The field of biomedical optics has had tremendous growth over the last few decades. However, as investigators have made major advances in their own research, there has been insufficient collaboration and coordination between research groups. Researchers at different institutions across the country may be working in the same research topic, encountering and solving similar challenges, and achieving related milestones. Texas has a high concentration of researchers in the field of biomedical optics; however, the close proximity has not been capitalized on to encourage collaboration and communication about the challenges and successes.
The BioMedOptTex Symposium, held at Texas A&M University (May 23-25, 2012), will bring together researchers from across Texas and the United States to stimulate discussion about working together to advance the development of optical techniques and technologies to improve detection, diagnosis, and therapy of human disease around the world.
The main objectives of the BioMedOpTexSymposium were to highlight recent advances in optical biosensing and bioimaging toward clinical applications to improve public health; to bring optical biosensing and bioimaging researchers together to promote dialogue, explore new trends and directions, and stimulate crosscutting collaborations; and to provide an opportunity for undergraduate and graduate students to interact with experts in optical biosensing/bioimaging and present their research results. The Symposium brought together over 120 participants from across Texas and the United States to discuss our efforts to advance the development of optical techniques and technologies to improve detection, diagnosis, and therapy of human disease around the world. The inspiring keynote address by National Academy of Engineering member Dr. Rebecca Richards-Kortum (Rice University) on low-cost, high-performance technologies for global health mobilized PIs and students to focus on the impact of their research. The plenary speaker, Dr. Lihong Wang (Washington University) presented the advances in photoacoustic tomography to break through the optical diffusion limit for deep tissue optical imaging. Twenty oral presentations were given in sessions on diagnostics applications, therapeutic applications, biophotonics in global health, spectroscopy, and imaging from leading institutions (TAMU, Rice Univ., UT Austin, MD Anderson Cancer Center, UT Medical Branch at Galveston, Univ. of Houston, UT Arlington, Univ. of British Columbia, Naval Medical Research Unit) and companies (BioTex, Visualase, Ocean Optics). A panel of officers from the NIH, NSF, and FDA provided a lively discussion about the challenges in clinical translation of optical technologies with significant audience participation and also encouraged federal agency officers to actively participate in the entire symposium. The student poster session and reception was very engaging with 47 posters from TAMU, Rice Univ., UT Austin, MD Anderson Cancer Center, UT Medical Branch at Galveston, Univ. of Houston, UT Arlington, UT San Antonio, and UT Health Science Center at Houston. Poster awards for graduate and undergraduate students were awarded at the end of the program. The two day technical program, held May 24-25 at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center, was preceded by a full day student development workshop, held May 23. The highly successful workshop was organized by the TAMU SPIE Student Chapter. Approximately 50 students participated in the workshop. The workshop consisted in a motivational speaker, a panel discussion on entrepreneurship with representation from startup companies, a large company, academia, a venture capitalist group, and the FDA. The TAMU students provided tours of the optics labs, which were attended by a number of PIs in addition to the students. Multiple activities, including a student reception in the evening, provided networking opportunities for the students enhancing the collegial culture of the subsequent technical program.
