Award boosts biophotonics research

17 Jun 2002

A USD 2.7 million grant will help breed biophotonics experts at the University of Buffalo, US.

The National Science Foundation (NSF), US, has awarded the University of Buffalo (UB) USD 2.7 million to set up the first US training program dedicated to biophotonics.

Over five years, UB will produce 40 doctorate-level biophotonics scientists, who will be trained in biological, photonic and electronic systems. The first six students on the program will start this academic year.

UB provost, Elizabeth Capaldi, said of the multidisciplinary program: "We will be educating the first wave of scientists in this area, and creating a prototype for other programs in the future."

Under the program, UB researchers will: use nanotechnology to improve real-time imaging and photodynamic therapy; develop the next generation of biosensors; work on theoretical models of the interaction of light with biological systems; and look at ways to exploit biological systems in new photonic devices.

Alexander Cartwright, who is deputy director of UB's Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics, said: "This is the only biophotonics training program in the US funded by the NSF. We have developed new curricular and research experiences."

Parad Prasad, executive director of the institute, said: "This biophotonics program is truly multidisciplinary, it's at the cellular level, the tissue level and even the clinical level. No one else has that."