PHOTONS → SIGNAL
Light measurement
Capture spectral, fluorescent, and photoacoustic signals with quantitative precision.
LENS / BIDIRECTIONAL DISCOVERY
Optics · Biology · Computation · Care
Different disciplines.One clearer view.
LENS unites surgeons, engineers, scientists, innovators, and trainees to reveal disease biology and build technologies that improve clinical care.
07Connected research programs10Core members & collaborators01Shared path from signal to care
THE LENS PRINCIPLEDiscovery and care continuously inform one another.
400 nm1700 nmTHE LENS MODELDiscovery moves in both directions
01SIGNAL
02MEANING
03TECHNOLOGY
04CARE
The LENS premise
See biology differently.
Understand disease more deeply.
We create optical, computational, and imaging technologies around the realities of living tissue, then translate those measurements into clinically meaningful knowledge.
Core vision
From a photon to a clinical answer.
Each discipline contributes a different layer of evidence. LENS registers those layers into one coherent view of living disease.
SIGNAL → STRUCTURE
Bio-imaging
Preserve spatial context across molecules, cells, tissue, and neural systems.
STRUCTURE → MEANING
Pathology
Anchor optical contrast to disease biology and the diagnostic ground truth.
MEANING → ACTION
Clinical answer
Transform validated evidence into guidance clinicians can use in real time.
The visual evidence
One disease. Multiple ways of seeing.
LENS aligns optical measurement, tissue structure, neural function, and clinical context into a common field of view.
01 / Research architecture
One field.
Seven ways of seeing.
Seven connected programs move from photons and probes to neural systems, pathology, and clinical validation.
02 / Translational model
Discovery moves
in both directions.
Clinical needs shape invention. New measurements reshape what clinicians can know.
- PHOTONS
See
Measure signals invisible to conventional vision.
- MEANING
Understand
Connect optical contrast to biology and pathology.
- TECHNOLOGY
Build
Engineer systems for living, complex environments.
- CARE
Translate
Validate where clinical decisions happen.
03 / The collaborative
Built by people who see the problem differently.
A working network across surgery, engineering, computation, biology, pathology, and translational science.
04 / Selected publications
Evidence, always in motion.
A continuously rotating selection from our peer-reviewed work across imaging, neuroscience, disease biology, and clinical translation.
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![Journal, title, and author preview for Clinical translation of photoacoustic imaging using exogenous molecular contrast agents [Invited].](/publications/headers/41293705.webp)
Research support
Enabled by federal, state, institutional, and philanthropic partners.
