NPC Podcast #5

All About Optics with Dr. Irving Bigio

Irving J. Bigio is Professor at Boston University, with appointments in Biomedical Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Physics, and the BU School of Medicine.  He has authored over 200 scientific publications on laser physics, nonlinear optics and biomedical optics, including the award-winning textbook (with co-author Sergio Fantini): Quantitative Biomedical Optics.  Dr. Bigio has pioneered the development of a number of biomedical optics technologies and tested them in preclinical and clinical studies. Clinical diagnostic methods based on his development of elastic-scattering spectroscopy have been developed commercially for clinical practice and have receive FDA clearance. More recently his lab has been advancing quantitative birefringence microscopy to image the underlying pathologies of the brain that are associated with a variety of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and age-related dementia.  Dr. Bigio is a Fellow of Optica, the SPIE, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Irving Bigio, a Professor at Boston University, with appointments in Biomedical Engineering, Electrical & Computer Engineering, Physics, and the BU School of Medicine. We talk about his journey from being curious about the physics of light, to applying it to the human condition, as we discuss polarized light, birefringence, and the exciting future of optics technology applicable to biomedicine and neuroscience.

🔬 Whether you’re a neuroscientist, engineer, or just curious about brain function, this episode is packed with insights on the future of neuroscience and the importance of crossing disciplinary boundaries.

🎧 Listen now and join the conversation!

Timestamps

0:00 Intro

0:58 Welcome

2:20 Guest Self-introduction

17:52 First collaboration at BU?

21:41 Diving into birefringence

22:44 Anisotropy

23:15 Birefringence

25:10 Polarized Light

25:40 Polarized Sunglasses

26:46 Circular Polarization

27:27 Birefringent Nerves!

28:34 Filming Action Potentials

30:41 Birefringence of Myelin

33:49 Birefringence Microscopy is Wide-Field

36:12 Quantitative Birefringence Microscopy

37:15 Some Pretty Pictures

41:35 In Neurological Diseases

45:33 More Pretty Pictures

50:28 Credit Where Credit’s Due

50:36 Neurophotonics Faculty Work

54:04 Future of Biomedical Optics?

58:06 How to Stay Motivated?

59:43 A Successful PhD Student is like…?

1:02:37 Practical Advice to Aspiring Students