
Isaac O. Afara
Associate Professor
Department of Technical Physics, Faculty of Science, Forestry and Technology
[email protected] | +358 50 350 1905
I am an Associate Professor with more than a decade of experience in applied and translational spectroscopy. My research interests range from applied spectroscopy, through multivariate and machine learning analysis in biospectroscopy, to computational biophotonics, all with the aim of bench-to-bedside translational of spectroscopy-based innovation for state-of-the-art optical characterization and diagnosis of biological tissue pathologies.
I currently lead the Biomedical Spectroscopy Lab (BSL, est. 2018), a multi-disciplinary team of Physicists and Engineers focused on applied spectroscopy and computational biophotonics research.
Research groups
Publications
90/90 items-
The Relationship Between the Optical Properties of Articular Cartilage and the Biomechanical Parameters of the Tissue
Kafian‐Attari, Iman; Ebrahimi, Mohammad; Nippolainen, Ervin; Mirhashemi, Arash; Paakkari, Petri; Bergmann, Florian; Foschum, Florian; Kienle, Alwin; Töyräs, Juha; Afara, Isaac. 2025. Journal of biophotonics. [First published: 31 January 2025]: 1-13 A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
The human patellar tendon is mechanically homogenous at its mid-substance
Kositsky, Adam; Stenroth, Lauri; Nippolainen, Ervin; Torniainen, Jari; Mäkelä, Janne TA; Paakkari, Petri; Paakkonen, Tommi; Kröger, Heikki; Töyräs, Juha; Afara, Isaac O; Korhonen, Rami K. 2025. Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials. 163: A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
A novel tape-free sample preparation method for human osteochondral cryosections for high throughput hyperspectral imaging
Fan, Xiwei; Donose, Bogdan; Jones, Michael WM; Howard, Daryl; Torniainen, Jari; Bertling, Karl; Guo, Xiao; Kewish, Cameron M; Lee, Kah Meng; Sun, Antonia Rujia; Rakic, Aleksandar; Crawford, Ross; Afara, Isaac O; Prasadam, Indira. 2024. Histochemistry and cell biology. 163: A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Comparison of site-specific tensile, compressive, and friction properties of human tibiofemoral joint cartilage and their relationship to degeneration
Ristaniemi, Aapo; Tuppurainen, Juuso; Jäntti, Jiri; Nippolainen, Ervin; Afara, Isaac O; Mononen, Mika E; Korhonen, Rami K; Mäkelä, Janne TA. 2024. Journal of biomechanics. 177: A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Estimation of Photon Path Length and Penetration Depth in Articular Cartilage Zonal Architecture over the Therapeutic Window
Kafian-Attari, I; Nippolainen, E; Bergmann, F; George, A; Paakkari, P; Mirhashemi, A; Foschum, F; Kienle, A; Toyras, J; Afara, IO. 2024. IEEE transactions on biomedical engineering. 71: 2300-2311 A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Infrared Spectroscopy Can Differentiate Between Cartilage Injury Models: Implication for Assessment of Cartilage Integrity
Shahini, Fatemeh; Oskouei, Soroush; Nippolainen, Ervin; Mohammadi, Ali; Sarin, Jaakko K; Moller, Nikae CR te; Brommer, Harold; Shaikh, Rubina; Korhonen, Rami K; van Weeren, P. René; Töyräs, Juha; Afara, Isaac O. 2024. Annals of biomedical engineering. 52: 2521-2533 A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Laser-irradiating infrared attenuated total reflection spectroscopy of articular cartilage: Potential and challenges for diagnosing osteoarthritis
Krebs, P; Nägele, M; Fomina, P; Virtanen, V; Nippolainen, E; Shaikh, R; Afara, I O; Töyräs, J; Usenov, I; Sakharova, T; Artyushenko, V; Tafintseva, V; Solheim, J H; Zimmermann, B; Kohler, A; König, O; Saarakkala, S; Mizaikoff, B. 2024. Osteoarthritis and cartilage open. 6: . 100466 A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Machine Learning Approaches for the Fusion of Near-Infrared, Mid-Infrared, and Raman Data to Identify Cartilage Degradation in Human Osteochondral Plugs
Tafintseva, Valeria; Nippolainen, Ervin; Virtanen, Vesa; Solheim, Johanne Heitmann; Zimmermann, Boris; Saarakkala, Simo; Kröger, Heikki; Kohler, Achim; Töyräs, Juha; Afara, Isaac O; Shaikh, Rubina. 2024. Applied spectroscopy. [Epub ahead of print 8 Nov 2024]: 1-11 A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Measurement of T1ρ dispersion with compressed sensing and magnetization prepared radial balanced steady‐state free precession in spontaneous human osteoarthritis
Pala, S; Paajanen, A; Ristaniemi, A; Nippolainen, E; Afara, IO; Nykänen, O; Nissi, MJ. 2024. Magnetic resonance in medicine. 92: 2127-2139 A1 Journal article (refereed), original research -
Relationship between depth-wise refractive index and biomechanical properties of human articular cartilage
Khan, Bilour; Nippolainen, Ervin; Shahini, Fatemeh; Nonappa; Popov, Alexey; Töyräs, Juha; Afara, Isaac O. 2024. Journal of biomedical optics. 29: 1-12 A1 Journal article (refereed), original research