, he likes cooking, sports and travel very much. He can cook some delicious Shanghai local flavor. His favorite sport is basketball and his favorite player is Carmelo Anthony. He is enjoying every minute in the U.S.