Irving Bigio

Undergraduate Chair (BME); Professor (BME, ECE, Physics, Medicine)

2026 REU Project: Coming Soon

The focus of Irving Bigio’s Biomedical Optics Lab is the development of minimally-invasive research-oriented and clinical (both diagnostic and therapeutic) tools, based on optical technologies. Applications span the breadth of the human body.

The lab’s projects include:

  • Optical Biopsy: we develop tools to measure non-invasively the reflectance spectrum of biological tissues to diagnose diseases such as cancer and to identify tissue types.
  • Sensors to monitor the response of tumors to specific treatments.
  • Real-time imaging feedback systems for tissue profiling and guidance during surgery.
  • Optical methods for noninvasive imaging of neural activation and brain function.
  • Birefringence microscopy for high-resolution imaging of myelin and cerebral arteries, relevant to neurodegenerative diseases and neuronal connectivity.
Publications