Pancharatnam Lecture

Biophotonics Far Below The Tissue Surface

Speaker: Prof. Arjun G. Yodh (University of Pennsylvania)

Date and time
Webinar link
RRI YouTube Channel
Venue
RRI Auditorium

Abstract

We are using diffusing light to probe physiology in tissues located far below body surfaces. The emerging light fields contain a wealth of diagnostic information about tissue blood flow, blood oxygenation, and oxygen metabolism, about molecular biomarkers such as cytochrome-C oxidase, lipid, and water. These properties, in turn, can be employed to derive health biomarkers. I will first introduce the essential diffuse optics measurement tools and paradigms, many of which were hatched in the physics and bioengineering communities [1-3]. Then I will discuss selected clinical and pre-clinical examples that we have investigated with our collaborators at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Depending on time, this will include studies of brain metabolism and flow autoregulation, cancer monitoring, placental health, and more. 

Poster
Poster
Prof. Arjun G. Yodh

Short Biography
Arjun G. Yodh is the James M. Skinner Professor of Science and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pennsylvania (Penn). He was recently Director (2009-2020) of Penn’s Materials Science and Engineering Center (NSF-MRSEC) and its associated Laboratory for Research on the Structure of Matter (LRSM). Yodh graduated from Cornell University (1981) with a B.Sc. in Applied & Engineering Physics. He obtained his Ph.D. from Harvard (1986) working with Tom Mossberg and then worked as a post-doc at AT&T Bell Laboratories with Steven Chu and Harry Tom. Yodh joined the physics faculty at Penn as an Assistant Professor in 1988 and has remained at Penn since then. Areas of his ongoing research include: Biophotonics, especially functional imaging/monitoring of living tissues with diffusing light, and Soft Condensed Matter, which explores the physics of materials such as colloids and liquid crystals. Most of his experiments involve optics, including diffuse optics and spectroscopy, optical microscopy/micromanipulation, nonlinear optics, and light scattering. He was awarded the 2021 Feld Biophotonics Prize of the Optical Society of America (now Optica) and the 2024 Penn Provost Award for Distinguished PhD Teaching and Mentoring. In addition to mentoring more than one hundred PhD students and post-doctoral associates, Yodh has made significant contributions to education and outreach activities at Penn, for example leading partnerships with the University of Puerto Rico and research experience programs for undergraduates and high school students/teachers.