Boston Chapter of the IEEE Photonics Society

Abstract:  Biomedical optics is a rapidly growing field aimed at developing new diagnostic and therapeutic tools for clinicians and researchers. Quantitative phase microscopy is one such important tool that provides quantitative information of structure and dynamics of cells. In this talk, I will discuss recent advances in quantitative phase microscopy and highlight some of its applications such as measurement of mechanical properties of cell membrane and cell membrane electromotility. I will also talk about a new technique to overcome light scattering in biological tissues. Optical diagnostic and therapeutic techniques lose finesse rapidly with the increasing depth of penetration into tissue. This loss of effectiveness is mainly due to light scattering which is typically an order of magnitude stronger than the absorption in biological tissues. Fortunately, light scattering is a deterministic phenomenon that can be reversed by retracing the original trajectories of the scattered light through the tissue. Such an approach can be used to improve the depth penetration of optical diagnostic and therapeutic tools such as photoacoustic tomography and photodynamic therapy.

Biography:  Zahid Yaqoob received his MS and PhD in Optics from College of Optics and Photonics/CREOL, University of Central Florida. After his graduation, he joined Biophotonics Laboratory at California Institute of Technology. In 2007, he joined the Spectroscopy Laboratory at MIT. His research interests include the development of new interferometric tools for cellular and tissue diagnostics. He has published more than 30 refereed journal articles.

Location:  MIT Lincoln Laboratory