Events Calendar

ECE Seminar: Label-free Optical Imaging of Living Biological Systems

Speaker: Sixian You, PhD, Bioengineering, UIUC

Talk Title: Label-free Optical Imaging of Living Biological Systems

Abstract: Label-free optical imaging of living biological systems offers rich information that can be of immense value in biomedical tasks such as diagnosing cancer or assessing the tumor microenvironment. Despite the exceptional theoretical potential, current label-free nonlinear microscopy platforms are challenging for real-world clinical and biological applications. The major obstacles include the lack of flexible laser sources, limited contrast, and lack of molecular specificity for diseases.

In this talk, I will present a new optical imaging platform and methodology that will address these challenges. By generating and tailoring coherent supercontinuum from photonic crystal fibers, single-source single-shot metabolic and structural imaging can be achieved, enabling Simultaneous Label-free Auto-fluorescence Multi-harmonic (SLAM) contrast in living cells and tissues. These capabilities further motivate development of analytical tools for tissue assessment and diagnosis, showing broad potential of this label-free imaging technology in discovering new metabolic biomarkers and enabling real-time point-of-procedure applications.

Biography: Sixian You received her Ph.D. in 2019 from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), under the guidance of Prof. Stephen A. Boppart. Her primary research interest is in developing innovative optical imaging solutions for biomedicine. She is particularly interested in developing next-generation label-free multiphoton imaging technologies to study the tumor microenvironment. Sixian was awarded the Microscopy Innovation Award by the Microscopy Society of America and McGinnis Medical Innovation Graduate Fellowship by UIUC.

Host: Justin Haldar, jhaldar@usc.edu

Webcast: https://usc.zoom.us/j/402440976

WebCast Link: https://usc.zoom.us/j/402440976

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Mayumi Thrasher