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
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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 -
Spatial analysis of the osteoarthritis microenvironment: techniques, insights, and applications
Fan, Xiwei; Sun, Antonia Rujia; Young, Reuben S E; Afara, Isaac O; Hamilton, Brett R; Ong, Louis Jun Ye; Crawford, Ross; Prasadam, Indira. 2024. Bone research. 12: -
3-D T1 relaxation time measurements in an equine model of subtle post-traumatic osteoarthritis using MB-SWIFT
Pala, Swetha; Hänninen, Nina E; Mohammadi, Ali; Ebrahimi, Mohammadhossein; te Moller, Nikae CR; Brommer, Harold; René van Weeren, P; Mäkelä, Janne TA; Korhonen, Rami K; Afara, Isaac O; Töyräs, Juha; Mikkonen, Santtu; Nissi, Mikko J; Nykänen, Olli. 2023. Journal of orthopaedic research. 41: 2657-2666 -
Broadband scattering properties of articular cartilage zones and their relationship with the heterogenous structure of articular cartilage extracellular matrix
Kafian-Attari, Iman; Nippolainen, Ervin; Bergmann, Florian; George, Akuroma; Paakkari, Petri; Mirhashemi, Arash; Foschum, Florian; Kienle, Alwin; Töyräs, Juha; Afara, Isaac O. 2023. Journal of biomedical optics. 28: -
Characterisation of Cartilage Damage via Fusing Mid-Infrared, Near-Infrared, and Raman Spectroscopic Data
Shaikh, Rubina; Tafintseva, Valeria; Nippolainen, Ervin; Virtanen, Vesa; Solheim, Johanne; Zimmermann, Boris; Saarakkala, Simo; Töyräs, Juha; Kohler, Achim; Afara, Isaac O. 2023. Journal of personalized medicine. 13: -
Impact of experimental setup parameters on the measurement of articular cartilage optical properties in the visible and short near-infrared spectral bands
Kafian-Attari, Iman; Nippolainen, Ervin; Bergmann, Florian; Mirhashemi, Arash; Paakkari, Petri; Foschum, Florian; Kienle, Alwin; Töyräs, Juha; Afara, Isaac O.. 2023. Biomedical optics express. 14: 3397-3412 -
Near-infrared spectroscopic assessment of patellar tendon mechanics
Kositsky, Adam; Torniainen, Jari; Stenroth, Lauri; Nippolainen, Ervin; Mäkelä, Janne T.A.; Paakkari, Petri; Kröger, Heikki; Töyräs, Juha; Korhonen, Rami K.; Afara, Isaac O.. 2023. -
Near-infrared spectroscopy for structural bone assessment
Sharma, Varun J; Adegoke, John A; Afara, Isaac O; Stok, Kathryn; Poon, Eric; Gordon, Claire L; Wood, Bayden R; Raman, Jaishankar. 2023. Bone & joint open. 4: 250-261 -
Non-neotissue constituents as underestimated confounders in the assessment of tissue engineered constructs by near-infrared spectroscopy
Elkadi, Omar Anwar; Abinzano, Florencia; Nippolainen, Ervin; González, Ona Bach; Levato, Riccardo; Malda, Jos; Afara, Isaac O. 2023. Materials today bio. 2024; 24: -
Patellar tendon and tibial cartilage viscoelastic properties are inversely related in osteoarthritic knees
Kositsky, Adam; Linus, Awuniji; Stenroth, Lauri; Mononen, Mika E.; Nippolainen, Ervin; Kröger, Heikki; Töyräs, Juha; Mäkelä, Janne T.A.; Tanska, Petri; Afara, Isaac O.; Korhonen, Rami K.. 2023. Transactions of the annual meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society