Spectroscopy Lab: Research in Biomedical Optics and Spectroscopy

Biomedical applications of lasers and laser spectroscopy are changing the face of medicine as it is currently practiced. The mission of the Laser Biomedical Research Center (LBRC), an NIH-sponsored research resource center, is to develop the scientific understanding required for advancing the applications of lasers in medicine and biology. Research projects are developed from the ground up: fundamental studies involving biochemicals, cells, ex vivo tissue are undertaken to advance understanding, spectral models are developed and instrumentation refined, before these methods are tested in clinical trials at medical centers and hospitals.

Biomedical initiatives within the LBRC have resulted in the development of new spectroscopic methods to diagnose disease through minimally invasive procedures using absorption, fluorescence, Raman and intensity-based light scattering techniques; novel technologies for spectroscopic imaging of disease, in particular field-based light scattering techniques such as low-coherence interferometry; and improved understanding and modeling of light transport in tissue. Basic studies in biophysics and biochemistry are also pursued to support the development of novel spectroscopic methods of disease diagnosis.

Currently, the LBRC has core and collaborative projects in the following areas:

Core Projects:
(1) Spectroscopic Tissue Diagnosis
(2) Non-Invasive Measurement of Blood Analytes using Raman spectroscopy
(3) Confocal Raman & Quantitative Phase Microscopy
(4) Quantitative Microscopy and Tomography
(5) Imaging through Turbidity

Collaborative Projects:
(1) FDTD simulation of light propagation in turbid media
(2) Malaria biology and detection
(3) Spectroscopic monitoring of chemotaxis in m-fluidic channels
(4) Spectroscopic diagnosis and imaging of breast cancer
(5) Multimodal prostate cancer detection
(6) Membrane dynamics of human red blood cells
(7) Efficient light delivery for photodynamic therapy

C. LBRC outside projects:
(1) Spectroscopy for selection of embryo and oocyte
(2) Cell growth cycle using dry mass measurements
(3) Non-invasive monitoring of drug's effect on MM cells