Nimmi Ramanujam, Ph.D.

Research Themes

Biomedical & Health Data Sciences, Biomedical Imaging & Biophotonics

Research Interests

Biomedical engineering, biophotonics, women's cancers, global health, engineering design, point of care technologies, metabolic imaging, deep learning, immune modulating therapies.
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Bio

Nirmala (“Nimmi”) Ramanujam is the Robert W. Carr Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Professor of Cancer Pharmacology, Cancer Biology, and Global Health and founder of the Center for Global Women’s Health Technologies (GWHT) at Duke University. Her work addresses access gaps across the cancer care continuum both locally and globally. Her group develops low-cost imaging, artificial intelligence, and digital health platforms to decentralize the early detection of cervical cancer, and immune-based injectables and metabolic biomarkers for breast cancer treatment. Across both programs, she addresses access in different ways—expanding prevention where healthcare infrastructure is limited and improving access to treatment where therapies are available, yet lengthy and prohibitively expensive. She founded Calla Health to translate women’s health technologies into practice and co-developed The (In)visible Organ, a documentary that raises awareness and addresses stigma as barriers to care. She also leads experiential STEM initiatives that train students in systems-based, equity-centered technology development and she has authored a textbook, Biomedical Engineering and Global Health. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors, a Fulbright Scholar, and recipient of a number of awards, notably of the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Innovator Award, the IEEE Biomedical Engineering Technical Field Award and the Anita B social impact award.

Education

• B.S. University of Texas, Austin, 1989
• M.S. University of Texas, Austin, 1992
• Ph.D. University of Texas, Austin, 1995

Positions

• Robert W. Carr, Jr., Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering
• Professor of Biomedical Engineering
• Research Professor of Global Health
• Professor of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology
• Member of the Duke Cancer Institute
• Affiliate of the Duke Initiative for Science & Society
• Core Faculty Member, Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy

Awards, Honors, and Distinctions

• Membership (NAE). National Academy of Engineering. 2026
• Breast Cancer Research Program Innovator Award. US Department of Defense. 2024
• IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award. IEEE. 2023
• The WomC Global Impact Award. Duke University Womenu2019s Center. 2020
• Michael S. Feld Biophotonics . OSA. 2020
• Associate Editor. Inaugural Editorial Board of IEEE OJEMB. 2020
• Women In Molecular Imaging Network (WIMIN) Leadership Committee. WIMIN. 2020
• Social Impact Abie Award. AnitaB.org . 2019
• Program co-leader for Radiation Oncology and Imaging Program. Duke Cancer Institute. 2019
• Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award. International Society for Optics and Photonics. 2019
• Associate Editor. Scientific Reports. 2019
• Women in Molecular Imaging Network Outstanding Leadership in Molecular Imaging Award. World Molecular Imaging Society. 2019
• CUGH Emerging Leader in Global Health Innovation Faculty Award. Consortium of Universities for Global Health. 2018
• Fellow (NAI). National Academy of Inventors. 2017
• Fellow. International Society for Optics and Photonics. 2013
• Fellow. American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. 2012
• Fellow. Optical Society of America. 2010

Courses Taught

• ISS 796T: Bass Connections Information, Society & Culture Research Team
• ISS 396T: Bass Connections Information, Society & Culture Research Team
• BME 792: Continuation of Graduate Independent Study
• BME 791: Graduate Independent Study
• BME 494: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 493: Projects in Biomedical Engineering (GE)
• BME 462L: Design for the Developing World (DR)
• BME 290L: Intermediate Topics with Lab (GE)
• BME 290: Intermediate Topics (GE)

Publications

• Lee T, Richardson-Powell V, Adhikari G, Crouch B, Ramanujam N, Mueller JL. Optimization of injections with speculum-compatible devices to deliver ethyl cellulose-ethanol into the cervix to treat cervical dysplasia. Scientific reports. 2025 Dec;16(1):2834.
• Lee T, Richardson-Powell V, Chen J, Garvey D, Sarojasamhita V, Aroom K, et al. Usability of Speculum-Compatible Injection Devices for Administering Ethyl Cellulose-Ethanol Ablation to Treat Cervical Neoplasia in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Annals of biomedical engineering. 2025 Oct;53(10):2658u201368.
• Ekem L, Skerrett E, Huchko MJ, Ramanujam N. Automated Image Clarity Detection for the Improvement of Colposcopy Imaging with Multiple Devices. Biomed Signal Process Control. 2025 Feb;100(Pt B).
• Mekha S, Sunassee E, Salgado M, Madonna M, Crouch B, Nair S, et al. Multi-probe Metabolic Fluorescence Microscopy Captures Poor Tumor Immunogenicity. In: Optical Molecular Probes Imaging and Drug Delivery Omp 2025 in Proceedings Optica Biophotonics Congress 2025 Part of Optica Biophotonics Congress Optics in the Life Sciences. 2025.
• Ekem L, Skerrett E, Huchko MJ, Ramanujam N. Development of Image Pre-processing Toolbox to Boost Cervical Cancer Detection. In: Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging Proceedings of SPIE. 2025.
• Krieger M, Ramanujam N, Crouch B, Dotson M. PR007/#830u2005 Implementing technology that disrupts health systems but not quality of care: the pocket colposcope. In: Featured Printed Poster Abstracts. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd; 2024. p. A41u2013A41.
• Chelales E, Crouch B, Krieger M, Ramanujam N. PR051/#883u2005 Inducing a double hit to breast tumors using intra-tumoral drug delivery with local ablation. In: Featured Printed Poster Abstracts. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd; 2024. p. A69u201370.
• Ramanujam N, Crouch B. Biomedical Engineering for Global Health Cancer, Inequity, and Technology. Cambridge University Press; 2024.
• Du2019Agostino VW, Deutsch RJ, Kwan M, Sunassee ED, Madonna MC, Palmer GM, et al. In vivo spectroscopy to concurrently characterize five metabolic and vascular endpoints relevant to aggressive breast cancer. Biophotonics Discov. 2024 Jul;1(2).
• Rickard AG, Mowery YM, Bassil A, Rouse DC, Williams NT, Charity T, et al. Evaluating Tumor Hypoxia Radiosensitization Via Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Oxygen Imaging (EPROI). Mol Imaging Biol. 2024 Jun;26(3):435u201347.
• Adhikari G, Sarojasamhita VP, Powell VR, Farooqui A, Budzinski M, Garvey DT, et al. Impact of Injection-Based Delivery Parameters on Local Distribution Volume of Ethyl-Cellulose Ethanol Gel in Tissue and Tissue Mimicking Phantoms. IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering. 2024 May;71(5):1488u201398.
• Wang R, Ekem L, Gallagher J, Factor RE, Hall A, Ramanujam N. A color-based tumor segmentation method for clinical ex vivo breast tissue assessment utilizing a multi-contrast brightfield imaging strategy. J Biophotonics. 2024 May;17(5):e202300241.
• Du2019Agostino VW, Kwan M, Madonna MC, Crouch BT, Ramanujam N. A Multiplexed Quantitative Spectroscopy Method to Measure Spectrally Overlapping Metabolic Fluorophores. In: Novel Optical Materials and Applications Noma 2024 in Proceedings Advanced Photonics Congress 2024 Part of Optica Advanced Photonics Congress. 2024.
• Quang TT, Yang J, Kaluzienski ML, Parrish A, Farooqui A, Katz D, et al. In Vivo Evaluation of Safety and Efficacy of Ethyl Cellulose-Ethanol Tissue Ablation in a Swine Cervix Model. Bioengineering (Basel, Switzerland). 2023 Oct;10(11):1246.
• Sunassee ED, Jardim-Perassi BV, Madonna MC, Ordway B, Ramanujam N. Metabolic Imaging as a Tool to Characterize Chemoresistance and Guide Therapy in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). Molecular cancer researchu202f: MCR. 2023 Oct;21(10):995u20131009.
• Quang TT, Yang J, Mikhail AS, Wood BJ, Ramanujam N, Mueller JL. Locoregional Thermal and Chemical Tumor Ablation: Review of Clinical Applications and Potential Opportunities for Use in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. JCO global oncology. 2023 Aug;9:e2300155.
• Natarajan J, Krieger M, Ramanujam N, Vashist S, Bhatla N. Feasibility and Outcome of Training Field Workers to Use the Transvaginal Colposcope for Point of Care Diagnosis and Management of Precancerous Cervical Lesions. Indian Journal of Gynecologic Oncology. 2023 Mar 1;21(1).
• Sunassee ED, Maydew E, Crouch B, Madonna M, Palmer GM, Ramanujam N. Abstract P6-01-01: Validation of an Optical Imaging Platform to Identify Metabolic Vulnerabilities in Chemo-Resistant and Sensitive Tumors. In: Cancer Research. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR); 2023.
• Sunassee ED, Crouch B, Madonna M, Palmer G, Ramanujam N. In Vivo Metabolic Imaging Reveals Mitochondrial Membrane Potential Reprogramming During Residual Disease Following Chemotherapy. In: Optical Molecular Probes Imaging and Drug Delivery Omp 2023. 2023.
• Wang R, Deutsch RJ, Sunassee ED, Crouch BT, Ramanujam N. Adaptive Design of Fluorescence Imaging Systems for Custom Resolution, Fields of View, and Geometries. BME frontiers. 2023 Jan;4:0005.
• Breen KC, Dotson ME, Madonna MC, Asturias G, Peu00f1a DM, Springate H, et al. Community-Centered Design Thinking as a Scalable Stem Learning Intervention. Advances in Engineering Education. 2023 Jan 1;11(2):2u201333.
• Deutsch RJ, Wang R, Sunassee ED, Madonna MC, Crouch BT, Ramanujam N. Development of a multi-scale platform to quantify metabolic heterogeneity in vivo. In: Optical Molecular Probes Imaging and Drug Delivery Omp 2023. 2023.
• Natarajan J, Mathur S, Vishnubhatla S, Kumar S, Vashist S, Ramanujam N, et al. Can portable Colposcopes Replace Standard-of-care Colposcopes? A Crossover Trial of Two Portable Colposcopes with a Standard-of-Care Video Colposcope. Asian Pacific journal of cancer preventionu202f: APJCP. 2022 Dec;23(12):4013u201321.
• Coole JB, Brenes D, Possati-Resende JC, Antoniazzi M, Fonseca BDO, Maker Y, et al. Development of a multimodal mobile colposcope for real-time cervical cancer detection. Biomedical optics express. 2022 Oct;13(10):5116u201330.
• Madonna MC, Duer JE, McKinney BJ, Sunassee ED, Crouch BT, Ilkayeva O, et al. In vivo metabolic imaging identifies lipid vulnerability in a preclinical model of Her2+/Neu breast cancer residual disease and recurrence. NPJ Breast Cancer. 2022 Sep 26;8(1):111.
• Nief CA, Swartz AM, Chelales E, Sheu LY, Crouch BT, Ramanujam N, et al. Ethanol Ablation Therapy Drives Immune-Mediated Antitumor Effects in Murine Breast Cancer Models. Cancers (Basel). 2022 Sep 25;14(19).
• Ramanujam N, Madonna M. Editorial overview: Biomedical engineering and women's health: Breaking new ground in gender- and sex-specific research. Current Opinion in Biomedical Engineering. 2022 Jun 1;22.
• Deutsch RJ, Du2019Agostino VW, Sunassee ED, Kwan M, Madonna MC, Palmer G, et al. A Spectroscopic Technique to Simultaneously Characterize Fatty Acid Uptake, Mitochondrial Activity, Vascularity, and Oxygen Saturation for Longitudinal Studies In Vivo. Metabolites. 2022 Apr 19;12(5).
• Solingapuram Sai KK, Chen X, Li Z, Zhu C, Shukla K, Forshaw TE, et al. [18F]Fluoro-DCP, a first generation PET radiotracer for monitoring protein sulfenylation in vivo. Redox Biol. 2022 Feb;49:102218.
• Gupta A, Brown E, Davis JT, Sekabira J, Ramanujam N, Mueller J, et al. KeyLoop: Mechanical Retraction of the Abdominal Wall for Gasless Laparoscopy. Surg Innov. 2022 Feb;29(1):88u201397.
• Perez L, Tran K, Alvarenga-Bezerra V, Chadha D, Dotson L, Assir F, et al. Cervical Cancer-Related Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices and Self-Screening Acceptance Among Patients, Employees, and Social Media Followers of Major Brazilian Hospital. Cancer controlu202f: journal of the Moffitt Cancer Center. 2022 Jan;29:10732748221135440.
• Agudogo J, Nief C, Gonzales A, Chelales E, Previs R, Mueller J, et al. A novel point-of-care ethyl cellulose ethanol ablative therapy for the enhancement of paclitaxel in local recurrent cervical cancer treatment. In: GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY. 2022. p. S162u2013S162.
• Skerrett E, Miao Z, Asiedu MN, Richards M, Crouch B, Sapiro G, et al. Multicontrast Pocket Colposcopy Cervical Cancer Diagnostic Algorithm for Referral Populations. BME frontiers. 2022 Jan;2022:9823184.
• Shin MB, Garcia PJ, Dotson ME, Valderrama M, Chiappe M, Ramanujam N, et al. Evaluation of Women's Empowerment in a Community-Based Human Papillomavirus Self-Sampling Social Entrepreneurship Program (Hope Project) in Peru: A Mixed-Method Study. Frontiers in public health. 2022 Jan;10:858552.
• Lai Y-HE, Morhard R, Ramanujam N, Nolan MW. Minimally invasive ethyl cellulose ethanol ablation in domesticated cats with naturally occurring head and neck cancers: Six cats. Veterinary and comparative oncology. 2021 Sep;19(3):492u2013500.
• Mueller JL, Morhard R, DeSoto M, Chelales E, Yang J, Nief C, et al. Optimizingufeff ethyl cellulose-ethanol delivery towards enabling ablation of cervical dysplasia. Sci Rep. 2021 Aug 19;11(1):16869.
• Mueller JL, Rozman N, Sunassee ED, Gupta A, Schuval C, Biswas A, et al. An Accessible Laparoscope for Surgery in Low- and Middle- Income Countries. Ann Biomed Eng. 2021 Jul;49(7):1657u201369.
• Rossman AH, Reid HW, Pieters MM, Mizelle C, von Isenburg M, Ramanujam N, et al. Digital Health Strategies for Cervical Cancer Control in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review of Current Implementations and Gaps in Research. J Med Internet Res. 2021 May 27;23(5):e23350.
• Nief CA, Agudogo JS, Gonzales A, Previs RA, Nair SK, Ramanujam N. Resetting the tumor microenvironment to favor anti-tumor immunity after local ablation. In: Journal of Clinical Oncology. American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO); 2021. p. 2561u20132561.
• Agudogo J, Asiedu M, Ramanujam N, Dotson ME. Development and utilization of a novel cervical visualization tool, the Callascope, for home-based self-exams. In: GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY. 2021. p. S128u20139.
• Thoumi A, Bond SJ, Dotson ME, Krieger M, Garcia PJ, Ramanujam N. Policy Considerations to Promote Equitable Cervical Cancer Screening and Treatment in Peru. Annals of global health. 2021 Jan;87(1):116.
• Rossman AH, Reid HW, Pieters MM, Mizelle C, von Isenburg M, Ramanujam N, et al. Digital Health Strategies for Cervical Cancer Control in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Systematic Review of Current Implementations and Gaps in Research (Preprint). 2020 Aug 17;
• Morhard R, Mueller JL, Tang Q, Nief C, Chelales E, Lam CT, et al. Understanding Factors Governing Distribution Volume of Ethyl Cellulose-Ethanol to Optimize Ablative Therapy in the Liver. IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering. 2020 Aug;67(8):2337u201348.
• Asiedu MN, Skerrett E, Sapiro G, Ramanujam N. Combining multiple contrasts for improving machine learning-based classification of cervical cancers with a low-cost point-of-care Pocket colposcope. In: Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Annual International Conference. 2020. p. 1148u201351.
• Bowden AK, Durr NJ, Erickson D, Ozcan A, Ramanujam N, Jacques PV. Optical Technologies for Improving Healthcare in Low-Resource Settings: introduction to the feature issue. Biomedical optics express. 2020 Jun;11(6):3091u20134.
• Madonna MC, Duer J, Fox D, Alvarez J, Ramanujam N. In vivo metabolic imaging reveals mitochondrial membrane potential reprogramming following Her2-targeted therapy and dormant disease. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2020.
• Wang R, Deutsch R, Alvarez DA, Lam C, Crouch BT, Haystead T, et al. Leveraging surface Hsp90 expression for rapid-on-site breast cancer diagnostics. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2020.
• Asiedu MN, Simhal A, Chaudhary U, Mueller JL, Lam CT, Schmitt JW, et al. Development of Algorithms for Automated Detection of Cervical Pre-Cancers With a Low-Cost, Point-of-Care, Pocket Colposcope. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2019 Aug;66(8):2306u201318.
• Madonna MC, Fox DB, Crouch BT, Lee J, Zhu C, Martinez AF, et al. Optical Imaging of Glucose Uptake and Mitochondrial Membrane Potential to Characterize Her2 Breast Tumor Metabolic Phenotypes. Molecular cancer researchu202f: MCR. 2019 Jul;17(7):1545u201355.
• Zhu C, Li M, Vincent T, Martin HL, Crouch BT, Martinez AF, et al. Simultaneous in vivo optical quantification of key metabolic and vascular endpoints reveals tumor metabolic diversity in murine breast tumor models. J Biophotonics. 2019 Apr;12(4):e201800372.
• Crouch BT, Gallagher J, Wang R, Duer J, Hall A, Soo MS, et al. Exploiting heat shock protein expression to develop a non-invasive diagnostic tool for breast cancer. Sci Rep. 2019 Mar 5;9(1):3461.
• Mueller JL, Lam CT, Dahl D, Asiedu MN, Krieger MS, Bellido-Fuentes Y, et al. Portable Pocket colposcopy performs comparably to standard-of-care clinical colposcopy using acetic acid and Lugol's iodine as contrast mediators: an investigational study in Peru. BJOG. 2018 Sep;125(10):1321u20139.
• Zhu C, Martin HL, Crouch BT, Martinez AF, Li M, Palmer GM, et al. Near-simultaneous quantification of glucose uptake, mitochondrial membrane potential, and vascular parameters in murine flank tumors using quantitative diffuse reflectance and fluorescence spectroscopy. Biomed Opt Express. 2018 Jul 1;9(7):3399u2013412.
• Palmer GM, Zhang H, Lee C-T, Mikati H, Herbert JA, Krieger M, et al. Assessing effects of pressure on tumor and normal tissue physiology using an automated self-calibrated, pressure-sensing probe for diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. J Biomed Opt. 2018 May;23(5):1u20138.
• Martinez AF, McCachren SS, Lee M, Murphy HA, Zhu C, Crouch BT, et al. Metaboloptics: Visualization of the tumor functional landscape via metabolic and vascular imaging. Sci Rep. 2018 Mar 8;8(1):4171.
• Lam CT, Mueller J, Asma B, Asiedu M, Krieger MS, Chitalia R, et al. An integrated strategy for improving contrast, durability, and portability of a Pocket Colposcope for cervical cancer screening and diagnosis. PLoS One. 2018;13(2):e0192530.
• Ramanujam N. Preventing over treatment through smart health technologies. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2018.
• Zhu C, Martin HL, Li M, Crouch B, Martinez AF, Palmer GM, et al. Non-invasive, simultaneous quantification of vascular oxygenation, glucose uptake and mitochondria membrane potential in a flank tumor model. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2018.
• Asiedu MN, Simhal A, Lam CT, Mueller J, Chaudhary U, Schmitt JW, et al. Image processing and machine learning techniques to automate diagnosis of Lugol's iodine cervigrams for a low-cost point-of-care digital colposcope. In: Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging Proceedings of SPIE. 2018.
• Crouch BT, Duer J, Wang R, Gallagher J, Hall A, Soo MS, et al. Optimizing fluorescently-tethered Hsp90 inhibitor dose for maximal specific uptake by breast tumors. In: Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging Proceedings of SPIE. 2018.
• Mueller JL, Lam CT, Kellish M, Peters J, Asiedu M, Krieger MS, et al. Clinical evaluation of a portable pocket colposcope for cervical cancer screening in the United States, Peru00fa, and Tanzania. In: 2017 IEEE Healthcare Innovations and Point of Care Technologies Hi Poct 2017. 2017. p. 117u201320.
• Hu F, Martin H, Martinez A, Everitt J, Erkanli A, Lee WT, et al. Distinct Angiogenic Changes during Carcinogenesis Defined by Novel Label-Free Dark-Field Imaging in a Hamster Cheek Pouch Model. Cancer Res. 2017 Dec 15;77(24):7109u201319.
• Crouch B, Murphy H, Belonwu S, Martinez A, Gallagher J, Hall A, et al. Leveraging ectopic Hsp90 expression to assay the presence of tumor cells and aggressive tumor phenotypes in breast specimens. Sci Rep. 2017 Dec 13;7(1):17487.
• Zhu C, Martinez AF, Martin HL, Li M, Crouch BT, Carlson DA, et al. Near-simultaneous intravital microscopy of glucose uptake and mitochondrial membrane potential, key endpoints that reflect major metabolic axes in cancer. Sci Rep. 2017 Oct 23;7(1):13772.
• Morhard R, Nief C, Barrero Castedo C, Hu F, Madonna M, Mueller JL, et al. Development of enhanced ethanol ablation as an alternative to surgery in treatment of superficial solid tumors. Sci Rep. 2017 Aug 18;7(1):8750.
• Asiedu M, Kreiger M, Schmitt JW, Ramanujam N, Miros R, Proeschold-Bell RJ. Design and preliminary analysis of a vaginal inserter for speculum-free cervical cancer screening. 2017.
• Mueller JL, Asma E, Lam CT, Krieger MS, Gallagher JE, Erkanli A, et al. International Image Concordance Study to Compare a Point-of-Care Tampon Colposcope With a Standard-of-Care Colposcope. J Low Genit Tract Dis. 2017 Apr;21(2):112u20139.
• Nichols BS, Llopis A, Palmer GM, McCachren SS, Senlik O, Miller D, et al. Miniature spectral imaging device for wide-field quantitative functional imaging of the morphological landscape of breast tumor margins. J Biomed Opt. 2017 Feb 1;22(2):26007.
• Zhu C, Martinez AF, Li M, Martin HL, Crouch B, Hu F, et al. Imaging of 2-NBDG and TMRE reveals glucose uptake and mitochondrial membrane potential in dorsal window chamber models. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2017.
• Asiedu MN, Agudogo J, Krieger MS, Miros R, Proeschold-Bell RJ, Schmitt JW, et al. Design and preliminary analysis of a vaginal inserter for speculum-free cervical cancer screening. PLoS One. 2017;12(5):e0177782.
• Hu F, Vishwanath K, Salama JK, Erkanli A, Peterson B, Oleson JR, et al. Oxygen and Perfusion Kinetics in Response to Fractionated Radiation Therapy in FaDu Head and Neck Cancer Xenografts Are Related to Treatment Outcome. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2016 Oct 1;96(2):462u20139.
• Hu F, Morhard R, Murphy HA, Zhu C, Ramanujam N. Dark field optical imaging reveals vascular changes in an inducible hamster cheek pouch model during carcinogenesis. Biomedical optics express. 2016 Sep;7(9):3247u201361.
• Chitalia R, Mueller J, Fu HL, Whitley MJ, Kirsch DG, Brown JQ, et al. Algorithms for differentiating between images of heterogeneous tissue across fluorescence microscopes. Biomed Opt Express. 2016 Sep 1;7(9):3412u201324.
• Mueller JL, Gallagher JE, Chitalia R, Krieger M, Erkanli A, Willett RM, et al. Rapid staining and imaging of subnuclear features to differentiate between malignant and benign breast tissues at a point-of-care setting. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2016 Jul;142(7):1475u201386.
• Ramanujam N. WE-FG-201-01: Patient Centric Technologies for Diagnosis of Breast and Cervical Cancer. Medical physics. 2016 Jun;43(6):3822.
• Kennedy S, Caldwell M, Bydlon T, Mulvey C, Mueller J, Wilke L, et al. Correlation of breast tissue histology and optical signatures to improve margin assessment techniques. J Biomed Opt. 2016 Jun 1;21(6):66014.
• Hu F, Morhard R, Liu H, Murphy H, Farsiu S, Ramanujam N. Label-free vascular imaging in a spontaneous hamster cheek pouch carcinogen model for pre-cancer detectionn(Conference Presentation). In: Alfano RR, Demos SG, editors. Optical Biopsy XIV: Toward Real-Time Spectroscopic Imaging and Diagnosis. SPIE; 2016. p. 42u201342.
• Boas DA, Pitris C, Ramanujam N. Handbook of biomedical optics. 2016.
• Nichols BS, McCachren SS, Palmer GM, Ramanujam N. Portable system for wide-field, sub-millimeter functional imaging of the morphological landscape of breast tumor margins. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2016.
• Fu HL, Mueller JL, Whitley MJ, Cardona DM, Willett RM, Kirsch DG, et al. Structured Illumination Microscopy and a Quantitative Image Analysis for the Detection of Positive Margins in a Pre-Clinical Genetically Engineered Mouse Model of Sarcoma. 2016.
• Lazarides AL, Whitley MJ, Strasfeld DB, Cardona DM, Ferrer JM, Mueller JL, et al. A Fluorescence-Guided Laser Ablation System for Removal of Residual Cancer in a Mouse Model of Soft Tissue Sarcoma. Theranostics. 2016;6(2):155u201366.
• Zhu C, Martinez AF, Hu F, Li M, Madonna MC, Lee M, et al. Integrated dual-modal microscope for imaging of key metabolic and vascular endpoints in preclinical cancer models. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2016.
• Martinez AF, McCachren SS, Lee M, Murphy HA, Rajaram N, Dewhirst MW, et al. Hyperspectral imaging of glucose uptake, mitochondrial membrane potential, and vascular oxygenation differentiates breast cancers with distinct metastatic potential in vivo. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2016.
• Rajaram N, Murphy HA, Ramanujam N. Abstract B45: Optical spectroscopy of tumor oxygenation and metabolism in preclinical head and neck tumors that fail radiation therapy. In: Molecular Cancer Research. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR); 2016. p. B45u2013B45.
• Mueller JL, Fu HL, Mito JK, Whitley MJ, Chitalia R, Erkanli A, et al. A quantitative microscopic approach to predict local recurrence based on in vivo intraoperative imaging of sarcoma tumor margins. Int J Cancer. 2015 Nov 15;137(10):2403u201312.
• Dobbs JL, Mueller JL, Krishnamurthy S, Shin D, Kuerer H, Yang W, et al. Micro-anatomical quantitative optical imaging: toward automated assessment of breast tissues. Breast cancer researchu202f: BCR. 2015 Aug;17:105.
• Leitgeb RA, Andersen PE, Popp J, Ramanujam N, Svanberg K. Light for Life: International Year of Light 2015. Journal of biomedical optics. 2015 Jun;20(6):061101.
• Ramanujam N. Data from: Design of a novel low cost point of care tampon (POCkeT) colposcope for use in resource limited settings. 2015.
• Nichols B, Brown JQ, Schindler CE, Wilke LG, Mulvey CS, Krieger MS, et al. Data for manuscript "A Quantitative Diffuse Reflectance Imaging (QDRI) System for Comprehensive Surveillance of the Morphological Landscape in Breast Tumor Margins". 2015.
• Nichols BS, Schindler CE, Brown JQ, Wilke LG, Mulvey CS, Krieger MS, et al. A Quantitative Diffuse Reflectance Imaging (QDRI) System for Comprehensive Surveillance of the Morphological Landscape in Breast Tumor Margins. PLoS One. 2015;10(6):e0127525.
• Rajaram N, Reesor AF, Mulvey CS, Frees AE, Ramanujam N. Non-invasive, simultaneous quantification of vascular oxygenation and glucose uptake in tissue. PloS one. 2015 Jan;10(1):e0117132.
• Lam CT, Krieger MS, Gallagher JE, Asma B, Muasher LC, Schmitt JW, et al. Design of a Novel Low Cost Point of Care Tampon (POCkeT) Colposcope for Use in Resource Limited Settings. PLoS One. 2015;10(9):e0135869.
• Bydlon TM, Nachabu00e9 R, Ramanujam N, Sterenborg HJCM, Hendriks BHW. Chromophore based analyses of steady-state diffuse reflectance spectroscopy: current status and perspectives for clinical adoption. Journal of biophotonics. 2015 Jan;8(1u20132):9u201324.
• Hu F, Vishwanath K, Beumer HW, Puscas L, Afshari HR, Esclamado RM, et al. Assessment of the sensitivity and specificity of tissue-specific-based and anatomical-based optical biomarkers for rapid detection of human head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Oral Oncol. 2014 Sep;50(9):848u201356.
• Yu B, Ramanujam N. Quantitative diffuse reflectance imaging of tumor margins. In: Biomedical Photonics Handbook. 2014. p. 565u201386.
• Yu B, Shah A, Wang B, Rajaram N, Wang Q, Ramanujam N, et al. Measuring tumor cycling hypoxia and angiogenesis using a side-firing fiber optic probe. J Biophotonics. 2014 Jul;7(7):552u201364.
• Rajaram N, Ramanujam N. One-Photon Autofluorescence Microscopy. In: Natural Biomarkers for Cellular Metabolism Biology Techniques and Applications. 2014. p. 67u201376.
• Frees AE, Rajaram N, McCachren SS, Fontanella AN, Dewhirst MW, Ramanujam N. Delivery-corrected imaging of fluorescently-labeled glucose reveals distinct metabolic phenotypes in murine breast cancer. PLoS One. 2014;9(12):e115529.
• Frees A, Rajaram N, McCachren S, Vaz A, Dewhirst M, Ramanujam N. Optical monitoring of glucose demand and vascular delivery in a preclinical murine model. In: Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging Proceedings of SPIE. 2014.
• Vo-Dinh T. Preface. In 2014. p. ixu2013xi.
• Fu HL, Mueller JL, Javid M, Kirsch DG, Ramanujam N, Brown JQ. Optimization of illumination frequency and preclinical validation of a wide-field structured illumination microscope designed for imaging in situ tumor margins. CLEO Applications and Technology CLEO at 2013. 2013 Nov 19;ATh1N.3.
• Barrott JJ, Smith AP, Osada T, Ramanujam N, Zalutsky MR, Lyerly K, et al. Abstract C86: Tethered Hsp90 inhibitors carrying optical or radioiodinated probes reveal selective internalization of ectopic Hsp90 in malignant breast tumor cells. In: Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. American Association for Cancer Research (AACR); 2013. p. C86u2013C86.
• Barrott JJ, Hughes PF, Osada T, Yang X-Y, Hartman ZC, Loiselle DR, et al. Optical and radioiodinated tethered Hsp90 inhibitors reveal selective internalization of ectopic Hsp90 in malignant breast tumor cells. Chem Biol. 2013 Sep 19;20(9):1187u201397.
• Mueller JL, Harmany ZT, Mito JK, Kennedy SA, Kim Y, Dodd L, et al. Quantitative segmentation of fluorescence microscopy images of heterogeneous tissue: Approach for tuning algorithm parameters. Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging Proceedings of SPIE. 2013 May 27;8587.
• Yu B, Shah A, Wang B, Rajaram N, Wang Q, Ramanujam N, et al. Monitoring of cycling hypoxia and angiogenesis in FaDu head and neck tumors using a side-firing sensor. Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging Proceedings of SPIE. 2013 May 27;8578.
• Brown JQ, Dodd L, Geradts J, Harmany Z, Kennedy S, Kim Y, et al. Data set for "Quantitative segmentation of fluorescence microscopy images of heterogeneous tissue: Application to the detection of residual disease in tumor margins". 2013.
• Mueller J, Harmany Z, Mito J, Kennedy S, Kim Y, Dodd L, et al. Data set for "Quantitative segmentation of fluorescence microscopy images of heterogeneous tissue: Application to the detection of residual disease in tumor margins". 2013.
• Zhong J, Rajaram N, Brizel DM, Frees AE, Ramanujam N, Batinic-Haberle I, et al. Radiation induces aerobic glycolysis through reactive oxygen species. Radiother Oncol. 2013 Mar;106(3):390u20136.
• Fu HL, Mueller JL, Javid M, Kirsch DG, Ramanujam N, Brown JQ. Optimization of illumination frequency and preclinical validation of a wide-field structured illumination microscope designed for imaging in situ tumor margins. 2013 Conference on Lasers and Electro Optics CLEO 2013. 2013 Jan 1;
• Mueller JL, Harmany ZT, Mito JK, Kennedy SA, Kim Y, Dodd L, et al. Quantitative Segmentation of Fluorescence Microscopy Images of Heterogeneous Tissue: Application to the Detection of Residual Disease in Tumor Margins. PLoS One. 2013;8(6):e66198.
• Fu HL, Mueller JL, Javid MP, Mito JK, Kirsch DG, Ramanujam N, et al. Optimization of a widefield structured illumination microscope for non-destructive assessment and quantification of nuclear features in tumor margins of a primary mouse model of sarcoma. PLoS One. 2013;8(7):e68868.
• Brown JQ, Bydlon TM, Kennedy SA, Caldwell ML, Gallagher JE, Junker M, et al. Optical spectral surveillance of breast tissue landscapes for detection of residual disease in breast tumor margins. PLoS One. 2013;8(7):e69906.
• Lo JY, Brown JQ, Dhar S, Yu B, Palmer GM, Jokerst NM, et al. Wavelength optimization for quantitative spectral imaging of breast tumor margins. PLoS One. 2013;8(4):e61767.
• Hu F, Vishwanath K, Lo J, Erkanli A, Mulvey C, Lee WT, et al. Rapid determination of oxygen saturation and vascularity for cancer detection. PLoS One. 2013;8(12):e82977.
• Rajaram N, Frees AE, Fontanella AN, Zhong J, Hansen K, Dewhirst MW, et al. Delivery rate affects uptake of a fluorescent glucose analog in murine metastatic breast cancer. PLoS One. 2013;8(10):e76524.
• Vishwanath K, Palmer G, Brown Q, Ramanujam N. Noninvasive and Quantitative Sensing of Tumor Physiology and Function via Steady-State Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy. In: BIOSENSORS AND MOLECULAR TECHNOLOGIES FOR CANCER DIAGNOSTICS. 2012. p. 187u2013208.
• Farahani K, Siewerdsen J, Agar N, Ramanujam N. Image-Guided Oncologic Surgery. In: MEDICAL PHYSICS. 2012. p. 4014u20134014.
• Ramanujam N, Popp J. Introduction. Progress in Biomedical Optics and Imaging Proceedings of SPIE. 2011 Jul 25;8087.
• Chang VTC, Cartwright P, Ramanujam N. In Vivo estimation of total hemoglobin concentration and hemoglobin saturation in the detection of cervical epithelial pre-cancers. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2007.
• Gill EM, Ivarie CA, Eliceiri KW, Ramanujam N, White JG, Allen-Hoffmann BL. Imaging human stratified squamous epithelia using nonlinear optical microscopy. JOURNAL OF INVESTIGATIVE DERMATOLOGY. 2006 Apr 1;126:64u201364.
• Palmer GM, Ramanujam N. Use of genetic algorithms to optimize fiber optic probe design for the extraction of tissue optical properties. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2006.
• Ramanujam N, Quincy Brown J. Physiologic, metabolic, and structural alterations in breast cancer: Assessment via optical technologies. Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2006 Jan 1;
• Ramanujam N, Brown JQ. Physiologic, metabolic, and structural alterations in breast cancer: Assessment via optical technologies. Optics InfoBase Conference Papers. 2006 Jan 1;
• Ramanujam N, Brown JQ. Physiologic, Metabolic, and Structural Alterations in Breast Cancer: Assessment via Optical Technologies. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2006.
• Ramanujam N, Quincy Brown J. Physiologic, metabolic, and structural alterations in breast cancer: Assessment via optical technologies. Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2006 Jan 1;
• Chiles S, Roldan-Perez K, Riching K, Palmer G, Ramanujam N. Effect of optical clearing agents on the optical properties of squamous epithelial tissue. In: LASERS IN SURGERY AND MEDICINE. WILEY-LISS; 2006. p. 2u20132.
• Ramanujam N, Brown JQ. Physiologic, metabolic, and structural alterations in breast cancer: Assessment via optical technologies. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2006.
• Zhu C, Palmer G, Ramanujam N. The use of a multi-separation probe for optical diagnosis of breast cancer. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2004.
• Gill EM, Ramanujam N, Ivarie CA, Squirrell JM, Allen-Hoffmann BL. Imaging collagen in a dermal equivalent using multi-photon microscopy. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2004.
• Skala MC, Vrotsos KM, Ramanujam N, Squirrell JM, Eliceiri KW, Gendron-Fitzpatrick A. Multiphoton imaging of endogenous fluorescence in neoplastic and non-neoplastic epithelial tissues. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2004.
• Palmer GM, Liu Q, Ramanujam N, Zhu C, Breslin TM, Xu F, et al. Monte Carlo based inverse model of diffuse reflectance for determination of UV-VIS optical properties and its application to breast cancer diagnosis. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2004.
• Choe R, Durduran T, Yu G, Nijland MJM, Chance B, Yodh AG, et al. Transabdominal Near-infrared Fetal Brain Oximetry. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2004.
• Ramanujam N. Sources of optical contrast in biological tissues. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2003.
• Breslin TM, Palmer G, Fang C, Gilchrist KW, Xu F, Ramanujam N. Auto fluorescence and diffuse reflectance properties of malignant and benign breast tissues. In: ANNALS OF SURGICAL ONCOLOGY. LIPPINCOTT WILLIAMS & WILKINS; 2003. p. S16u2013S16.
• Ramanujam N, Quan L. Relationship between the depth of a target in a turbid medium and the fluorescence measured using a variable aperture method. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2002. p. 488u201390.
• Choe R, Holboke M, Yodh AG, Vishnoi G, Ramanujam N, Chance B. Comparison between homogeneous and Two-layer model for spectroscopic measurement of fetal cerebral blood oxygenation in-utero. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2000. p. 262u20134.
• Ramanujam N, Gossage K, Chen J, Richads-Kortum R, Chance B. Fast and non-invasive fluorescence imaging from biological signals, in vivo using a flying spot scanner. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 2000. p. 511u20133.
• Ramanujam N, Long H, Rode M, Forouzan I, Morgan M, Chance B. Antepartum, transabdominal near infrared spectroscopy: Feasibility of measuring photon migration through the fetal head in utero. Journal of Maternal Fetal and Neonatal Medicine. 1999 Jan 1;8(6):275u201388.
• Ramanujam N, Li Y, Chance B, Heintzelman D, Richards-Kortum R, Thomsen S, et al. Relationship between tissue redox potentials and hemoglobin oxygenation based on fluorescence of NADH / FAD and absorption spectroscopy of oxy / deoxy hemoglobin. In: Optics Infobase Conference Papers. 1998. p. 208u201310.
• THOMSEN S, RAMANUJAM N, MAHADEVAN A, FOLLENMITCHELL M, RICHARDSKORTUM R. PATHOLOGICAL CORRELATES OF DIAGNOSTIC FLUORESCENCE SPECTROSCOPY OF HUMAN CERVICAL LESIONS MEASURED IN-VIVO. In: LABORATORY INVESTIGATION. 1994. p. A96u2013A96.
• Falletta JM, Ramanujam N, Starling KA, Fernbach DJ. Ig-positive lymphocytes in Hodgkin's disease. N Engl J Med. 1973 Mar 15;288(11):581u20132.

In The News

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• Dukeu2019s Nimmi Ramanujam Earns National Academy of Engineering Honor (Feb 10, 2026 | Duke Today)
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• Pratt professor receives $10.4 million Defense Department grant for breast cancer research (Nov 12, 2024 | The Chronicle, Duke University)
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• The Human Dimension (Apr 30, 2020 | Diversity In Action Magazine)
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• Research Integrity Interviews Series: u201cIf you treat people with integrity, you will treat science with integrityu201d (Feb 25, 2020 | )
• UICC and WISH Project in the top 100 proposals selected by the MacArthur Foundation (Feb 24, 2020 | )
• Women's Health: It's Personal for Nimmi Ramanujam (Jan 28, 2020 | School of Medicine)
• How Tech Can Lead to Social Innovation: An Interview With Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam (Sep 23, 2019 | )
• The Gynecological Exam is Finally Getting a Makeover (Sep 16, 2019 | Medium)
• Meet Dr. Nimmi Ramanujam, Social Impact Abie Award Winner (Aug 27, 2019 | Anita B.org)
• Announcing the 2019 Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge Winners. (May 20, 2019 | Cisco)
• A Breakthrough in Cervical Cancer Treatment Inspires a Ruby Art Exhibit (Feb 27, 2019 | Duke Arts)
• The Road to Biomedical Engineering Went Through Brahms (Oct 9, 2018 | Duke Arts)
• Three Engineers Named to National Academy of Inventors (Dec 13, 2017 | )
• Duke Team's Portable Screening Device Takes Aim at Preventable Cervical Cancer Deaths (Feb 15, 2017 | Duke Global Health Institute)
• Researchers Aim to Make Cervical Cancer Screening Accessible to All (Dec 19, 2016 | )
• New Collaborative Seed Grant Program Gives Eight Awards (Mar 16, 2016 | )
• Duke Announces 2015 Distinguished Professors (May 1, 2015 | )
• DukeEngage Adds California-Based Programs Targeting Homeless and At-Risk Youth (Oct 2, 2014 | )
• Lab of Entrepreneurial Engineers (Sep 19, 2014 | )
• Global Research, Domestic Benefits (Jan 13, 2014 | )
• Duke Launches Global Womens Health Technologies Center (Oct 23, 2013 | )
• Ramanujam Promoted to SPIE Fellow (Jun 7, 2013 | )