News
Inaugural Virtual Photonics Workshop Held at BLI
The Virtual Photonics Technology Core of the Laser Microbeam and Medical Program (LAMMP) held its inaugural Virtual Photonics Workshop on August 21-23, 2009, at the Beckman Laser Institute (BLI). The workshop was attended by 23 undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral researchers representing UC Irvine's Beckman Laser Institute, Center for Functional Onco-Imaging, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics, and Center for Complex Biological Systems. The workshop also hosted special guests Dr. Arnold Kim, Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics at University of California, Merced, and Dr. Snow Tseng, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan University. As prominent experts in the modeling and computation of biophotonic processes, their participation was requested to evaluate the workshop activities and set the stage for possible future collaboration as contributors to the Virtual Photonics effort.
The workshop was designed to present the fundamental principles involved in modeling light propagation in cells and tissues and to expose students to how modeling and computation can be applied towards the development, design, and analysis of therapeutic, imaging and diagnostic methods in Biophotonics. The workshop curriculum was comprised of 6 didactic lectures coupled with 5 interactive sessions with the "Virtual Tissue Simulator" (VTS): custom software designed by the Virtual Photonics Technology Initiative to simulate radiative transport processes in real-time. The VTS design is open-source and can be run within a standard internet browser on both Macintosh and Windows platforms. The Virtual Photonics software development team consisted of Drs. Carole Hayakawa, David Cuccia, Katherine Bhan and UCI students Adam Gardner and Jerome Chen.
The core curriculum was supplemented by Case Study Presentations. The presentation by Prof. Bernard Choi (Biomedical Engineering) illustrated the use of modeling and computational approaches to advance the application of biophotonic methods for the treatment of pigmented lesions. Jing Liu (Physics and Astronomy) discussed diffuse optical imaging of the breast, and Dr. David Cuccia (Modulated Imaging, Inc.) presented wide-field spectroscopic imaging methods. Lectures were given by the co-directors of the Virtual Photonics Core: Profs. Vasan Venugopalan and Jerry Spanier.
According to BLI Director Bruce Tromberg, "This workshop is both the culmination of more than 10 years of work and an important beginning. Virtual photonics tools are the future of our field. They give us practical insight into how to design new instruments and allow us to perform measurements and deliver therapies more effectively."
The entire workshop schedule and curriculum including lectures and case study presentations (slides and video), software exercises, supplemental educational materials, and access to the Virtual Tissue Simulator can be found at the Virtual Photonics Wiki Site. Inquiries regarding the Virtual Photonics Technology Core can be directed to Vasan Venugopalan at vvenugop@uci.edu.