![\"\"](\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2025\/04\/chen_yang-300x300.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\tChen Yang<\/h6>\n\t\t
Associate Chair of Master Programs & Professor (ECE, Chem, MSE)<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t\n
![\"\"](\"\/photonics-programs\/files\/2026\/02\/Teddie-300x300.jpg\")
<\/figure>\t\t\t\tEdward Nelson<\/h6>\n\t\t
PhD Candidate<\/p>\t<\/a>\n\n\t\n<\/li>\n\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/p>\n
Project Description<\/span><\/h3>\n\nRetinal degenerative diseases are a leading cause of irreversible vision loss worldwide. Current retinal prostheses are predominantly solid-state implanted devices designed to evoke visual sensations in affected individuals. However, the resolution of existing systems remains severely limited. In addition, solid-state implants are constrained in size by the need for invasive surgical incisions, making implantation procedures risky, costly, and less accessible to patients. Consequently, there is a critical need for non-invasive retinal prosthesis technologies achieving precise, high-resolution stimulation. In this summer project, students will work on developing biocompatible gold nanoparticles for non-invasive photoacoustic retina stimulation. Students will perform nanoparticle synthesis and functionalization and test delivery of nanoparticle to retina through eye drop. Success of the project will enable a non-invasive retina stimulation approach through delivered gold nanoparticles as highly efficient photoacoustic agents.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nResearch Goals<\/h3><\/span><\/p>\nThe goal of the project is to develop biocompatible gold nanoparticles and demonstrate its delivery to rodent retina through eye drop. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\nLearning Goals<\/h3><\/span><\/p>\nStudents will be trained to perform nanoparticle synthesis, surface functionalization and bioimaging experimentally. Students will also learn to effectively communicate on their work, design experiments and data analysis.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\nTimeline<\/span><\/h3>\nWeek 1:<\/strong><\/span> Literature review.
\n<\/span>Week 2:<\/strong><\/span> Design of experiments.
\n<\/span>Weeks 3-4:<\/strong><\/span> Synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Weeks 5-6:<\/strong><\/span> Functionalization of nanoparticles.
\n<\/span>Week 7-10:<\/strong><\/span> Test nanoparticles in vivo.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mentors Project Description Retinal degenerative diseases are a leading cause of irreversible vision loss worldwide. Current retinal prostheses are predominantly solid-state implanted devices designed to evoke visual sensations in affected individuals. However, the resolution of existing systems remains severely limited. In addition, solid-state implants are constrained in size by the need for invasive surgical incisions, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19768,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[118],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19768"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10564"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10677,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10564\/revisions\/10677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Retinal degenerative diseases are a leading cause of irreversible vision loss worldwide. Current retinal prostheses are predominantly solid-state implanted devices designed to evoke visual sensations in affected individuals. However, the resolution of existing systems remains severely limited. In addition, solid-state implants are constrained in size by the need for invasive surgical incisions, making implantation procedures risky, costly, and less accessible to patients. Consequently, there is a critical need for non-invasive retinal prosthesis technologies achieving precise, high-resolution stimulation. In this summer project, students will work on developing biocompatible gold nanoparticles for non-invasive photoacoustic retina stimulation. Students will perform nanoparticle synthesis and functionalization and test delivery of nanoparticle to retina through eye drop. Success of the project will enable a non-invasive retina stimulation approach through delivered gold nanoparticles as highly efficient photoacoustic agents.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The goal of the project is to develop biocompatible gold nanoparticles and demonstrate its delivery to rodent retina through eye drop. <\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n Students will be trained to perform nanoparticle synthesis, surface functionalization and bioimaging experimentally. Students will also learn to effectively communicate on their work, design experiments and data analysis.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n Week 1:<\/strong><\/span> Literature review. Mentors Project Description Retinal degenerative diseases are a leading cause of irreversible vision loss worldwide. Current retinal prostheses are predominantly solid-state implanted devices designed to evoke visual sensations in affected individuals. However, the resolution of existing systems remains severely limited. In addition, solid-state implants are constrained in size by the need for invasive surgical incisions, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19768,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[118],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10564"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19768"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10564"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10677,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10564\/revisions\/10677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/photonics-programs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Research Goals<\/h3>
Learning Goals<\/h3>
Timeline<\/span><\/h3>\n
\n<\/span>Week 2:<\/strong><\/span> Design of experiments.
\n<\/span>Weeks 3-4:<\/strong><\/span> Synthesis and characterization of nanoparticles.<\/span>
\n<\/span>Weeks 5-6:<\/strong><\/span> Functionalization of nanoparticles.
\n<\/span>Week 7-10:<\/strong><\/span> Test nanoparticles in vivo.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"