Facilities

 

 

The Skin Appearance Laboratory

(layout of proposed expansion)

 

A. Imaging Laboratory

B. Office

C. Display Characterization and Calibration

D. Exam Room, Capture Characterization and Calibration

E. Student Office Space and Storage

F. Hallway

G. Storage

H. Darkroom Sink and Storage

 

Expansion of the existing laboratory space will provide support for the development of the Diagnostic Imaging Chain for dermatology. The addition of a display test facility that provides controlled, repeatable (good and bad) viewing conditions will not only allow the characterization of display devices under realistic working conditions, it will facilitate the development of algorithms to improve the diagnostic process. As display technologies evolve, there will be a continuing need to monitor the trades they incorporate. At times, consumer considerations based on energy consumption, weight and size may dominate those of image quality and diagnostic performance. Unquestioned reliance on a market over which diagnostic considerations have little to no influence may not always be wise. In addition, accurately capturing the necessary ambient light measurements is always difficult. There will be a need to acquire a range of specialized light calibration and analytical tools to properly characterize working conditions in exam rooms. The changing interactions among consumer requirements, capabilities of new imaging devices, and variations of the clinical environment in which they are placed will continually need to be validated.

 

The clinical examination room in the laboratory will be equipped to provide all the resources required to take capture device development from initial design to clinical test. Again here, there will be a need for the specialized devices and techniques that are instrumental in the characterization and calibration of acquisition devices. A set of test targets that can be used to ensure the adequacy of capture processes will be necessary since validation will likely have to proceed without detailed knowledge of any internal camera processing. The need for such a capability becomes obvious from a recent study that examined the digital properties in a set of 70,000 distinct photographic sources on a popular social networking platform and turned up 859 different camera characterizations. In addition, the capacity to improve the design of clinical devices such as dermatoscopes and confocal laser scanners as well as devices to capture both detailed static and dynamic 3D representations of skin will be a significant research component.