Wojciech Czaja - US grants

A2PE*H2 is a secondary irreversible photochemical product generated during periods of high alltrans- etinal generation (i.e., receptor photopigment bleaching) in the retinal photoreceptor outer segments. It has an absorption maximum at 505nm and emits fluorescence peaked at 620nm. Dr. Bonner has hypothesized that the increasing A2E levels with age are cytotoxic to the RPE cells when internal stores within the secondary lysosomes reach too high a level and the rate at which A2E leaches from these granules exceeds the rate at which endoplasmic reticulum reprocessing segregates A2E back into the granules. The induced RPE dysfunction is the earliest and potentially reversible stage of age-related macular degeneration, the most common cause of blindness in affluent societies. In this SGER a cross-disciplinary approach is taken to develop spectral image analysis techniques suitable for extracting the retinal distribution maps of the different fluorescent molecules in the A2E pathway from a series of noninvasive spectral images of macular autofluorescence. If this grant is successful, then clinical studies can be applied by these techniques to test the theory that the role of spectral imbalance in AMD progression and to evaluate disease prevention strategies based on spectrally modifying A2E production and photo-oxidation rates.

This award provides support for the fourth meeting in the series of February Fourier Talks (FFT), held 19-20 February 2009 at the University of Maryland, College Park. The conference encourages and financially supports participation by students, recent Ph.D. recipients, and members of groups underrepresented in mathematics.

The meeting includes invited lectures on topics of current research interest and also encourages poster presentations by students and recent Ph.D. recipients. The conference brings together workers in a variety of different areas of research in harmonic analysis, with emphasis on shortening the process of making pure mathematics applicable.

Conference web site: http://norbertwiener.umd.edu/FFT/

0854233
Czaja

The overall objective of this proposal is to integrate robust automated multispectral image analysis methods with multispectral retinal reflectance and autofluorescence imaging to provide quantitative maps of naturally occurring fluorophores and chromophore distri-butions within the retina. The resulting high-resolution multi-component molecular maps would be applied to better understand molecular events in normal retinal aging and in early retinal disease progression.
Tasks:
- To optimize the quality of molecular image maps generated by automated image
analysis methods from different multispectral sets of autofluorescence and reflectance images obtained using special filter sets in standard fundus cameras. Envisioned as an iterative process of refinement of filters, imaging protocols and analysis tools.
- To apply spectral linear demixing models for extraction of pure subpixel spectral signatures to obtain clinically important changes in local concentrations of multiple endogenous molecular species
- To develop spectral classification schemes based on dimension reduction algorithms to classify local cellular function and pathology
- To develop locally supported multi-scale (wavelet) representation systems for sparse representation of reproducible features in order to follow changes overtime, particularly for different classes of early pathologic lesions on the order of 100 microns.

This award provides support for the fifth meeting in the series of February Fourier Talks (FFT), held 18-19 February 2010 at the University of Maryland, College Park. The conference encourages and financially supports participation by students, recent Ph.D. recipients, and members of groups underrepresented in mathematics.

The meeting includes invited lectures on topics of current research interest and also encourages poster presentations by students and recent Ph.D. recipients. The conference brings together workers in a variety of different areas of research in harmonic analysis, with emphasis on facilitating the process of making pure mathematics applicable.

Conference web site: http://norbertwiener.umd.edu/FFT/

This award provides support for the sixth meeting in the series of February Fourier Talks (FFT), held 17-18 February 2011 at the University of Maryland, College Park. The conference encourages and financially supports participation by students, recent Ph.D. recipients, and members of groups underrepresented in mathematics.

The meeting includes invited lectures on topics of current research interest and also encourages poster presentations by students and recent Ph.D. recipients. The conference brings together workers in a variety of different areas of research in harmonic analysis, with emphasis on facilitating the process of making pure mathematics applicable.

Conference web site: http://norbertwiener.umd.edu/FFT/

Title: February Fourier Talks 2012

This award provides support for the seventh meeting in the February Fourier
Talks (FFT) series. The 2012 FFT will be held February 16-17, 2012, at the
University of Maryland, College Park. The FFT is a high-level forum for
harmonic analysts to bring their work to scientists from industry and
government agencies. In addition it allows experts in applied and pure
harmonic analysis to get familiar with the latest problems in need of
mathematical formulation and solution. Finally, it introduces young
mathematicians and scientists to applied and pure harmonic analysis. More
information, including a list of speakers and abstracts, registration
information, and an archive of past conferences, can be found at the
conference webpage: www.fft2012.org.

The February Fourier Talks directly encourage dialogue and collaboration
between mathematicians and scientists working in industry and government.
The structure of the conference consists of three main lectures and sixteen
30 minute invited talks. The conference encourages and financially supports
participation by students, recent Ph.D. recipients, and members of groups
underrepresented in mathematics.

Title: February Fourier Talks 2013:
This award provides support for the eighth meeting in the February Fourier Talks (FFT) series and a satellite Workshop on "Phaseless Reconstruction." The 2013 FFT will be held February 21-22, 2013, at the University of Maryland, College Park, and will be followed by the Workshop on Phaseless Reconstruction to be held February 23 - 25, 2013. The FFT is a high-level forum for harmonic analysts to bring their work to scientists from industry and government agencies. In addition, it allows experts in applied and pure harmonic analysis to become familiar with the latest problems in need of mathematical formulation and solution. Finally, it introduces young mathematicians and scientists to applied and pure harmonic analysis. More information, including a list of speakers and abstracts, registration information, and an archive of past conferences, can be found at the conference webpage: www.fft2013.org. The Workshop on Phaseless Reconstruction will bring together researchers from harmonic analysis, quantum information theory, and electrical engineering communities to discuss new development on efficient signal reconstruction from phaseless measurements.

The February Fourier Talks directly encourage dialogue and collaboration between mathematicians and scientists working in industry and government. The structure of the conference consists of three main lectures and sixteen 30 minute invited talks. The conference encourages and financially supports participation by students, recent Ph.D. recipients, and members of groups underrepresented in mathematics. The workshop on Phaseless Reconstruction is structured in a similar manner to the FFT, and allows ample discussion time among the participants. More information, including a list of speakers and abstracts and registration information is available at the workshop webpage: http://www.norbertwiener.umd.edu/FFT/2013/phaseless.html.

This award provides support for the ninth meeting in the February Fourier Talks (FFT) series. The 2014 FFT will be held at the University of Maryland, College Park. The FFT is a high-level forum for harmonic analysts to bring their work to scientists from industry and government agencies. In addition, it allows experts in applied and pure harmonic analysis to become familiar with the latest problems in need of mathematical formulation and solution. Finally, it introduces young mathematicians and scientists to applied and pure harmonic analysis. More information, including a list of speakers and abstracts, registration information, and an archive of past conferences, can be found at the conference webpage: www.fft2014.org.

The February Fourier Talks directly encourage dialogue and collaboration between mathematicians and scientists working in industry and government. The structure of the conference consists of three main lectures, 30 minute invited talks, and a poster session that showcases the work of students (both undergraduate and graduate) as well as postdocs. The conference encourages and financially supports participation by students, recent Ph.D. recipients, and members of groups underrepresented in mathematics.

The research presented in this project resides in threat detection and disaster management. Significant mathematical contributions to this field are still needed, due in part to the ongoing revolution with complex data problems, known as the Big Data paradigm. This project aims to bridge the big data gap, providing added value to the field while simultaneously expanding the impact of modern mathematics. With this point of view, this project studies potentially predictive disaster scenarios, from radioactive leaks, to modern battlefield issues, to natural disasters. However, the notion of threat in this project is not limited to an earthquake, flood, or nuclear explosion, but rather what impedes the people affected by disasters. The project research intends to provide efficient ways of disaster aftermath management.

Algorithmic Threat Detection (ATD) is a predictive concept that must be quantified and effectively designed to address major defense problems. After analysis of recent disaster scenarios, a suite of technologies have been formulated that use mathematics to help mitigate disaster impacts. Machine learning and deep learning are major techniques in this suite, and involve data processing, spectral graph analysis, Schroedinger eigenmap technology with customized non-linear potentials, transport models, and recent innovations, ideas, and results dealing with Fourier scattering transforms, pooling operators, and convolutional neural networks. Essentially, this work develops a toolkit from modern applied harmonic analysis and machine learning. The mathematical rigor in this work will enable us to construct fast and efficient disaster mitigation implementations. The ideas and results proposed here are new and innovative, and the applications to threat detection are timely and relevant. These methods may also impact other areas of science.