Dr Timothy Runcorn - Imperial College London

Dr Runcorn is engineering new fibre optic technology to develop the next generation of clinical endoscopes to improve the early diagnosis of diseases such as bowel cancer. Advanced imaging techniques, such as multiphoton microscopy, offer the potential for in situ disease diagnosis, avoiding the need for invasive biopsies that must be sent away to a lab to be examined. However, these techniques currently rely on complex and expensive lasers, preventing their widespread use in hospitals. Dr Runcorn will combine innovations in fibre laser technology and fibre optics to develop cost-effective clinical endoscopic instruments that can harness the power of advanced imaging techniques for early-stage disease diagnosis.