Advances in Optics for Biotechnology, Medicine and Surgery Conference held in Lake Tahoe, CA on June 2-5, 2013

1340558Tunnell, james .生物技术，医学和外科光学进展是一个小型的（约120人参加），专注于生物医学光学领域的跨学科会议。会议将于2013年6月2日至5日在美国加利福尼亚州太浩湖格兰利巴肯会议中心和洛奇举行。会议将由高级和新兴专家的邀请演讲组成，重点关注生物医学光学领域的关键和新兴方面。海报会议将为学生和博士后提供充分的机会来描述和讨论他们的工作，空闲时间和社会活动将刺激和促进网络。我们将努力确保参与者的地域、学科、种族、性别和经验的多样性。来自国家科学基金会的资金将允许我们抵消4名学生，4名研究员和年轻研究人员以及6名演讲者的注册费用。生物医学光学包含了利用光和组织之间基本相互作用的新技术的跨学科发展。该领域已经产生了广泛的成像、诊断和治疗方法，影响了现代医学。生物医学光学也对生物医学研究产生了深远的影响，显微镜和体内成像工具的进步与转基因荧光蛋白体内模型和具有分子特异性的造影剂的快速发展同步。随着这两个领域的结合，生物医学光学是一个不断发展的领域，影响着医学和基础科学。智力优势：生物医学光学的进步通常来自工程学、物理学、数学、生物学、化学和临床医学的并立。要在这个高度跨学科的领域进行培训，除了对正在解决的生物医学问题有透彻的了解外，还必须掌握光学、设备开发、数据采集、建模和分析的各个方面。许多突破都是简单地将正确的技术与正确的生物医学应用相结合；需要开放的跨学科讨论的实现。新的生物医学光学技术的广泛采用还要求最终用户接受培训，使他们能够了解控制特定技术操作的基本原则，从而了解其优点和局限性。因此，我们的领域依赖于将生物医学光学研究的各个方面的专家聚集在一起的会议，包括科学家、工程师、临床医生和行业专家，以实现这种交叉施肥。我们要求支持的会议正是为了这个目的：提供一个论坛，在广泛的工程、基础科学和医学领域分享创造性的想法，以及为学生、学员和年轻的研究人员提供一个机会，使他们的知识多样化，并与该领域的主要领导者发展关系。更广泛的影响：生物医学光学是一个术语，用于广泛描述几乎所有利用光进行生物医学应用的技术。组织中光传输的基本物理以及荧光和吸收光谱仍然是该领域的核心，但每年都可以看到光产生，检测和操作以及新的造影剂，算法和生物医学应用的新技术的发展，所有这些都迅速将该领域推进到新的领域。在过去的2-3年中，这方面的例子包括超分辨率显微镜方法，如PALM和STORM，以及光学遗传学；一种新的生物技术，可以用光来开启和关闭兴奋细胞。因此，虽然这次会议将是已经运行了20多年的系列会议中的第13次会议，但每年都可以看到该计划的不断发展，以涵盖该领域的前沿新进展。例如，人们认识到，对于光学专家来说，了解光遗传学等新方法的原理、潜力和影响是很重要的，因为他们的专业知识可以显著改善这些有价值的新工具的使用方式。同样，向化学家介绍不同的光学方法来实现超分辨率显微镜可能会导致开发新型造影剂的改进策略。这个小型会议的独特形式非常有利于在我们领域的前沿进行强化培训，允许引入新的概念，然后公开讨论。

1340558Tunnell, JamesAdvances in Optics for Biotechnology, Medicine and Surgery is a small (~120 attendees), interdisciplinary conference focused on the field of biomedical optics. The conference will be held from the 2-5th June 2013 at the Granlibakken Conference Center and Lodge, Lake Tahoe, CA, USA. Sessions will be composed of invited talks from senior and rising experts focusing on key and emerging aspects of the biomedical optics field. A poster session will provide students and post-docs with ample opportunity to describe and discuss their work, and free-time and social activities will stimulate and promote networking. Substantial effort will be devoted to ensuring geographic, disciplinary, racial, gender and experiential diversity of our participants. Funding from the NSF will allow us to offset the registration costs of 4 students, 4 fellows and young investigators and 6 speakers. Biomedical optics encompasses the interdisciplinary development of new technologies that harness fundamental interactions between light and tissue. The field has already generated a wide range of imaging, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that have impacted modern medicine. Biomedical optics has also had a profound influence on biomedical research, with advances in microscopy and in-vivo imaging tools keeping pace with the rapid development of transgenic fluorescent-protein in-vivo models and contrast agents with molecular specificity. With these two areas combined, biomedical optics is a continually evolving field impacting both medicine and the basic sciences.Intellectual Merit : Biomedical optics advances are generally borne from the juxtaposition of engineering, physics, mathematics, biology, chemistry and clinical medicine. To train in this highly interdisciplinary field, one must master all aspects of optics, device development, data acquisition, modeling and analysis, in addition to a thorough understanding of the biomedical problems being addressed. Many breakthroughs have resulted from simply pairing the right technique with the right biomedical application; realizations that require open interdisciplinary discussion. Widespread adoption of new biomedical optics technologies also requires that end users receive training that allows them to appreciate the fundamental principles governing operation of a particular technology, and therefore both its benefits and limitations. As such, our field relies upon meetings that draw together experts from all facets of biomedical optics research, including scientists, engineers, clinicians and industry experts, to enable this cross-fertilization. The conference for which we are requesting support serves exactly this purpose: To provide a forum for sharing creative ideas across broad areas of engineering, basic science and medicine, as well as an opportunity for students, trainees and young investigators to diversify their knowledge and develop relationships with key leaders in the fieldBroader Impacts: Biomedical optics is a term used to broadly describe almost any technology that exploits light for biomedical applications. The fundamental physics of light transport in tissue and fluorescence and absorption spectroscopy remain at the field core, yet every year sees the evolution of new technologies for light generation, detection and manipulation as well as new contrast agents, algorithms and biomedical applications, all of which quickly advance the field into new areas. Examples of this in the past 2-3 years include super-resolution microscopy approaches such as PALM and STORM, as well as opto-genetics; a new biological technique that allows excitatory cells to be switched on and off using light. So while this meeting will be the 13th in a series that has been running for over 20 years, every year has seen continual evolution of the program to encompass cutting edge new advances in the field. It is recognized, for example, that it is important for experts in optics to understand the principles, potential, and implications of new approaches such as opto-genetics, since their expertise could significantly improve the way that these valuable new tools can be utilized. Similarly, introducing chemists to the different optical approaches to implementing superresolution microscopy may lead to improved strategies for developing novel contrast agents. The unique format of this small meeting is highly conducive to intensive training at the cutting edge of our field, allowing new concepts to be introduced and then openly discussed.