Polimi Role: Physics Department Coordinator

SOLUS is a trans-disciplinary project bringing together 9 industries, and academic and clinical institutions to develop an innovative, non-invasive, low-cost multi-modal imaging system (diffuse optics and ultrasounds/shear wave elastography) for high-specificity diagnosis of breast cancer, leading to an effective reduction in the huge number of needless additional invasive procedures presently following a false positive mammography. SOLUS will develop and clinically validate highly innovative photonics concepts and components: time-domain small source-detector distance optical tomography, miniaturized picosecond pulsed laser sources, high-dynamic-range time-gated single-photons detectors to achieve unprecedented sensitivity and depth penetration. For the first time, this will allow a comprehensive quantitative characterization of breast tissue including composition (water, lipids, collagen), functional blood parameters, morphologic information and mechanical parameters (stiffness).