Robert Brown, Ph.D., Elected as a 2024 Fellow of Industry Academy within the AIIA

Dr. Robert Brown, adjunct professor of Surgery, was elected as a 2024 Fellow of Industry Academy within the International Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance (AIIA).  He joins a network of over 3,000 AIIA fellows who possess extensive expertise and a wealth of research achievements.

“It is always a considerable honor to be elected into any established and highly respected academic organization – and the honor does not diminish with number of times it happens,” stated Dr. Brown.

Dr. Brown is an elected member of the European Academy of the Sciences and Arts (Academia Europaea), and a Fellow of the American Physical Society, the UK Institute of Physics, the UK Institute of Electronic Engineers and the International Artificial Intelligence Industry Alliance.

“This is just ‘feeling,’ and I can’t quantify any of it,” stated Dr. Brown.  “They’re all special academic organizations, and I’m proud to have been elected into them all as a Fellow during the past 40 years.”

 About AIIA Fellows

 AIIA Fellows form a network of strong partnerships across the world to promote the development and innovative applications of artificial intelligence (AI).  Members offer cutting-edge technological insights and drive advancements in innovative research.

 About AIIA

 The AIIA was incorporated in Hong Kong in 2023 by individuals in industry, academia and research who are actively engaged in the field of artificial intelligence.  The mission of the AIIA is to promote the rapid development of the AI industry around the world, the innovation and application of AI technology in various industries, for the deep integration of AI in the economy and society, as well as advance the progress and development of human society.

Click here to learn more at aiia-ai.org.

Zhongping Chen, Ph.D. Selected as the 2024 Recipient of Optica’s Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award

Dr. Zhongping Chen, professor of Biomedical Engineering and Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, was selected as the 2024 recipient of the prestigious Michael S. Feld Biophotonics award from Optica.  He was recognized by the organization “for pioneering research, development, and clinical translation of Doppler optical coherence tomography (OCT), OCT angiography, OCT elastography, and multimodality intravascular imaging.”

“It is an honor for Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic, for UCi and for everyone who collaborates with Dr. Chen,” stated collaborator Dr. Yona Tadir, adjunct professor and former Institute medial director.  “Last but not least, the modesty and friendly environment that he casts serves as an exemplary example to all others.”

About Michael S. Feld Biophotonics Award

Recognizes individuals for their innovative and influential contributions to the field of biophotonics, regardless of their career stage.  The scope of the award encompasses all areas of biophotonics, ranging from fundamental optics discoveries in biology to the development of new theoretical frameworks and novel instrumentation to clinical translational research for biomedicine.

The award was established in 2012 to honor Michael Feld for his fundamental contributions to applications of photonics technologies to solving biomedical problems. It is endowed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., Coherent Inc., David Feld along with Ramachandra Dasari, Adam Wax, Kyungwon An, Robert Gold, Charles Holbrow, Firooz Partovi, Manoharan Ramasamy, Rebecca Richards-Kortum and Guillermo Tearney.

About Optica

Optica, the society advancing optics and photonic worldwide, is a leader of excellence, delivering high-quality scientific and technical information that is authoritative, accessible and archived.  Since 1916, the society has been the world’s leading champion for optics and photonics, uniting and educating scientists, engineers, educators, technicians and business leaders worldwide. Optica currently services 572,000 customers, 24,000 individual members, and 500+ corporate members from more than 184 countries.

Click here to learn more at Optica.org.

Beckman Foundation Reveals Updated Logo and Refreshed Visual Identity in Lead Up to Organization’s Semicentennial Anniversary

NEWS PROVIDED BY
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation
Mar 07, 2024, 11:30 ET

IRVINE, Calif.March 7, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — The Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation, a 501c3 organization which has provided more than $700 million in grants to researchers in chemistry and life sciences since 1977, is debuting a new look for its brand that includes an updated logo and refreshed visual identity designed in collaboration with Nien Studios and Torchbox. The modernization represents the first major change to the organization’s branding in decades, with a rollout planned over three quarters to start in March 2024, ahead of the lead up to the Foundation’s highly anticipated 50th anniversary.

“The approaching milestone provided us with the impetus for reviewing our brand,” explained Dr. Anne Hultgren, Executive Director of the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation. “What we had was an established, reputed, and recognizable image that still needed to evolve a bit to remain modern and relevant. It was important to us that our new look maintain the original ethos and purpose, so our strategy was to introduce an up-to-date color palette, clean up the typography and adapt the iconography while preserving its initial priorities.”

  •     Distinctive icon that blends a hexagon for chemistry with a DNA strand for life sciences
  •     Modern sans-serif typeface
  •     Vibrant color palette that emphasizes deep blue and teal green with accents of yellow and coral
  •     Versatile stack options for diverse uses

The color palette was developed in coordination with Torchbox during an update of the organization’s website. The logo was designed through collaboration with Robert Nienhuis of Nien Studios as part of a series of updates planned for 2024 that will include program and commemorative designs. Elements from both projects inspired the refreshed identity currently being implemented across Beckman Foundation’s social media platforms, including Instagram, LinkedIn, X, and YouTube, as well as its monthly e-newsletter, Latest News blog, podcast, and Symposium graphics.

About the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation
Located in Irvine, California, the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation supports researchers and nonprofit research institutions in making the next generation of breakthroughs in chemistry and the life sciences. Founded in 1977 by 20th century scientific instrumentation pioneer Dr. Arnold O. Beckman, the Foundation supports United States institutions and young scientists whose creative, high-risk, and interdisciplinary research will lead to innovations and new tools and methods for scientific discovery. For more information, visit beckman-foundation.org.

About Nien Studios
Nien Studios is based in Orange County, California and provides branding and digital solutions for businesses. The company specializes in app design, branding, identity development, illustration, photography, print design, and website design. Its portfolio includes work for companies such as Pixel Jar, Honey Pot Meadery, Act Medical, Mass Amplify, Novo, James David Custom Homes, Culture Buzz, Anderson Law Group, and more.

About Torchbox
Torchbox is a digital agency based out of the United Kingdom and Philippines that offers services for UX design, website development, custom web apps, PPC & SEO, Google Analytics, Wagtail development and social media marketing. The agency plans, builds, and implements digital marketing strategies “that deliver world-class, KPI-smashing results for nonprofits internationally.” Its portfolio includes work for companies such as NHS, Greenpeace, Samaritans, ShelterBox, MS Society, Action for Children, and more.

Click here to read full press release.

UC Irvine Researchers Secure Grants From Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Three University of California, Irvine researchers are on teams that have won Chan Zuckerberg Initiative grants to pursue the development of advanced medical and biological imaging technologies.

Awarded as part of the second phase of CZI’s deep-tissue imaging grant program, the projects will involve work under multiple disciplines. These include biomedical engineering, chemistry and materials science. The funding is intended to lead to the creation of new tools that go beyond the capabilities of magnetic resonance imaging, computerized tomography and ultrasound to help the medical community obtain a much deeper understanding of biological systems.

Stacy Copp, UCI assistant professor of materials science and engineering, is leading a $1.85-million, four-year program to develop molecular-scale emitters for deep-tissue imaging. Copp said the innovation has the potential to enable researchers and medical practitioners to see through cells and bodily tissues without ionizing radiation such as x-rays. She said she expects the results of her project to have direct applications in cancer research and therapeutics development.

“This work builds off of my laboratory’s discovery of near infrared-emitting silver nanoclusters stabilized by DNA,” said Copp. “We will be developing these into versatile bioimaging tools for deep-tissue imaging by combining approaches in nanochemistry, machine learning-guided nanomaterials design and biomolecular chemistry.”

Copp will be joined in this project by Nathan Gianneschi, a chemist and materials scientist at Northwestern University, and Petko Bogdanov, a computer scientist at the University of Albany (State University of New York).

Michelle Digman, UCI associate professor of biomedical engineering, and Jennifer Prescher, UCI professor of chemistry, are part of a $2.5-million, four-year project to create new bioluminescent probes and platforms for imaging hard-to-access tissues.

“This work leverages our group’s expertise in small molecule luciferin design, computational enzyme engineering and multi-spectral visualization,” said Prescher. “We hope that the collection of new tools and methods will be enabling for the community at large.”

Digman said, “We will work to create far-red and near-infrared luminescent probes by using artificial intelligence-driven protein design to revolutionize molecular imaging in deep tissue and enable functional monitoring of cell-based therapeutics.”

Other collaborators on this project are UC Santa Cruz biomedical engineer Andy Yeh and Ming-Ru Wu of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School.

Stephen Jett, CZI’s Imaging Program manager, said, “These projects led by Dr. Copp, Dr. Digman and Dr. Prescher at UCI bring together interdisciplinary expertise to drive important progress towards creating new tools that could have a significant impact on the clinical applications of deep tissue imaging.”

Read more on India Education Diary.

UC Irvine Researchers Secure Grants From Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

Funding supports research into advanced biological tissue imaging technologies

By Brian Bell

Three University of California, Irvine researchers are on teams that have won Chan Zuckerberg Initiative grants to pursue the development of advanced medical and biological imaging technologies.

Awarded as part of the second phase of CZI’s deep-tissue imaging program, the projects will involve work under multiple disciplines. These include biomedical engineering, chemistry and materials science. The funding is intended to lead to the creation of new tools that go beyond the capabilities of magnetic resonance imaging, computerized tomography and ultrasound to help the medical community obtain a much deeper understanding of biological systems.

Stacy Copp, UCI assistant professor of materials science and engineering, is leading a $1.85-million, four-year program to develop molecular-scale emitters for deep-tissue imaging. Copp said the innovation has the potential to enable researchers and medical practitioners to see through cells and bodily tissues without ionizing radiation such as x-rays. She said she expects the results of her project to have direct applications in cancer research and therapeutics development.

“This work builds off of my laboratory’s discovery of near infrared-emitting silver nanoclusters stabilized by DNA,” said Copp. “We will be developing these into versatile bioimaging tools for deep-tissue imaging by combining approaches in nanochemistry, machine learning-guided nanomaterials design and biomolecular chemistry.”

Copp will be joined in this project by Nathan Gianneschi, a chemist and materials scientist at Northwestern University, and Petko Bogdanov, a computer scientist at the University of Albany (State University of New York).

Michelle Digman, UCI associate professor of biomedical engineering, and Jennifer Prescher, UCI professor of chemistry, are part of a $2.5-million, four-year project to create new bioluminescent probes and platforms for imaging hard-to-access tissues.

“This work leverages our group’s expertise in small molecule luciferin design, computational enzyme engineering and multi-spectral visualization,” said Prescher. “We hope that the collection of new tools and methods will be enabling for the community at large.”

Digman said, “We will work to create far-red and near-infrared luminescent probes by using artificial intelligence-driven protein design to revolutionize molecular imaging in deep tissue and enable functional monitoring of cell-based therapeutics.”

Other collaborators on this project are UC Santa Cruz biomedical engineer Andy Yeh and Ming-Ru Wu of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School.

Stephen Jett, CZI’s Imaging Program manager, said, “These projects led by Dr. Copp, Dr. Digman and Dr. Prescher at UCI bring together interdisciplinary expertise to drive important progress towards creating new tools that could have a significant impact on the clinical applications of deep tissue imaging.”

Read more on the UCI Samueli School of Engineering website.

UCI Beall Applied Innovation Proof of Product Fall 2023 Awards Announced

Proof of Product calibrates and accelerates the pathway to market for promising UCI discoveries – driven by expert review from industry partners, critical funding for assessing commercial potential and strengthens potential for future funding and impact.

The Fall 2023 round received 44 proposals from nine different Schools/Units across campus.

Congratulations UCI Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic general track awardee:

Petra Wilder-Smith, Beckman Laser Institute/School of Medicine

Project: Integrated Intelligent Intraoral Camera for Oral and Oropharyngeal Cancer Screening and Management to Achieve Early Detection and Better Outcomes

“The Proof of Product Award will allow us to move forward quickly and effectively with commercializing our oral cancer probe for the United States market as a user-friendly dental intraoral camera,” stated Dr. Wilder-Smith.

Click here to learn more about Dr. Wilder-Smith and her visionary leadership in the pioneering use of optics and photonics technologies for improving oral health, saving thousands of lives.

About Proof of Product
Proof of Product is a transformative resource for UC Irvine researchers, designed to infuse use-inspiration and critical funds into commercially promising research projects. Through rigorous review, feedback and selection by domain experts, researchers can seek up to $100,000 in critical funding to advance commercialization. This crucial support underwrites a spectrum of activities, including customer discovery efforts, feasibility studies, and prototype development. These pivotal phases of commercial validation enhance a project’s appeal to investors and refine its marketability with industry partners.

Click here to view current and past awardees on the UCI Beall Applied Innovation website.

National Academy of Engineering Elects Bruce Tromberg

Feb. 7, 2024 – UC Irvine biomedical engineering Professor Emeritus Bruce Tromberg has been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, one of the highest professional distinctions accorded to an engineer. Tromberg, director of the NIH National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, was recognized for “U.S. diagnostics innovation initiatives, resulting in advanced SARS-CoV-2 testing capacity and performance.” Tromberg helped launch the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx®) initiative that created a fast review process to enable widely accessible COVID-19 testing.

A founding member of UCI’s Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tromberg has been on the UCI faculty since 1990. He served as director of the Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic for more than 15 years. While there, he oversaw the development, application and dissemination of optical technologies in biology and medicine. His work includes pioneering research contributions to the technical fields of biophotonics and biomedical optics, as well as extensive leadership in the biomedical engineering and imaging communities.

Tromberg is one of 114 new U.S.-based members and 21 international members announced by the academy Feb. 6, 2024. Individuals in the newly elected class will be formally inducted during the NAE’s annual meeting on Sept. 29, 2024.

With this election, UCI is now home to 17 members of the NAE.

– Lori Brandt

Click here to read the full article on the UCI Samueli School or Engineering website.

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, announces its 2024 Fellows

The Society is welcoming 47 new Fellow Members from across the globe

Each year, the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) promotes Members as new Fellows of the Society. Fellows are Members of distinction who have made significant scientific and technical contributions in the multidisciplinary fields of optics, photonics, and imaging. They are honored for their technical achievement and for their service to the general optics community and to SPIE in particular. Nearly 1,800 SPIE members have become Fellows since the Society’s inception in 1955.

Prof. Ho Wai Howard Lee
Univ. of California, Irvine

Professor Howard Lee joins the Institute’s other SPIE Fellows, including Professors Anthony Durkin (2017), Bernard Choi (2016) and Zhongping Chen (2009).

About SPIE

SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, brings engineers, scientists, students, and business professionals together to advance light-based science and technology. The Society, founded in 1955, connects and engages with our global constituency through industry-leading conferences and exhibitions; publications of conference proceedings, books, and journals in the SPIE Digital Library; and career-building opportunities. Over the past five years, SPIE has contributed more than $24 million to the international optics community through our advocacy and support, including scholarships, educational resources, travel grants, endowed gifts, and public-policy development. www.spie.org.

Click here to view all 47 new SPIE Fellows elected in 2024 on the SPIE website.

PROFESSOR HOWARD LEE BECOMES FELLOW OF THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR OPTICS AND PHOTONICS

“‘To be creative, we sometimes need to be a little bit crazy and not pay too much attention to what other people say’,” Lee recalled his former Ph.D. advisor, physicist Philip Russel at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Germany, telling him about making breakthroughs in his field. 

Picture Credit: UCI

The honor recognizes advances in nano-optics research.

By: Lucas Van Wyk Joel

Professor Howard Lee of the UC Irvine Department of Physics & Astronomy recently became a fellow of the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE). Lee’s lab researches ways of using optical materials, nano-scale structures and advanced nanophysics to actively control the optical properties of nano-scale materials. This includes the development of so-called metasurfaces and metalenses, which are flat lenses made of light-altering nanostructures that may one day replace things like conventional, bulky lenses.The SPIE recognized Lee for his lab’s advances in the development of tunable optical nano-materialsand advanced optical fibers enhanced with nano-scale structures. 

“I am grateful to be elected as an SPIE Fellow,” said Lee. “This is an important recognition of all the hard work and achievements from my group members and research group, and it motivates all of us to further contribute impactful research in optics and nanophotonics. We really appreciated all the support and resources from UCI for us to advance nano-optical sciences and technologies.”

Lee and his lab hope to continue advancing meta-optical science to develop new applications for biomedical technologies, ultrafast communication devices, quantum photonic and energy harvesting technologies. 

Click here to read full article on the UCI School of Physical Sciences website.

Enrico Gratton Recognized with Honorary Doctorate in Uruguay

Jan. 9, 2024 – The University of the Republic, Uruguay, has granted an honorary doctorate to Enrico Gratton in recognition of his “outstanding academic career.” Gratton is a UC Irvine Distinguished Professor Emeritus of biomedical engineering and a pioneering researcher in ​​fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy. He traveled to South America to receive the high distinction at an award ceremony on Nov. 20, 2023.

The University of the Republic in Montevideo was founded in 1849 and is the oldest, largest public university in Uruguay, as well as the second largest public university in South America. Hundreds of students and faculty attended the award ceremony including the university’s rector, Rodrigo Arim, and a former postdoc from Gratton’s lab, Leonel Malacrida, who established the Advanced Bioimaging Unit to provide advanced microscopy techniques and methods to scientists in Uruguay. Malacrida nominated Gratton, his mentor, for the award.

“Receiving this honor from the University of the Republic is a privilege I will always cherish in my heart,” said Gratton who reflected on his personal journey in science and on the many global collaborations with colleagues. “The memories of our collaborations and discoveries will continue to inspire me.” Gratton emphasized his view of the importance of accessible research and education, which aligns with the Uruguayan university’s mission to democratize science.

Gratton was principal investigator for the Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics, which he founded with an NIH grant in 1986 as a professor in the Department of Physics and Biophysics at the University of Illinois. In 2006, the LFD moved to UCI, where Gratton used his knowledge of fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy techniques to perform imaging studies in living cells to study phenomena of protein aggregation, cell migration, interactions in membranes, particle movement, analysis of collagen formation and deformation, among others. These investigations provide researchers with a better understanding of cellular function and can be applied in the future to the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases. His work spans across biophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology, nuclear medicine and biomedical engineering.

During his more than 40-year career, Gratton has disseminated his work to researchers worldwide, trained younger scientists and interfaced successfully with industry. Under his guidance, more than 50 students have earned doctorates, with most currently occupying critical roles in academia and at various research institutions.

– Lori Brandt

Click here to read full article featured on the UCI Samueli School of Engineering website.