Abstract: Biophotonics is the science of how light interacts with living systems, and technologies that leverage biophotonics can be used solve problems that we face in medicine and surgery.  In particular, there is an essential need to improve and translate point-of-care screening and imaging technologies, not only in primary care medicine and for our front-line health care providers, but also in surgical applications where real-time feedback can reduce high re-operation rates, and in digital pathology to effectively shift the microscopic examination of tissue from post-operative analysis in the pathology lab to intra-operative assessment during procedures.  Advances in biophotonics and optical imaging technologies have made it possible to visualize and quantify tissue microstructure in new ways, and do so in vivo and in real-time.  Optical coherence tomography performs optical ranging in tissue by collecting depth-resolved reflections of light in a manner analogous to ultrasound imaging.  Nonlinear optical microscopy techniques enable label-free visualization of structural, functional, and molecular components, as well as reveal new biomarkers of disease.  These techniques can therefore perform label-free “optical biopsies” of tissue with unique contrast mechanisms.  As these biophotonics imaging technologies mature and are translated for clinical applications, consideration must also be directed toward investigating the adoption and integration of these new technologies into standard-of-care practices.

References:  http://biophotonics.illinois.edu

Bio: Stephen Boppart is an Abel Bliss Professor of Engineering. His Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory is focused on developing novel optical biomedical diagnostic and imaging technologies and translating them into clinical applications. He received his Ph.D. in Medical and Electrical Engineering from MIT, his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and completed residency training at the University of Illinois in Internal Medicine.  He has published over 300 invited and contributed publications and over 40 patents related to optical biomedical imaging technology. He has mentored over 100 undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral investigators through highly interdisciplinary research. He was recognized by MIT’s Technology Review Magazine as one of the Top 100 Young Innovators in the World for his development of medical technology, and received the Paul F. Forman Engineering Excellence Award from the Optical Society of America for dedication and advancement in undergraduate research education.  More recently he received the international Hans Sigrist Prize in the field of Diagnostic Laser Medicine, and the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Technical Achievement Award. He has co-founded three start-up companies which are working to commercialize and disseminate his optical technologies for biomedical imaging. He is a Fellow of AAAS, IEEE, SPIE, OSA, and AIMBE.  He has been a strong promoter for the integration of engineering and medicine in the newly established engineering-based Carle-Illinois College of Medicine to advance human health and our healthcare systems.