Dr. Pierre Lane

Pierre is a Principal Investigator at the BCCRC. He has formal training in Engineering Physics and holds academic appointments at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and the University of British Columbia (UBC). Pierre is interested in the in vivo application of optical imaging, tissue optics, and spectroscopy for the early detection, diagnosis, and management of cancer. He develops and evaluates new optical tools to address unmet clinical needs and works closely with clinical collaborators to evaluate and test these tools in a clinical context. These tools include instrumentation, software, computer algorithms, systems and devices that can be used clinically or in a laboratory to measure the structural, morphological, functional, biochemical or molecular characteristics of tissue. Active projects involve the application of optical coherence tomography, confocal microscopy, and autofluorescence imaging to the lung, oral cavity and cervix.

Current Research Focus

Dr. Lane is interested in the application of optical imaging, tissue optics, and spectroscopy for the early detection, diagnosis, and management of cancer. He develops and evaluates new optical tools to address unmet clinical needs and works closely with clinical collaborators to evaluate and test these tools in a clinical context. These tools include instrumentation, software, computer algorithms, systems and devices that can be used clinically or in a laboratory to measure the structural, morphological, functional, biochemical or molecular characteristics of tissue. Active projects involve the application of optical coherence tomography, confocal microscopy, and autofluorescence imaging to the lung, oral cavity, and cervix.

Example Project

 “Image-Guided Biopsy of Peripheral Lung Nodules” The safest way to locate and sample lung nodules is using a bronchoscope; however, they are too large to access the small peripheral airways where many early lesions are found. The Lane Lab has developed a 0.9 mm diameter multimodal fiber-optic catheter that has shown promise for the localization of small peripheral lung nodules. The technique can detect changes in the composition and structural features of lung tissue that occur in early lung cancer. “Early Detection of Gynecologic Cancers” It is now understood that some ovarian cancers originate in the fallopian tubes. The goal of this research project is to develop and evaluate a multimodal optical technique to imaging the fallopian tubes at very high resolution. The same technique is also being evaluated for the detection and localization of other gynecologic cancers including vulvar, cervical and endocervical canal.

Research Keywords

Optical Coherence Tomography, Confocal Microscopy, Autofluorescence Imaging, Cancer Screening