Customizable optical tissue phantom platform for characterization of fluorescence imaging device sensitivity

SIGNIFICANCE: Optical tissue phantoms serve as inanimate and stable reference materials used to calibrate, characterize, standardize, and test biomedical imaging instruments. Although various types of solid tissue phantoms have been described in the literature, current phantom models are limited in that they do not have a depth feature that can be adjusted in real-time, they cannot be adapted to other applications, and their fabrication can be laborious and costly. AIM: Our goal was to develop an optical phantom that could assess the imaging performance of fluorescence imaging devices and be customizable for different applications. APPROACH: We developed a phantom with three distinct components, each of which can be customized. RESULTS: We present a method for fabricating a solid optical tissue that contains (1) an adjustable depth capability using thin film phantoms, (2) a refillable chip loaded with fluorophores of the user’s choice in various desired quantities, and (3) phantom materials representative of different tissue types. CONCLUSIONS: This article describes the development of phantom models that are customizable, adaptable, and easy to design and fabricate.