BME 7900 Seminar - Benjamin Vakoc, PhD

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Location

Weill Hall 226

Description

Our next speaker is Dr. Benjamin Vakoc, who is an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology Faculty. His group develops optical imaging technologies to solve important problems in both clinical and biological laboratory settings. Functional Microscopy by Optical Coherence Tomography: Techniques and Applications Abstact: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) combines principles of interferometry, laser engineering, and signal processing to enable label-free three-dimensional microscopy. Originally developed as a tool for visualizing the layers of the human retina, OCT is now used in multiple medical fields. More recently, OCT has attracted interest as a novel microscopy in small animal preclinical investigations. Here, the speed, large field of view, and multiple contrast modes provided by OCT offer unique visualizations of disease states and therapeutic response. In this talk, we will describe our group’s work over the past decade to develop functional imaging modes within OCT microscopy, and to translate these capabilities to the biomedical community. Successes including tumor angiography and peripheral nerve myelination will be highlighted. Finally, the availability of cutting-edge OCT instrumentation within Cornell’s Biotechnology Resource Center will be described. Bio: