Biophotonics
RESEARCH FACULTY
Biophotonics describes the use of light to image, detect, and manipulate biological systems. It has applications in biology to study molecular processes, and in medicine to study tissue and blood, and to diagnose and treat diseases in a non-invasive way.
(Courtesy of M. El-Sayed)
Today optics is playing a major role in medicine through laser surgery and various optical diagnostic techniques. For instance, lasers are being used routinely in laser-refractive surgery of the cornea to correct for visual defects and in laser angioplasty to remove blockages in arteries. Advances in understanding the interaction of light with tissue has led to photodynamic therapy as a possible treatment of some cancers. In photodynamic therapy, drugs injected into a patient can be selectively activated by exposing to light the area of interest, leading to the photochemical destruction of tumors. Other widely used applications of biophotonics include advanced imaging techniques such as scanning confocal microscopes that can provide three-dimensional images of biological tissues in vivo, and DNA sequencing for genomics.
(Courtesy of L. A. Lyon)
Researchers at Georgia Tech are working actively to further advance the understanding of the interaction of light with biomolecules and various nanomaterials, including gold nanoparticles and nonlinear organic molecules such as two-photon-absorbing molecules. These advances will enable better imaging devices and lead to new diagnosis, treatment, and drug delivery systems.
