Associate Professor Darren Roblyer (BME, ECE) has been appointed editor-in-chief of Biophotonics Discovery, the newest Gold Open Access journal of SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. SPIE is launching the journal as a peer-reviewed outlet for the extensive range of innovative research presented each year at the Photonics West BiOS Symposium.
“The goal of this journal is to provide a venue for cutting-edge biophotonics research focused on novel findings, especially as related to basic science and clinical translation,” says Roblyer. “This differentiates the journal from others in the field, as it is less focused on the development of methods and more focused on what can be accomplished with emerging biophotonic technologies over a wide range of biological questions and clinical applications. I couldn’t be more excited about working with SPIE to launch Biophotonics Discovery.”
Roblyer knows a thing or two about translating biophotonic tech into clinical applications. His inventions include a device that noninvasively images breast tumors and evaluates their response to chemotherapy. The BU Biomedical Optical Technologies Lab, which he runs, develops wearables, remote patient monitoring technologies, and custom frequency-domain near-infrared spectroscopy techniques to address unmet clinical needs in cancer, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, and autoimmune diseases, in collaboration with physicians, physiologists, biologists, and physicists as well as engineers.
A recipient of the NIH Trailblazer Award and the Department of Defense Era of Hope Scholar Award, among others, Roblyer earned his bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University and his PhD in bioengineering from Rice University.
“Darren Roblyer’s enthusiasm for this new journal will be contagious for the community,” said SPIE Publications and Platform Director Patrick Franzen. “The editor-in-chief search committee has overwhelming confidence that he has the experience, creativity, and leadership drive to successfully launch a new journal in a competitive space.”
Roblyer will appoint the journal’s editorial board, encompassing established leaders and emerging researchers in the biophotonics field. Biophotonics Discovery will open to submissions later this year, and the inaugural issue is expected to publish in early 2024.
Founded in 1955 as the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, SPIE is an international, not-for-profit professional society for technologists in the optics and photonics fields. SPIE publishes a dozen scientific journals, and its annual Photonics West gathering is one of the industry’s largest combined conference-and-trade-shows.