Michael J. Fitzpatrick Professor of Engineering in the Edmund T. Pratt School of Engineering
Professor of Ophthalmology, and Program Director for Biophotonics at the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics at Duke University

New Optical Technologies for Real-Time Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Surgery

Abstract
Cutting edge optical biomedical imaging technologies adaptively control optical wavefronts and exploit spatial and temporal coherence to obtain wavelength-scale measurements of structure and function inside living biological tissues, while leveraging optical communications bandwidths to enable real-time 3D imaging. We have developed implementations of these technologies for multiple applications including super-resolved non-invasive retinal imaging, flexible hand-held interactive clinical diagnostic imaging, and real-time intrasurgical visualization and operative guidance. These advances allow for continuous volumetric microstructural imaging in living patients, and extend the benefits of the latest imaging technologies to previously inaccessible patient populations. Using these tools, we have demonstrated live imaging of individual retinal receptor cells both with and without adaptive optics, including the first demonstrations of retinal cone cell imaging in infants and children. We have pioneered the integration of optical coherence tomography into ophthalmic microsurgery, including surgical microscope-integrated image acquisition, real-time augmented reality visualization, and image-guided tele-operative and cooperative robotic manipulation of surgical tools with micrometer-scale precision. Several of these technologies have accomplished the transition from basic research, to clinical trials, to wide-scale adoption and commercial success, and thus serve as useful examples of the accumulating impact and continuing importance of innovation in biomedical optics and biophotonics.

Biography
Joseph A. Izatt is the Michael J. Fitzpatrick Professor of Engineering in the Edmund T. Pratt School of Engineering, Professor of Ophthalmology, and Program Director for Biophotonics at the Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics at Duke University. Prof. Izatt’s research interests include biomedical optics and spectroscopy, coherence-based and wavefront-optimized tomographic optical imaging, and novel instrumentation for intrasurgical visualization and manipulation. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications, more than 350 contributed and 130 invited lectures and presentations, and more than 70 issued patents, which altogether have accumulated over 38,000 citations. Izatt was the founding Editor-In-Chief of Biomedical Optics Express, OSA’s principle outlet serving the biomedical optics community, and has co-chaired the leading annual conference in Optical Coherence Tomography (at SPIE’s Photonics West) for two decades. Professor Izatt has worked with multiple companies to license commercial technologies related to optical biomedical imaging, including co-founding Bioptigen, Inc., which was acquired by Leica Microsystems in 2015. Dr. Izatt is a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE), The International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), The Optical Society (OSA), and the National Academy of Inventors (NAI).

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