BIEN 3410 Introduction to Bioinstrumentation and Bioimaging

(Fall semester – Year 2022–2023)

Homework 3 (Due: 22 Nov 2022, in Canvas)

Question 1 (Module 1 – Bioimaging): (2.0 mark)

Fluorescence microscopy, multiphoton microscopy, optical coherence tomography, and photoacoustic

tomography, are commonly used in laboratories and clinics. Given the following situations, which one of
the aforementioned imaging techniques is the most suitable one? Explain your answer.

(i) A medical doctor would like to check for angiogenesis in deep tissue in vivo (1.0 mark)

(ii) A biologist would like to check the presence of a certain cell type with molecular specificity in a petri
dish with minimal damage to the cell (1.0 mark)

Answer:
(i)
In vivo → label-free is preferred → optical coherence tomography / photoacoustic
tomography
Angiogenesis → Blood vessel imaging → fluorescence microscopy / multiphoton microscopy /
optical coherence tomography / photoacoustic tomography
Deep tissue → photoacoustic tomography
Therefore, for angiogenesis deep tissue imaging in vivo, we should use photoacoustic
tomography.

(ii)
Certain cell type with molecular specificity high molecular specificity
➔ Fluorescence microscopy = multiphoton microscopy > photoacoustic tomography >
optical coherence tomography
➔ In a petri dish, therefore, imaging depth is not a concern. Both fluorescence
microscopy and multiphoton microscopy are good.
➔ With minimal damage → multiphoton microscopy is the best choice because of less
photobleaching (without considering the cost).
Question 2 (Module 2 – Fundamental of Electric Circuit): (3.0 marks)

A “black‐box” is supposed to generate a two‐tone sinusoidal differential signal (ν3 − ν4) which consists

of a 45‐Hz and a 50‐Hz component. However, the signal from this black‐box is too weak and noisy. A
student plans to build a circuit which employs an instrumentation op‐amp (with a total gain of 10) and a
bandpass filter in order to amplify the signal (ν0 ) and then filter out the noise (ν𝑓 ).

(a) If R1 = 25kΩ, R2 = R3 = 60kΩ, what is the value of Rgain in order to get a total gain of 10? (1.0 mark)

(b) Draw a circuit diagram of the bandpass filter and describe qualitatively how it can be used to generate
output ν𝑓 from the noisy input ν0 . (1.0 mark)

(c) Sketch the frequency spectra of the noisy input ν0 (assuming the noise type is white noise) and the

output ν . (1.0 mark)

𝑓

(a) The gain of the circuit is provided by the equation:

𝒗𝟎 𝟐𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟑
= (𝟏 + )( )
𝒗𝟒 − 𝒗𝟑 𝑹𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝑹𝟐

𝟐(𝟐𝟓𝒌𝜴) 𝟔𝟎𝒌𝜴
𝐆𝐚𝐢𝐧 = 𝟏𝟎 = (𝟏 + )( )
𝑹𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝟔𝟎𝒌𝜴
𝟓𝟎
𝑹𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 = 𝒌𝜴 ≈ 𝟓. 𝟓𝟔 𝒌𝜴
𝟗
(b) Circuit diagram of a bandpass filter

A bandpass filter is the combination of low-pass and high-pass filters, which only allows the
signals with frequencies between the lower and upper cut-off frequencies to pass through.
The noisy input consists of signals that are much higher than 50 Hz. Therefore, the upper cut-
off frequency should be close to 50 Hz such as all the higher frequencies from the noisy input
can be suppressed significantly. For this case, the lower cut-off frequency is not very important
as there is no DC drifting in the signals. Still, the lower cut-off frequency can be close to 45 Hz
in order to maximize the noise rejection (assuming that DC drifting can happen occasionally).
*Note: If the cut-off frequencies are exactly setting at 45 and 50 Hz, the signals of the two frequencies
will be dropped by 3 dB, becoming 0.707*𝝂𝟎 . We have to introduce a gain of 1/0.707 in the bandpass
filter to gain the signal back (OK that if the students did not mention this)

(c)