Spotlight

Matt Farrar

Matt Farrar is a graduate student working with Professor Chris Schaffer in the Biomedical Engineering Department to develop novel optical tools for studying neuropathologies of the brain and spinal cord. “The ability to study the dynamics of a pathology by in vivo imaging provides an enormous advantage in understanding disease development and therapeutic efficacy,” says Farrar. He has been studying the use of third harmonic generation, a ubiquitous nonlinear process sensitive to interfaces, such as those present in the multi-layered myelin sheaths that surround long axons in the brain and spinal cord and the loss of which is the cause of diseases such as multiple sclerosis. “Third harmonic generation is an ideal assay for longitudinal studies, as it requires no dyes and doesn’t damage the specimen, as is the case for many exogenous dyes,” explains Farrar.

What is the big picture of this research? “Neurological diseases such as spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis are absolutely devastating to the victim, with little available in treatment options. By creating better animal models of disease and developing the technology with which to study them, we hope that our research may someday lead to a cure.”