Senior Associate Dean for Research and Strategic Initiatives at the School of Engineering and Thomas J. Watson, Sr. Professor of Science Kimani Toussaint has been awarded a Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) grant for his project titled: “Fundamental Study of In Vivo Tissue Optical Properties Across Diverse Skin Tones to Advance Accuracy of Photoplethysmography Based Devices.” The three-year award is worth $1.5M.
With this new funding, Toussaint’s PROBE Lab will measure the in vivo optical absorption and scattering properties of human skin tissues across a diverse range of skin tones, share the acquired data in a publicly accessible database, and use the information to improve the theoretical model of light-tissue interactions, subsequently informing the design of more equitable pulse oximeters that will work well for everyone.
The existing model for light interaction with human tissues has several limitations, particularly as it pertains to being representative of diverse populations. The model has been the basis for the design of optical devices based on photoplethysmography (PPG), such as pulse oximeters. Therefore, obtaining optical data of human tissues that is more representative of the diversity of skin tones that exist, provides an opportunity to improve current models and improve the accuracy of PPG-based devices.
Toussaint’s team has been focused on improving this accuracy for some time now. Recently, he was honored with the Innovation of the Year award from Brown University for a novel PPG technique that leverages optical polarization for more accurate estimates of blood oxygen. Conventional pulse oximetry has been found to overestimate blood oxygen for individuals with appreciable amounts of melanin in their skin. As a result, those with darker skin tones are close to three times more likely to suffer from silent hypoxia.