Dr Rickson C. Mesquita

School of Computer Science
Associate Professor

Contact details

Email: r.c.mesquita@bham.ac.uk

Address: School of Computer Science
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham
B15 2TT
UK

Rickson Mesquita is an Associate Professor of Medical Imaging at the School of Computer Science. His research focuses on developing and combining computational methods, biophysical modelling, and instrumentation for measuring brain function. He is particularly interested in diffuse optical techniques, such as functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS). His research interests span a wide range of fNIRS/DCS applications in Neuroscience and Medicine.

See Rickson Mesquita’s web page for more information.

Qualifications

Lecturer in Computer Science and Biomedical Optics:

PhD in Biomedical Optics, 2009
MSc in Applied Physics, 2005
BSc in Physics, 2002

Biography

Dr Mesquita earned his B.Sc. in Physics and, subsequently, his Ph.D. at the University of Campinas (UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil) after spending a year as a visiting researcher in the Optics Division at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH, Boston, USA). He then progressed to a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania (UPenn, Philadelphia, USA). Following his fellowship, Dr Mesquita returned to UNICAMP, dedicating over a decade to his role as Professor of Physics. During his time there, he led the Biomedical Optics Lab, pioneering research utilising diffuse optical techniques within functional Neuroscience and other clinical domains across South America.

Dr Mesquita has co-authored numerous peer-reviewed scientific publications and held international patents exploring novel methodologies for measuring blood flow, oxygenation, and oxygen consumption in biological tissue. He has supervised post-doctoral fellows, several post-graduate students (M.Sc. and Ph.D. levels), and undergraduate research projects.

Postgraduate supervision

Dr Mesquita supervises PhD students interested in optical imaging and neuroimaging analysis and/or instrumentation.

Prospective students are always welcome to get in touch through email.

Research

Dr Mesquita’s expertise lies in biomedical imaging, focusing on advancing non-invasive optical techniques for metabolic and hemodynamic monitoring. His work encompasses the design of optical instrumentation and the development of novel data analysis strategies, all of which have successfully translated into tangible clinical applications. Recently, he has begun to explore the integration of wearable optical technology with artificial intelligence to deepen the interpretative value of optical data, thereby enhancing medical prognosis and patient treatment protocols.

Dr Mesquita’s research revolves around two key areas: (1) the application of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to understand brain function, and (2) the development of diffuse optical (DOS) and correlation spectroscopies (DCS) for bedside monitoring of brain-related injuries.

In the realm of fNIRS, he focuses on employing biophysical models and multimodal approaches to gain a more comprehensive understanding of neurovascular coupling and the physiological interpretation of optical signals. His efforts aim to enhance the precision and reliability of the optical signal to monitor brain function at a single-subject level. These contributions have led to investigations of how the brain adapts to different health and diseased circumstances, from development and cognitive learning to mental disorders and rehabilitation following brain injury. In all these investigations, he applies principles from artificial intelligence and complex systems theory to identify and characterise functional neuroplasticity.

Within clinical applications, Dr Mesquita is interested in advancing DOS/DCS as noninvasive bedside monitoring tools capable of providing prognostic information into various vascular diseases. He is dedicated to addressing diverse healthcare challenges, particularly those in need of real-time and/or continuous bedside monitoring of brain injuries in intensive care units (ICUs) and surgical rooms. Overall, his efforts and collaborations have fostered innovative solutions, including the individual monitoring of neurocritical patients following stroke and traumatic brain injuries by enhancing the capability to measure vital parameters such as oxygen consumption (CMRO2) and critical closing pressure (CrCP), thereby facilitating personalised patient care strategies.

Publications

Recent publications

Article

Sanchez, V, Bortoletto, LF, Mazala, CG, Quiroga, A, Novi, SL & Mesquita, R 2025, 'Disrupted functional connectivity in carotid artery stenosis patients: Insights from fNIRS during a vasoreactivity test', Brain Organoid and Systems Neuroscience Journal, vol. 3, pp. 36-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bosn.2025.03.001

Stute, K, Gossé, L, Montero Hernandez, S, Perkins, G, Yücel, MA, Orihuela-Espina, F, Mesquita, R, Dehghani, H & Elsherif, M 2025, 'The fNIRS glossary project: a consensus-based resource for functional near-infrared spectroscopy terminology', Neurophotonics, vol. 12, no. 2, 027801. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.NPh.12.2.027801

Kazazian, K, Abdalmalak, A, Novi, SL, Norton, L, Moulavi-Ardakani, R, Kolisnyk, M, Gofton, TE, Mesquita, RC, Owen, AM & Debicki, DB 2024, 'Functional near-infrared spectroscopy: A novel tool for detecting consciousness after acute severe brain injury', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 121, no. 36, e2402723121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2402723121

Machado, ACCDP, Magalhães, LDC, de Oliveira, SR, Novi, SL, Mesquita, RC, de Miranda, DM & Bouzada, MCF 2023, 'Can tactile reactivity in preterm born infants be explained by an immature cortical response to tactile stimulation in the first year? A pilot study', Journal of Perinatology, vol. 43, no. 6, pp. 728-734. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-022-01536-w

Forti, RM, Martins, GG, Baker, WB & Mesquita, RC 2023, 'Optimizing a two-layer method for hybrid diffuse correlation spectroscopy and frequency-domain diffuse optical spectroscopy cerebral measurements in adults', Neurophotonics, vol. 10, no. 2, 025008. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.NPh.10.2.025008

Novi, SL, Carvalho, AC, Forti, RM, Cendes, F, Yasuda, CL & Mesquita, RC 2023, 'Revealing the spatiotemporal requirements for accurate subject identification with resting-state functional connectivity: a simultaneous fNIRS-fMRI study', Neurophotonics, vol. 10, no. 1, 013510. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.NPh.10.1.013510

Nogueira, MG, Silvestrin, M, Barreto, CSF, Sato, JR, Mesquita, RC, Biazoli, C & Baptista, AF 2022, 'Differences in brain activity between fast and slow responses on psychomotor vigilance task: an fNIRS study', Brain imaging and behavior, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 1563-1574. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-021-00611-8

Abdalmalak, A, Novi, SL, Kazazian, K, Norton, L, Benaglia, T, Slessarev, M, Debicki, DB, Lawrence, KS, Mesquita, RC & Owen, AM 2022, 'Effects of Systemic Physiology on Mapping Resting-State Networks Using Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy', Frontiers in Neuroscience, vol. 16, 803297. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2022.803297

Chapter

dos Santos Afonso Junior, A, Machado-Pinheiro, W, Osorio, AAC, Ribeiro, CF, Mesquita, R & Renato Rodrigues Carreiro, L 2025, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and the Application of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) Measures. in CR Martin, VR Preedy, VB Patel & R Rajendram (eds), Handbook of the Biology and Pathology of Mental Disorders. Springer, Cham, pp. 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-32035-4_72-1

Ribeiro, CF, Branco, LC, Peña, AAL, Defelipe, RP, Mateus, VLE, Mesquita, RC, Sampaio, A & Osorio, AAC 2024, Neurociência da primeira infância: caracterizando e compreendo trajetórias de desenvolvimento. in Ciências do desenvolvimento humano. 1st edn, CESMAC, pp. 288-305. <https://www.mackenzie.br/fileadmin/ARQUIVOS/Public/6-pos-graduacao/upm-higienopolis/mestrado-doutorado/disturbios_desenvolvimento/2023/LIVRO_12_anos_de_teses_PPGCDH.pdf>

Conference contribution

Martins, GG, J. Silva, G, P. Lucena, E, Soto, AQ, Novi, SL, Uchida, M & Mesquita, R 2025, Cerebral responses to resistance training under different loads assessed with functional near-infrared spectroscopy. in B Shadgan & AH Gandjbakhche (eds), Biophotonics in Exercise Science, Sports Medicine, Health Monitoring Technologies, and Wearables VI., 1331302, Proceedings of SPIE, vol. 13313, SPIE, SPIE BiOS 2025, San Francisco, California, United States, 25/01/25. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3039303

Bortoletto, LF, Martins, GG, Y. Yamamoto, B, S. de Lima, B, Sanchez, V & Mesquita, R 2025, Characterizing neural and systemic responses during acute psychosocial stress using functional near infrared spectroscopy. in JM Kainerstorfer, EM Buckley & VJ Srinivasan (eds), Clinical and Translational Neurophotonics 2025., 1330202, Proceedings of SPIE, vol. 13302, SPIE, SPIE BiOS 2025, San Francisco, California, United States, 25/01/25. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3046399

Sanchez, V, Novi, SL, Carvalho, AC, Quiroga, A, Forti, RM, Cendes, F, Yasuda, CL & Mesquita, R 2025, Comparative analysis of resting-state functional connectivity networks across different age groups using fNIRS. in JM Kainerstorfer, EM Buckley & VJ Srinivasan (eds), Clinical and Translational Neurophotonics 2025., 133020C, Proceedings of SPIE, vol. 13302, SPIE, SPIE BiOS 2025, San Francisco, California, United States, 25/01/25. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.3046354

HEMOCOVID-19 Study 2022, Evaluating the Endothelial Impairments in COVID-19 Patients Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy: the HEMOCOVID-19 trial. in Biophotonics Congress: Biomedical Optics 2022 (Translational, Microscopy, OCT, OTS, BRAIN)., TW1B.2, Technical Digest Series, Optica Publishing Group (formerly OSA), Clinical and Translational Biophotonics, Translational 2022, Fort Lauderdale, United States, 24/04/22. https://doi.org/10.1364/TRANSLATIONAL.2022.TW1B.2

Editorial

Highton, D, Boas, D, Minagawa, Y, Mesquita, RC & Gervain, J 2023, 'Special Section Guest Editorial: Thirty Years of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy', Neurophotonics, vol. 10, no. 2, 023501. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.NPh.10.2.023501

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