09/12/2022
By Joanne Gagnon-Ketchen
The Physics colloquium will be held on Wednesday. September 14 from 4-5 p.m. in Ball 210. The speaker will be Professor Anna Yaroslavsky.
"Advances in Translational Biomedical Optics," Anna N. Yaroslavsky, PhD. Associate Professor of Physics, Director of the Advanced Biophotonics Laboratory, University of Massachusetts at Lowell
Abstract:
In this talk I will give a brief overview of the research conducted at the Advanced Biophotonics Laboratory at UMASS Lowell and focus on the development of the quantitative optical methods for detecting and characterizing human pathology. Even though use of light in medicine has a long history, histopathology remains the mainstay for assessing tissue morphology and function and using this information for diagnosing diseases. Nondestructive quantitative optical imaging and spectroscopy offer unique advantages of evaluating the details of tissue structure and biochemistry safely and rapidly, with high potential to aid in the diagnosis and selective targeting of pathologies. In particular, we are developing polarization sensitive reflectance and fluorescence imaging methods that can be used for the wide-field rapid noninvasive interrogation of live tissues as well as for the high resolution detection of cancer at the cellular level. The latest developments in the medical applications of these technologies will be presented and their translational potential
will be discussed.
Bio:
Anna Yaroslavsky is Associate Professor of Physics and Director of the Advanced Biophotonics Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. She is also a visiting scientist at the Department of Dermatology at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Anna graduated summa cum laude from Saratov State University, Russia, with BS in Physics. Her graduate studies were conducted at Twente University in Enschede (The Netherlands), Heinrich-Heine University in Dusseldorf (Germany), and Louisiana State University Medical Center in Shreveport, LA (USA).During that time, she worked on the development of individualized, image-based methods of lightdosimetry and planning for brain tumor treatment, formulated concept and implemented inverse hybrid Monte Carlo technique for reconstruction of tissue optical properties, and investigated light scattering by complex biological structures. After earning Ph.D. degree in Biophysics from Saratov State University, she joined Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Harvard Medical School, where she progressed from Instructor to Assistant Professor of Dermatology. Yaroslavsky’s research at Wellman Center included the development of combined polarization, fluorescence, and elastic scattering imaging methods for diagnostics of cancers. In 2010, Anna accepted position of Associate Professor of Physics at the University of Massachusetts and founded Advanced Biophotonics Laboratory (ABL). Research at ABL focuses on the development of methods forlight dosimetry and on multi-modal approaches for functional and structural characterization of biological tissues, as well as pathology detection and treatment. Yaroslavsky publishes extensively in top-tier international journals and authored several patents. She serves as a reviewer on various NIH and NSF panels and has been elected fellow member of SPIE.
More information about research conducted at the Advanced Biophotonics Laboratory.