​UTP Centre for Intelligent Signal and Imaging Research (CISIR) today organised its inaugural Open Colloquium on Optical Topography and Its Applications at its campus in Seri Iskandar, Perak.

The event was held to strengthen CISIR's position as the country's Higher Institution Centre of Excellence (HICoE) on Neuro Imaging for Biomedical Image Analysis.

Optical topography or functional near-infrared spectroscopy (OT/fNIRS) is a functional brain imaging technique that enables non-invasive measurement of brain activities. In partnership with Hitachi, Ltd. (Japan), CISIR first introduced optical topography technology to Malaysia in 2014.

An OT-HUB was subsequently established by CISIR, UTP (Malaysia) and Hitachi (Japan) on 13 February 2017. Associate Professor Dr Tang Tong Boon, Principal Investigator of OT-HUB and Director, UTP Institute of Health Analytics explained, "OT-Hub is a platform for exploration in OT-related technology and collaborative research on applied brain science. To date, there are 14 projects being carried out by the OT-HUB.   The colloquium aims to serve as a forum for networking and dissemination of the work by OT-Hub collaborators. It is also part of UTP outreach efforts to serve the research and clinical community better."

Over 70 participants from the healthcare industry as well as local and international academic institutions took part in the Colloquium.

It featured eight renowned local and international speakers namely Professor Dr Esther Gunaseli Ebenezer (Royal College of Medicine Perak, University Kuala Lumpur), Professor Dr Patrick Marquié (University of Burgundy, France), Associate Professor Dr Roger Ho (National University of Singapore, Singapore), Associate Professor Dr Chou Yuju (National University of Dong Hwa, Taiwan), and Associate Professor Dr Tang Tong Boon (UTP). Other speakers were Dr Masashi Kiguchi, Dr Tsukasa Funane and Sutoko Stephanie of Hitachi Ltd.