Event
BIOE Seminar: Multimodal Photoacoustic, OCT, and Fluorescence Retinal Molecular and Cellular Imaging
Friday, November 20, 2026
9:00 a.m.
A. James Clark Hall, Room #2121
Yu Gan
yugan@umd.edu
Yannis Paulus
Professor
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Multimodal Photoacoustic, OCT, and Fluorescence Retinal Molecular and Cellular Imaging
Abstract:
Imaging plays a critical role in the discovery and evaluation of human health and disease. Given the topical transparency of the eye, the retina is a unique location where the microvasculature and central nervous system can be visualized with high resolution optical imaging. Newly-developed imaging techniques show extensive promise and potential to improve early disease detection, more accurate diagnosis, and improved patient management through hardware such as lasers and optics in addition to software image analysis and automated deep neural network interpretation or image enhancement. The development of new blood vessels, angiogenesis, is a leading cause of vision loss and blindness in numerous eye diseases, including macular degeneration and diabetes. We develop a multimodal molecular and cellular imaging platform using photoacoustic microscopy, optical coherence tomography (OCT), and fluorescence microscopy with ultraminiature gold nanochains to visualize the early cellular and biochemical processes of angiogenesis, which occur before advanced anatomic changes with a significant > 20 fold signal enhancement. Nanoparticles are optimized through modifying size to make them ultraminiature to be renally excreted in urine and made to be smart to evaluate the local cellular environment and cellular health. Stem cells are visualized in the subretinal space and tracked longitudinally for 1 year with the ability to track even individual cells over time. This research presents an innovative platform technology for longitudinal imaging of molecular changes and regenerative medicine stem cell-based therapies in living animals.
Bio:
Yannis M. Paulus, M.D., FACS, FARVO, FASRS, is an academic vitreoretinal surgeon and clinician scientist that directs an active, multidisciplinary lab applying optics, photonics, biomedical engineering, regenerative medicine, AI, biodesign, and nanoparticles to develop novel optical imaging, lasers, and therapies in retinal diseases. He is the Jonas Friedenwald Professor in Ophthalmology and Professor in the Department of Ophthalmology and Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University Wilmer Eye Institute and an Affiliate Member of The Malone Center for Engineering in Healthcare, Johns Hopkins Data Science and AI Institute, and Institute for Data Intensive Engineering and Science. He serves as inventor on 11 patent applications and has more than 250 peer reviewed publications in journals including Nature Communications, Nature Nanotechnology, Advanced Materials, Light: Science & Applications, ACS Nano, Science Advances, Scientific Reports, Ophthalmology, Lancet, and JAMA Ophthalmology, and has started 3 biomedical device start-ups. He is a Fellow of Optica, SPIE (International Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers), the American College of Surgeons, the American Society of Retina Specialists, and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO). He has received numerous awards from leading international organizations, including the ARVO/Alcon Early Career Clinician-Scientist Research Award, American Academy of Ophthalmology Achievement Award, Senior Member Designation by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Heed Ophthalmic Foundation, and the Evangelos S. Gragoudas Award from the Macula Society.
