NSF Award Abstract - #0120999

AWSFL008-DS3

Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology

Abstract

Biophotonics is the science of generating and using light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon for visualization, measurements, analysis, and manipulation of biological materials. The discipline strives to exploit the high spatial resolution, sensitivity, and spectral specificity of photonics to understand and affect biological structure and/or function.

The Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology (CBST), an NSF Science and Technology Center, is a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional activity designed to support a goal-directed, sustained effort to broadly advance the science of biophotonics. Center activities are spread over four university campuses, UC Davis, UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley, and Stanford University, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The CBST emphasizes vertical integration of knowledge and applications that span the intellectual landscape, from creating new instrumentation and techniques to helping understand molecular mechanisms to providing technology that will enable the creation and development of important new biomedical tools.

Research at the Center is divided among four strategic thrust areas: 1) biomolecular mechanisms; 2) imaging and diagnostics; 3) computational biophotonics; and 4) biomedical applications. The area of biomolecular mechanisms concentrates on experiments and tools related to the newly emerging field of single molecule imaging and detection, methodologies that are used in individual projects to investigate on a sub-cellular level molecular mechanisms related to DNA-protein interactions. The area of imaging and diagnostics focuses on the development of new instruments for a number of imaging methodologies, including ultra-high resolution optical microscopy, imaging non-linear optical properties of tissues, optical interference imaging through otherwise opaque tissue, and imaging tissue oxygenation by NIR imaging. Computational biophotonics focuses on the application of new simulation codes and supercomputers to support the projects in areas one and two and, in general, increase the understanding of photonic transport in and interaction with tissue. The area of biomedical applications focuses on optimizing and applying existing technologies to significant medical problems, including hyperspectral microscopy for searching for new optical signatures of disease, development of new, light-activated materials for surgical applications, and the utilization of x-ray sources for protein crystallography and live cell imaging.

The centerpiece of the educational activity is the development of a series of six teaching modules, or "stepping stones," that bring the concepts of light, biology, and biophotonics to students from kindergarten (Step One, K-3) through graduate and post-doctoral research (Step Six). Central to the concept of the "stepping stones" approach is that the modules emphasize hands-on science activities promoting scientific inquiry and concept development. The "stepping stones modules" are disseminated widely to schools in the community through various mechanisms, among them the MESA and 4-H Youth Development Program.

The Center has a strong, collaborative program for fostering outreach to and participation by non-center researchers in research activities. An Industry Partners Consortium (IPC) is used to bring interested members from industry together with CBST participants for the purpose of knowledge exchange, collaborative research, and the direct transfer of intellectual property and technology know-how to the commercial sector.