Professor Eom Tae Joong's research team, affiliated with the Division of Advanced Convergence Studies and the Leading Research Center for Color-Modulated Extrasensory Perception Technology at Pusan National University, has developed a photoacoustic imaging technique for more stable quantification of blood oxygen saturation (sO₂), in collaboration with Caltech's Professor Lihong V. Wang.

The team's Frequency-Domain Photoacoustic Microscopy (FD-PAM) simultaneously irradiates two wavelengths, 488 nm and 515 nm, and separates them using distinct frequency signals via two acousto-optic modulators. This overcomes the temporal mismatch problem common in conventional sequential-wavelength systems, particularly when imaging moving biological tissue.

Validation tests measured oxygen saturation in oxygenated, mixed, and deoxygenated blood samples, with accuracy within ± 1.7%, confirming the system's ability to precisely distinguish different oxygenation states.

Professor Eom noted the study combines Pusan National University's FD-PAM technology with Caltech's expertise in photoacoustic imaging, and expressed plans to further develop the technique into a high-reliability biomedical imaging tool for evaluating drug response and treatment efficacy.

The study's first author is Research Professor Yong-Jae Lee, with Professor Eom as corresponding author and Professor Lihong V. Wang as co-author.

- Authors (Pusan National University)

 · First author: Yong-Jae Lee (Engineering Research Center for Color-modulated Extra-sensory Perception Technology)

 · Corresponding author: Tae Joong Eom (School of Transdisciplinary Engineering, Engineering Research Center for Color-modulated Extra-sensory Perception Technology)

- Title of original paper: Frequency-Domain Photoacoustic Microscopy with Resonant Transducer and Interferometric Modulation for High-reliability sO₂ Imaging

- Journal: Photoacoustics

- Web link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pacs.2026.100834 

- Contact e-mail: eomtj@pusan.ac.kr