Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology

生物光子学是一门产生和利用光和其他形式的辐射能的科学，其量子单位是光子，用于可视化、测量、分析和操纵生物材料。该学科致力于利用光子学的高空间分辨率、灵敏度和光谱特异性来理解和影响生物结构和/或功能。生物光子学科学与技术中心（CBST）是美国国家科学基金会的一个科学技术中心，是一个多学科、多机构的活动，旨在支持一个目标导向的、持续的努力，以广泛推进生物光子学科学。中心的活动分布在四个大学校园，加州大学戴维斯分校、加州大学旧金山分校、加州大学伯克利分校、斯坦福大学和劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室。CBST强调跨越知识领域的知识和应用的垂直整合，从创造新的仪器和技术到帮助理解分子机制，再到提供能够创造和发展重要的新生物医学工具的技术。该中心的研究分为四个战略重点领域：1)生物分子机制；2)影像与诊断；计算生物光子学；4)生物医学应用。生物分子机制领域专注于与新兴的单分子成像和检测领域相关的实验和工具，以及在单个项目中用于研究与dna -蛋白质相互作用相关的亚细胞水平分子机制的方法。成像和诊断领域的重点是开发用于多种成像方法的新仪器，包括超高分辨率光学显微镜、组织的非线性光学特性成像、通过不透明组织进行的光学干涉成像以及通过近红外成像进行组织氧合成像。计算生物光子学侧重于应用新的模拟代码和超级计算机来支持领域一和领域二的项目，总的来说，增加了对组织内光子传输和与组织相互作用的理解。生物医学应用领域侧重于优化现有技术并将其应用于重大医疗问题，包括用于寻找疾病新光学特征的高光谱显微镜，用于外科应用的新型光活性材料的开发，以及用于蛋白质晶体学和活细胞成像的x射线源的利用。教育活动的核心是开发一系列六个教学模块，或“踏脚石”，从幼儿园（第一步，K-3）到研究生和博士后研究（第六步），为学生带来光，生物学和生物光子学的概念。“踏脚石”方法概念的核心是这些模块强调促进科学探究和概念发展的动手科学活动。“踏脚石单元”透过不同的机制，向社区学校广泛传播，其中包括MESA和4-H青年发展计划。中心有一个强大的合作计划，以促进与非中心研究人员的接触和参与研究活动。利用工业伙伴联盟（IPC）将感兴趣的工业界成员与CBST参与者聚集在一起，以便进行知识交流、合作研究以及将知识产权和技术诀窍直接转让给商业部门。

Biophotonics is the science of generating and using light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon for visualization, measurements, analysis, and manipulation of biological materials. The discipline strives to exploit the high spatial resolution, sensitivity, and spectral specificity of photonics to understand and affect biological structure and/or function. The Center for Biophotonics Science and Technology (CBST), an NSF Science and Technology Center, is a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional activity designed to support a goal-directed, sustained effort to broadly advance the science of biophotonics. Center activities are spread over four university campuses, UC Davis, UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley, and Stanford University, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The CBST emphasizes vertical integration of knowledge and applications that span the intellectual landscape, from creating new instrumentation and techniques to helping understand molecular mechanisms to providing technology that will enable the creation and development of important new biomedical tools. Research at the Center is divided among four strategic thrust areas: 1) biomolecular mechanisms; 2) imaging and diagnostics; 3) computational biophotonics; and 4) biomedical applications. The area of biomolecular mechanisms concentrates on experiments and tools related to the newly emerging field of single molecule imaging and detection, methodologies that are used in individual projects to investigate on a sub-cellular level molecular mechanisms related to DNA-protein interactions. The area of imaging and diagnostics focuses on the development of new instruments for a number of imaging methodologies, including ultra-high resolution optical microscopy, imaging non-linear optical properties of tissues, optical interference imaging through otherwise opaque tissue, and imaging tissue oxygenation by NIR imaging. Computational biophotonics focuses on the application of new simulation codes and supercomputers to support the projects in areas one and two and, in general, increase the understanding of photonic transport in and interaction with tissue. The area of biomedical applications focuses on optimizing and applying existing technologies to significant medical problems, including hyperspectral microscopy for searching for new optical signatures of disease, development of new, light-activated materials for surgical applications, and the utilization of x-ray sources for protein crystallography and live cell imaging. The centerpiece of the educational activity is the development of a series of six teaching modules, or "stepping stones," that bring the concepts of light, biology, and biophotonics to students from kindergarten (Step One, K-3) through graduate and post-doctoral research (Step Six). Central to the concept of the "stepping stones" approach is that the modules emphasize hands-on science activities promoting scientific inquiry and concept development. The "stepping stones modules" are disseminated widely to schools in the community through various mechanisms, among them the MESA and 4-H Youth Development Program. The Center has a strong, collaborative program for fostering outreach to and participation by non-center researchers in research activities. An Industry Partners Consortium (IPC) is used to bring interested members from industry together with CBST participants for the purpose of knowledge exchange, collaborative research, and the direct transfer of intellectual property and technology know-how to the commercial sector.