{"id":6589,"date":"2025-09-24T14:04:20","date_gmt":"2025-09-24T18:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/?page_id=6589"},"modified":"2025-09-24T14:15:03","modified_gmt":"2025-09-24T18:15:03","slug":"bifano-lab","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/research\/opportunities\/labs-research\/bifano-lab\/","title":{"rendered":"Bifano Lab"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b><img loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/photonics-reu\/files\/2018\/08\/IMG_9817.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2680 alignleft\" width=\"295\" height=\"197\" \/><\/b>The Bifano Lab <span>focuses on design, manufacturing, and use of optical instruments. We control light using deformable mirrors (DMs) developed in our lab to improve resolution in microscopes and telescopes. These DMs are now commercialized by <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bostonmicromachines.com\/\" class=\"u-active-none u-border-none u-btn u-button-link u-button-style u-hover-none u-none u-text-palette-1-dark-1 u-btn-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Boston Micromachines Corporation<\/a><span>. The lab also works on biomedical imaging applications and microscopy research. Professor Bifano led BU&#8217;s\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/neurophotonics-nrt\/\" class=\"u-active-none u-border-none u-btn u-button-link u-button-style u-hover-none u-none u-text-palette-1-dark-1 u-btn-3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Neurophotonics Research Training Grant<\/a><span>\u00a0and is a a participant in the\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/\" class=\"u-active-none u-border-none u-btn u-button-link u-button-style u-hover-none u-none u-text-palette-1-dark-1 u-btn-4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">NSF Engineering Research Center on Cellular Metamaterials (CELL MET)<\/a><span>\u00a0with a goal to\u00a0engineer heart tissues for cardiac repair. He also directs the\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics\" class=\"u-active-none u-border-none u-btn u-button-link u-button-style u-hover-none u-none u-text-palette-1-dark-1 u-btn-5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">BU Photonics Center<\/a><span>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>In addition to his lab, Dr. Bifano directs the Boston University Photonics Center (BUPC), a core facility and academic center of excellence comprised of forty-nine faculty members from eight academic departments and sixteen staff staff members. He leads BUPC programs for education, scholarly research and development of advanced photonic device prototypes for commercial and military applications. He manages a state-of-the-art facility that includes several shared research laboratories and a large business innovation center. Dr. Bifano also serves as a Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and was Chair of the Manufacturing Engineering Department from 1999-2006. His research focuses on modeling, design, production, and use of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) in optical applications.<\/p>\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h2 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Participants<\/h2><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><br \/>\n\n\t<ul class=\"profile-listing profile-format-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-basic has-title post-6819 profile type-profile status-publish hentry profile-field-twentythree profile-field-bifano-lab profile-field-boston-university profile-field-pastreu\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/profile\/maxwell-barrueta\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-basic\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/cell-met\/files\/2023\/10\/Maxwell-Baruetta-Lab-Headshot-scaled-e1759498626755-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of Maxwell Barrueta\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-basic\">Maxwell Barrueta<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-basic\">BU REU, Bifano Lab<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-basic has-title post-6475 profile type-profile status-publish hentry profile-field-eighteen profile-field-bifano-lab profile-field-boston-university profile-field-past-rem-participant\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/profile\/ivanna-corzo\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-basic\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"100\" src=\"\/cell-met\/files\/2018\/10\/Ivanna-e1759498672658.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of Ivanna Corzo\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-basic\">Ivanna Corzo<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-basic\">BU REM, Bifano Lab<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-basic has-title post-6397 profile type-profile status-publish hentry profile-field-twentytwo profile-field-bifano-lab profile-field-boston-university profile-field-pastreu\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/profile\/marva-lawrence\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-basic\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/cell-met\/files\/2022\/09\/07.18.22_REU_ProfileHeadshots_MarvaLawrence.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of Marva Lawrence\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-basic\">Marva Lawrence<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-basic\">BU REU, Bifano Lab<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-basic has-title post-6791 profile type-profile status-publish hentry profile-field-twentyfour profile-field-bifano-lab profile-field-boston-university profile-field-pastreu\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/profile\/sebastian-martinez\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-basic\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/cell-met\/files\/2025\/05\/20240731_REU-Lab-Headshots-Sebastian-1024x683-1-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of Sebastian Martinez\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-basic\">Sebastian Martinez<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-basic\">BU REU, Bifano Lab<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-basic has-title post-6477 profile type-profile status-publish hentry profile-field-eighteen profile-field-nineteen profile-field-bifano-lab profile-field-boston-university profile-field-florida-international-university profile-field-he-lab profile-field-pastreu\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/profile\/antonio-martinez-margolles\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-basic\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"100\" src=\"\/cell-met\/files\/2018\/10\/Antonio-e1759498746787.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of Antonio Martinez-Margolles\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-basic\">Antonio Martinez-Margolles<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-basic\">BU &#038; FIU REU, Bifano &#038; He Lab<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-basic has-title post-6436 profile type-profile status-publish hentry profile-field-twentyone profile-field-bifano-lab profile-field-boston-university profile-field-pastreu\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/profile\/paris-pippen\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-basic\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/cell-met\/files\/2021\/06\/IMG_2590-scaled-e1759498803280-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of Paris Pippen\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-basic\">Paris Pippen<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-basic\">BU REU, Bifano Lab<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-basic has-title post-6289 profile type-profile status-publish hentry profile-field-eighteen profile-field-nineteen profile-field-bifano-lab profile-field-boston-university profile-field-forrest-lab profile-field-pastreu profile-field-university-of-michigan\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/profile\/francisco-sanchez-morales-2\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-basic\"><img width=\"140\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/cell-met\/files\/2020\/01\/FS-1-e1759499031419-280x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-basic\">Francisco Sanches-Morales<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-basic\">UM &#038; BU REU, Forrest Lab &#038; Bifano Lab<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"profile-item profile-item-basic has-title post-6374 profile type-profile status-publish hentry profile-field-twentyone profile-field-bifano-lab profile-field-boston-university profile-field-pastreu\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/profile\/jack-zamen\/\" class=\"profile-link profile-link-basic\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure class=\"profile-photo profile-photo-basic\"><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/cell-met\/files\/2021\/06\/IMG_2567-scaled-e1759499361172-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Headshot of Jack Zamen\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<h6 class=\"profile-name profile-name-basic\">Jack Zamen<\/h6>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title profile-title-basic\">BU REU, Bifano Lab<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<br \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h2 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Projects<\/h2><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/p>\n<h3>Making Heart Tissue Dance (2023)<\/h3>\n<p><strong>PROJECT DESCRIPTION<\/strong><br \/>\nIn our lab, we exercise engineered heart tissue to try to help it mature. Using tiny exercise machines that we control with precision actuators, we measure and control forces exerted by these small tissue bundles, which are comprised of a few thousand cardiomyocytes grown from stem cells. To further stimulate the tissues during exercise, we provide them with low voltage electrical pulses that cause them to beat like miniature hearts.<\/p>\n<p>This project will involve building a second-generation apparatus that can deliver the programmed electrical pulses to the tissues. Work will include programming an Arduino Uno microprocessor, designing and building a soldered electronic circuit, designing and fabricating an enclosure for the system that includes laser cutting and CAD design and integrates needed components including power, adjustment knobs, and an interactive display. As a final goal, the system will be used to stimulate real tissues in our lab. The specific research goals were to:<br \/>\n\u2022 Understand electrical pacing of cardiac tissue: What are current technologies? Why is pacing important? How is it done now? What are the important characteristics of a pacing system?<br \/>\n\u2022 Design an electronics circuit using a microprocessor, operational amplifiers, LCD displays, and potentiometers to produce a biphasic 2ms pulse with 10V amplitude at a repetition rate of once per second.<br \/>\n\u2022 Build prototypes, simulate design using online software.<br \/>\n\u2022 Design and integrate a self-contained enclosure comprising the control circuit, the power supply, the microprocessor, and the display.<br \/>\n\u2022 Document the design for open-source replication and use by others in the field.<\/p>\n<p><strong>LABORATORY MENTOR<\/strong><br \/>\nRuifeng Hu<\/p>\n<p><strong>LEARNING GOALS<\/strong><br \/>\n\u2022 Tissue engineering: Learn how and why cardiac tissue engineering is a critically important technology that promises a treatment and cure for heart disease.<br \/>\n\u2022 Cardiac microtissues: Understand how mechanical and electrical conditioning can benefit engineered heart tissues.<br \/>\n\u2022 Electronics\/control: Learn how to design and build a useful electronic circuit.<br \/>\n\u2022 Computer aided design: Learn how to simulate circuits and structural components to build a prototype system.<br \/>\n\u2022 Fabrication: Learn to build a system independently using laser cutting, electrical assembly, soldering, and light machine tools.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><span>Well Plate Reader for Micro-Tugs (2019)<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><strong>PROJECT DESCRIPTION<\/strong><br \/>\n<span>In our CELL-MET project, a key building block is the &#8220;micro-tug&#8221;, a millimeter scale piece of engineered tissue supported like a hammock between two compliant polymer pillars. We use these micro-tugs to evaluate chemical, mechanical, and electrical environmental impacts on tissue health. Our main sensing approach is to measure tissue beat rate and beat force. To date. we have built machines that can use optics to measure one micro-tug at a time. In this project, we will build an instrument that can measure 96 micro-tugs in a 12&#215;8 array simultaneously. The specific research goals were to:<\/span><br \/>\n<span>1. <\/span><span>Order parts and build microscope based on existing design<br \/>\n2. Develop software to measure force and beat rate in parallel<br \/>\n3. Modify 96 well plates to support micro-tug devices<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>LABORATORY MENTOR<\/strong><br \/>\n<span>Marshall Ma<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>LEARNING GOALS<\/strong><br \/>\n<span>1. <\/span><span>Develop skills associated with design and fabrication of an optical system, including concepts related to resolution, contrast, field-of-view, and optical design tradeoffs.<br \/>\n2. Learn to work on a multi-person team<br \/>\n3. Develop critical thinking and professional work habits in an intellectually challenging environment<br \/>\n4. Become self sufficient in assigned tasks<\/span><span><\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Using Adaptive Optics to Calibrate Extended Field of Depth Adaptive Scanning Optical Microscope (EDOF-ASOM) with a MEMS Deformable Mirror (2018)<\/h3>\n<p><strong>ABSTRACT<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong><\/strong>Deformable mirrors (DM) are used to improve image quality in microscopy by correcting wavefront errors. These errors are measured with a wavefront sensor (WFS). Image quality improvement is achieved through closed loop feedback control in a process known as adaptive optics (AO). Antonio and Ivanna helped implement and calibrate an adaptive optics system on a new type of microscope: an Extended Depth of Field Adaptive Scanning Optical Microscope (EDOF-ASOM). The EDOF-ASOM instrument can achieve high resolution images over a large volume.<\/p>\n<p><strong>C<\/strong><strong>ONCLUSIO<\/strong><strong>N<br \/>\n<\/strong>We were able to measure and compensate the static aberrations over 31 axial locations for each of 2025 lateral locations using adaptive optics. This calibration took 12 days of continuous closed loop control to complete.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>Real-time controlled Incubator and Micro fabricated Platform to Exercise Engineered Cardiac Micro tissues (2018)<\/h3>\n<p><strong>ABSTRACT<\/strong><br \/>\nThe CELL-MET team currently makes micro tissues using scaffolds made out of PDMS. Tissue force is measured by optically monitoring PDMS pillar deflection. An extension to this technique is to allow real-time <b>control <\/b>of micromechanical force in tissue and cellular level . In order to achieve this,\u00a0 PDMS mold structure was re-designed to make a more efficient and easier way to measure and control force. A fast microscope was assembled along with an environmental chamber in order to actively stretch the PDMS substrate with piezo actuators. The environmental chamber was manually built in the lab and using PID control in order to achieve the ideal temperature and ultimately the high humidity and CO2 atmosphere necessary for the cardiac micro tissue cells In vitro.<\/p>\n<p><strong>C<\/strong><strong>ONCLUSIO<\/strong><strong>N<br \/>\n<\/strong>In order for a cell to survive In vitro the chamber must have an atmospheric temperature of 37 degrees Celsius. At a PWM of 40 the temperature steady states at 36 degrees Celsius around 5000 seconds. This concludes that the PI control has worked\u00a0 sufficiently and more efforts to make it work efficiently can be arranged. The next steps would include the humidity and a carbon dioxide control to be tested for further development of our micro tissue Incubator.<\/p>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bifano Lab focuses on design, manufacturing, and use of optical instruments. We control light using deformable mirrors (DMs) developed in our lab to improve resolution in microscopes and telescopes. These DMs are now commercialized by Boston Micromachines Corporation. The lab also works on biomedical imaging applications and microscopy research. Professor Bifano led BU&#8217;s\u00a0Neurophotonics Research [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24547,"featured_media":0,"parent":6835,"menu_order":1,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6589"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24547"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6589"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6589\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7208,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6589\/revisions\/7208"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/6835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/cell-met\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}