Feng Yan, PhD

Alexander M. White, III Postdoctoral Research Fellowship Award
$25,000 over one year

The University of Oklahoma

Human Liver Viability Assessment and Functionality Prediction Using Multimodal Optical Coherence Tomography

Mentor: Qinggong Tang, PhD

Liver transplantation is a critical treatment for patients with end-stage liver disease, yet the number of transplantable livers is far below demand. More than 30% of livers donated after circulatory death are not used due to uncertainty about their quality. Current clinical assessments, such as pathology from biopsies, are invasive, limited to small regions of tissue, and often do not reflect the full liver’s condition. This project seeks to develop and validate a new imaging system that noninvasively scans the entire liver to evaluate its structure and metabolic activity before transplantation. The system combines optical coherence tomography (OCT) a high-resolution imaging technique with intelligent algorithms to measure critical liver features, such as fat, fibrosis, inflammation, necrosis, and function. By correlating these imaging-based biomarkers with standard clinical tests and outcomes, this research aims to improve the ability of transplant teams to select the best livers for transplantation and avoid transplantation failure. Ultimately, the technology could increase the number of usable donor livers, reduce patient death while waiting for transplant, and improve long-term outcomes by enabling timely clinical decisions and postoperative interventions.