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Vadim Backman

Walter Dill Scott Professor of Biomedical Engineering

Ph.D. in Medical Engineering and Medical Physics, Harvard University - MIT, Cambridge, MA; M.S. in Physics, MIT, Cambridge, MA; M.S. in Physics, St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia; B.S. in Physics (Hons), St. Petersburg Polytechnic Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia

Research Interests

The main direction of our lab is the development of novel optical spectral and imaging techniques for non-invasive screening, diagnosis and detection of disease, and characterization of biological and bioengineered tissue. Our research spans from basic physics of light-tissue interaction to new technology development to the development of clinical instrumentation and to large-scale clinical trials.

Selected Publications

M. Patel, A. Gomes, S. Ruderman, D. Hardee, S. Crespo, M. Raimondo, T. Woodward, V. Backman, H.K. Roy, M. Wallace,"Polarization gating spectroscopy of normal-appearing duodenal mucosa to detect pancreas cancer", Gastrointestinal Endoscopy, 80(5), 786-793 (2014). PMC4241379

A. Doronin, A.J. Radosevich, V. Backman, I. Meglinski,"Two electric field Monte Carlo models of coherent back scattering of polarized light", Journal of the Optical Society of America, 31(11), 2394-2400 (2014).

M. Dela Cruz, R.K. Wali, L.K. Bianchi, A.J. Radosevich, S.E. Crawford, L. Jepeal, M.J. Goldberg, J. Weinstein, N. Momi, P. Roy, A.H. Calderwood, V. Backman, H.K. Roy, "Colonic Mucosal Fatty Acid Synthase as an Early Biomarker for Colorectal Neoplasia: Modulation by Obesity and Gender", Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 23(11), 2413-2421 (2014).

H.K. Roy, C. Brendler, H. Subramanian, D. Zhang, C. Maneval, J. Chandler, K. Kaul, B. Helfand, C. Wang, M. Quinn, J. Petkewicz, M. Paterakos, V. Backman, "Nanocytological Field Carcinogenesis Detection to Mitigate Overdiagnosis of Prostate Cancer: A Proof of Concept Study", PLoS One, 10(2): e0115999 (2015).

B.D. Jovanovic, H. Subramanian, I.B. Helenowski, H.K. Roy, V. Backman, "Clinical trial laboratory data nested with in subject: components of variance, sample size and cost", Biometrics & Biostatistics International Journal, 2(2):00029 (2015).

J.D. Rogers, A.J. Radosevich, J. Yi, V. Backman, "Modeling light scattering in tissue as continuous random media using a versatile refractive index correlation function", IEEE JSTQE, 20(02) 7000514 (2014). NIHMSID: 603537

H. Matsuda, G.G. Putzel, V. Backman, I. Szleifer,"Macromo lecular crowding as a regulator of gene transcription", Biophysical Journal, 106, 1801-1810 (2014.) PMC4008821

J. Yi, A.J. Radosevich, Y. Stypula, N. Mutyal, S.M. Azarin, E.L. Horcher, M. Goldberg, L. Bianchi, S. Bajaj, H.K. Roy, V. Backman, "Spatially-resolved optical and ultra-structural properties of colorectal and pancreatic field carcinogenesis observed by inverse spectroscopic optical coherence tomography", JBO, 19(3), 036013 (2014). PMC4019430

Y. Stypula-Cyrus, N.N. Mutyal, M.A. Dela Cruz, D.P. Kunte, A.J. Radosevich, R.K.Wali, H.K. Roy, V. Backman, "End-binding protein 1 (EB1) up-regulation is an early event in colorectal carcinogenesis", FEBS Letters, 5(3), 829-835 (2014). PMC4103177

L. Cherkezyan, H. Subramanian, V. Backman, "What structural length-scales can be detected by the spectral variance of a microscope image?", Optics Letters,  39(15), 4290-4293 (2014).

J. Yi, S. Chen, V. Backman, H.F. Zhang, "In vivo functional microangiography by visible-light optical coherence tomography", Biomedical Optics Express, 5(10), 3603-3612 (2014). PMC4206328

R. K. Wali, T. A. Hensing, D. W. Ray, M. Dela Cruz, A. Tiwari, A. Radosevich, L. Jepeal, H.C. Fernando, V. Litle, M. Charlot, N. Momi, V. Backman, H.K. Roy, "Buccal microRNA dysregulation in lung field carcinogenesis: gender specific implications", International Journal of Oncology, 45(3), 1209-1215 (2014). PMC4144027.

A.J. Radosevich, N.N. Mutyal, J.D. Rogers, B. Gould, T.A. Hensing, D. Ray, V. Backman, H.K.Roy,"Buccal spectral markers for lung cancer risk stratification", PLoS One, 9(10): e110157 (2014). PMC4192585

L. Cherkezyan, Y. Stypula-Cyrus, H. Subramanian, C. White, M. Dela Cruz, R.K. Wali, M.J. Goldberg, L.K. Bianchi, H.K. Roy, V. Backman, "Nanoscale changes in chromatin organization represent the initial steps of tumorigenesis: a transmission electron microscopy study", Biomed Central Cancer, 14(189), (2014). PMC3995586

Y. Stypula-Cyrus, D. Damania, D.P. Kunte, M. De La Cruz, H. Subramanian, H.K. Roy, V. Backman, "HDAC up-regulation in early colon field carcinogenesis is involved in cell tumorigenicity through regulation of chromatin structure", PLoS One, 8(5): e64600 (2013). PMC3665824

 K. Phillips, D. Damania, H. Subramanian, V. Backman, E. Anderson, M.H. Wong, O. McCarty, "Network signatures of nuclear and cytoplasmic density alterations in a model of pre- and post-metastatic colorectal cancer", J. Biomedical Optics, 19(1), 016016 (2013). PMC4019418

I.R. Capoglu, J.D. Rogers, A. Taflove, V. Backman,"The microscope in a computer: Image synthesis from three-dimensional full-vector solutions of Maxwell’s equations at the nanometer scale", Progress in Optics, 57, 1-91 (2013).

D.P.Kunte, M. De LaCruz, R.K. Wali, Y. Stypula, A.K. Tiwari, J. Brasky, T. Gibson, P. Subramaniyan, A. Menon, V. Backman, H.K. Roy, "Dysregulation of MicroRNAs in Early Colon Carcinogenesis: Implications for Screening", PLoS One, (9)7, e45591(2012). PMC3458063

V. Konda, L. Cherkezyan, H. Subramanian, K. Wroblewski, D. Damania, V. Becker, M. Goldberg, J. Chennat, L. Karl, M. Ferguson, I. Waxman, H. Roy, V. Backman, "Nanoscale markers of esophageal field carcinogenesis: potential implications for esophageal cancer screening", Endoscopy, 45, 983-988, (2013).PMC4195538

J. Chandler, H. Subramanian, C.D. Maneval, C.A. White, V. Backman, "High-speed spectral nanocytology for early cancer screening", J. Biomedical Optics, 18(11), 117002 (2013). PMC3817856

Ji Yi, Andrew J. Radosevich, Jeremy D. Rogers, Sam C.P. Norris, ?lker R. Çapo?lu, Allen Taflove, and Vadim Backman, "Can OCT be sensitive to nanoscale structural alterations in biological tissue?" Opt. Express 21, 9043-9059 (2013).


H.K. Roy, D.P. Damania, M. DelaCruz, D.P. Kunte, H. Subramanian, S.E.Crawford, A.K. Tiwari, R.K. Wali, V. Backman, "Nano-architectural alterations in mucus layer fecal colonocytes in field carcinogenesis: potential for screening," Cancer Prevention Research, 6, 1111-1119 (2013).

A.J. Radosevich, N.N. Mutyal, J. Yi, Y. Stypula-Cyrus, J.D. Rogers, M.J. Goldberg, L.K. Bianchi, S. Bajaj, H.K. Roy, V. Backman, "Ultrastructural alterations in field carcinogenesis measured by enhanced backscattering spectroscopy," JBO, 18(9), 0970021-09700211 (2013).

L. Cherkezyan, I. Capoglu, H. Subramanian, J.D. Rogers, D. Damania, A. Taflove, V. Backman, "Interferometric spectroscopy of scattered light can quantify the statistics of subdifractional refractive-index fluctuations," PRL, 111, 033903 (2013).

D. Damania, H.K. Roy, D. Kunte, J.A. Hurteau, H. Subramanian, L. Cherkezyan, M. Shah, N. Krosnjar, V. Backman, "Insights into the field carcinogenesis of ovarian cancer based on the nanocytology of endocervical and endometrial epithelial cancer cells," International Journal of Cancer, 133(5), 1143-1152 (2013).

L.A. Marcelino, M.W. Westneat, V. Stoyneva, J. Henss, J.D. Rogers, A. Radosevich, V. Turzhitsky, M. Siple, A. Fang, T.D. Swain, J. Fung, V. Backman, "Modulation of light-enhancement to symbiotic algae by light-scattering in corals and evolutionary trends in bleaching", PLoS One, 8(4) e61492 (2013).

The Physical Sciences-Oncology Centers Network. "A physical sciences network characterization of non-tumorigenic and metastatic cells," Sci. Rep. 3, 1449 (2013).

T. Tan, A. Taflove, V. Backman, "Single realization stochastic FDTD for weak scattering waves in biological random media," IEEE Trans. Ant. Prop., 61(2), 818-828 (2013).

I. Capoglu, A. Taflove, V. Backman, "Computation of tightly-focused laser beams in the FDTD method," Optics Express, 21(1), 87-101 (2013).

I. Avital, R.C. Langan, T.A. Summers, S.R. Steele, S.A. Waldman, V. Backman, J. Yee, A. Nissan, P. Young, C. Womeldorph, P. Mancuso, R. Mueller, K. Noto, W. Grundfest, A.J. Bilchik, Mladjan Protic, M. Daumer, J. Eberhardt, Y.G. Man, B. LDM Brucher, A. Stojadinovic "Evidence-based guidelines for precision risk stratification-based screening (PRSBS) for colorectal cancer: lessons learned from the US armed forces: consensus and future directions," Journal of Cancer, 4(3), 172-192 (2013).

V. Backman, H.K. Roy, "Advances in biophotonics detection of field carcinogenesis for colon cancer risk stratification, "Journal of Cancer, 4(3), 251-261 (2013) (Special issue, invited paper).

A.J. Gomes, V. Backman, "Analytical light reflectance models for overlapping-illumination and collection area geometries," Applied Optics, 51(33), 8013-8021 (2012).

H.K. Roy, V. Backman, "Spectroscopic applications in gastrointestinal endoscopy," Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, 10(12), 1335-1341 (2012).

A.J. Radosevich, J. Yi, J.D. Rogers, V. Backman, "Structural length-scale sensitivities of diffuse reflectance in continuous random media under the Born approximation," Optics Letters, 37(24), 5220-5222 (2012).

A. Radosevich, J.D. Rogers, I. Capoglu, N. Mutyal, P. Pradhan, V. Backman, "Open source software for electric field Monte Carlo simulation of coherent backscattering in biological media containing birefringence," J. Biomedical Optics, 17(11), 115001-1 – 115001-13 (2012).

J. Yi, V. Backman, "Imaging a full set of optical scattering properties of biological tissue by inverse spectroscopic optical coherence tomography," Optics Letters, 37(21), 4443-4445 (2012).

N. Mutyal, A. Radosevich, B. Gould, J.D. Rogers, A. Gomes, V. Turzhitsky, V. Backman, "A fiber optic probe design to measure depth-limited optical properties in vivo with Low-coherence Enhanced Backscattering (LEBS) Spectroscopy," Optics Express, 20(18), 19643-19657 (2012).

S.D. Strasser, G. Shekhawat, J.D. Rogers, V.P. Dravid, A. Taflove, V. Backman, "Near-field penetrating optical microscopy: A live cell nanoscale refractive index measurement technique for quantification of internal macromolecular density," Optics Letters, 37(4), 506-508 (2012) NIHMSID #376353.

D. Damania, H.K. Roy, H. Subramanian, M.J. Goldberg, D.S. Weinberg, J. Muldoon, L. Cherkezyan, Y. Zhu, L.K. Bianchi, D. Shah, P. Pradhan, M. Borkar, H. Lynch, V. Backman, "Nanocytology of rectal colonocytes to assess risk of colon cancer based on field cancerization," Cancer Research, 72(11), 2720-2727 (2012).

L. Cherkezyan, H. Subramanian, V. Stoyneva, J. Rogers, S. Yang, D. Damania, A. Taflove, V. Backman, "Targeted alteration of real and imaginary refractive index of biological cells by histological staining," Optics Letters, 37(10), 1601-1603 (2012) NIHMSID #37711.