Biomedical Optics

What is Biomedical Optics?

Biomedical optics uses the physical properties of light to design and apply advanced techniques to solve pressing problems in medicine and biology. Advanced optics can be used in many biomedical pursuits, including probing tumor pathology, diffusion of cell surface receptors, single molecule spectroscopy, and expanding the limits of human vision.

Areas of Focus

Some of the advanced optical techniques our biomedical engineers use include:

  • Multiphoton laser-scanning microscopy: used to study living biological tissue.
  • Diffuse optical tomography: a non-invasive way to examine tissues in vivo, particularly for tumor detection and chemotherapy response monitoring.
  • Fluorescence recovery after photobleaching: used to study the movement of biomolecules through tissues or cells.
  • Raman spectroscopy: a chemical analysis technique that identifies materials based on how light interacts with their chemical bonds.
  • Near-field optics: a microscopy method that defies the laws of diffraction and allows for measurements at the nanometer scale.
  • Adaptive optics: carefully deforming mirrors can compensate for distorted light, which is particularly helpful in retinal imaging systems.
An assistant professor models a device prototype as Regine Choe, associate professor of biomedical engineering and and electrical and computer engineering, and Irfan Dar, biomedical engineering PhD student, look on in the cardiac ICU at the University of Rochester Medical Center.

Leveraging Nearly 100 Years of Optical Expertise

Biomedical Optics at Rochester

The University of Rochester has a long history of being innovators in optics and optical research, including etablishing the first optics education program at the Institute of Optics nearly 100 years ago. The Department of Biomedical Engineering has a close relationship with the institute, as well as other notable optics researchers and clinicians at the Center for Visual Science, Flaum Eye Institute, and the University of Rochester Medical Center, collaborating on research, and sharing knowledge and resources.

Associate Professor Regine Choe is one of many faculty members in our department leading research to develop advanced optical techniques for biomedical applications. Choe, along with Dr. Imad Khan, are developing non-invasive ways to study the brain’s physiology and reduce neurological issues associated with the therapy.

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Biomedical Optics Researchers

The following faculty are conducting exciting research in biomedical optics.

Interesting in doing research here as a graduate student? Check out our doctoral training faculty page for a list of biomedical engineering faculty who work with graduate students. 

Headshot of Timothy Baran.

Timothy Baran, PhD

Diffuse optics, photodynamic therapy, and medical image processing

Headshot of Andrew Berger.

Andrew J. Berger, PhD

Biomedical optics, specifically spectroscopic diagnostic techniques

Headshot of Edward Brown.

Edward Brown III, PhD

Multiphoton laser scanning microscopy, novel in vivo imaging and measurement techniques, tumor biology, angiogenesis

Headshot of Regine Choe.

Regine Choe, PhD

Diffuse optics for in vivo cancer detection, diagnosis and therapy monitoring

Headshot of Michael Giacomelli.

Michael Giacomelli, PhD

Multiphoton microscopy, surgical imaging, digital pathology, fluorescencelifetime imaging, 3D and molecular imaging

Headshot of Susana Marcos.

Susana Marcos, PhD

Ocular Imaging, Corneal Biomechanics, Ocular implants, Opto-mechanical modeling in the eye, Myopia, Presbyopia, Cataract, Adaptive Optics, Visual Simulation, Diagnostic technologies in ophthalmology

Headshot of Mohammad Mehrmohammadi.

Mohammad Mehrmohammadi, PhD

Develop novel, hybrid, and ultrasound-based diagnostic methods, and define the clinical utility of the developed technologies as it applies to detection, diagnosis, and therapy of various pathologies.

Headshot of Duncan T. Moore.

Duncan T. Moore, PhD

Design of endoscopic instruments for the visible and the infrared; optical metrology

Headshot of Jannick Rolland.

Jannick Rolland, PhD

Optical instrumentation, system engineering, optical coherence tomography

Headshot of David R. Williams.

David R. Williams, PhD

Vision science, advanced ophthalmic technologies

Headshot of Shu-Chi Yeh.

Shu-Chi Yeh

Intravital imaging-based approaches for direct visualization, quantification, and molecular profiling of the local regulatory machineries that harbor the skeletal, hematopoietic, and malignant stem cells

Headshot of James Zavislan.

James Zavislan, PhD

Modeling and measuring the coherence properties of returned light through biomedical imaging, material science, remote sensing