Stephen A. Boppart is a principal investigator at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he holds an Abel Bliss Professorship in engineering.[1] He is a faculty member in the departments of electrical and computer engineering, bioengineering, and internal medicine. His research focus is biophotonics, where he has pioneered new optical imaging technologies in the fields of optical coherence tomography, multi-photon microscopy, and computational imaging.[2]

Professor
Stephen A. Boppart
Ph.D., M.D.
Professor Stephen Boppart sitting in front of optical table in the Optical Coherence Technology (OCT) laboratory at the Beckman Institute for Advance Science and Technology on the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus
Born1968
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsBiophotonics
Institutions
ThesisSurgical diagnostics, guidance, and intervention using optical coherence tomography (1998)
Doctoral advisorJames Fujimoto
Other academic advisorsBruce Wheeler
Websitebiophotonics.illinois.edu

Background and education

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Boppart was born in the small farming community of Harvard, Illinois.[3] In 1990, he received his B.S. degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in electrical engineering, with an option in bioengineering.[4] In 1991, he received his M.S. degree in electrical engineering from UIUC. His master's research involved the development of multielectrode arrays under Professor Bruce Wheeler. From 1991 to 1993, he developed national laser safety standards at the Air Force Research Laboratory in San Antonio, Texas. He then returned to graduate school to pursue both the Ph.D. and M.D. degrees under a joint program between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Medical School. He received his Ph.D. in medical and electrical engineering in 1998 under the direction of James Fujimoto, and completed his M.D. in 2000. While at MIT, he was involved in the invention and early development of optical coherence tomography (OCT).[5][6]

Research

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Boppart started the Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory at UIUC in 2000, an interdisciplinary research group working at the intersection of engineering, medicine, and biology. The research focuses on the development of biophotonics for translational medicine in primary care and oncology. Building upon the development of OCT in his graduate studies, Boppart expanded OCT to new application areas. OCT was used to image the tympanic membrane (eardrum) to determine the presence of biofilm, a complicating factor in ear infections.[7][8] He also developed OCT for intraoperative breast cancer imaging to determine the status of the resection margin.[9][10]

At UIUC, his research interests expanded to include nonlinear optical microscopy. He developed nonlinear interferometric vibrational imaging, a variation of CARS microscopy, for imaging cancer resection margins.[11] He also pioneered multimodal-multiphoton microscopy, the combination of several nonlinear optical imaging modalities into a single imaging system.[12][13] These nonlinear optical imaging technologies were enabled by the development of an optical fiber-based supercontinuum laser source. In 2017, Boppart demonstrated coherent control of neurons.[14][15]

Boppart applied computational imaging to coherent optical microscopy by solving the inverse problem for OCT.[16][17][18] This allows for three-dimensional imaging with extended depth-of-field and digital correction of optical aberrations.[19][20][21]

Administration and entrepreneurship

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From 2006 to 2008, Boppart was the founding director of the Mills Breast Cancer Institute at Carle Foundation Hospital.[22] In 2011, he headed the Strategic Initiative on Imaging at UIUC.[23] He was also heavily involved in the founding of the engineering-based Carle Illinois College of Medicine in 2015.[24][25]

Multiple startup companies have been formed from Boppart's research. In 2011, Diagnostic Photonics, Inc. was launched which develops a handheld probe for imaging the breast cancer resection margin.[26] In 2013, PhotoniCare was formed to commercialize a handheld probe for imaging biofilms in the middle ear.[27]

Awards and honors

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SPIE, Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award, 2019[28]

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technology Review Top 100 Young Innovators Award[29]

National Science Foundation Career Award[30]

Hans Sigrist Prize, 2012[31]

Abel Bliss Professorship in Engineering, 2011[3][32]

Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award, 2009[33]

Fellow, Optical Society of America

Fellow, SPIE

Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering

Fellow, Biomedical Engineering Society

References

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  1. ^ "Stephen Allen Boppart". ece.illinois.edu. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  2. ^ "Biophotonics Imaging Lab". biophotonics.illinois.edu. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  3. ^ a b "Bliss Professor of Enineering". ece.illinois.edu. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  4. ^ "Stephen A. Boppart biography and contact". biophotonics.illinois.edu. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  5. ^ US 6485413, Stephen A. Boppart, "Methods and apparatus for forward-directed optical scanning instruments", published 2002-11-26 
  6. ^ EP 0971626, Stephen A. Boppart, "Instrument for optically scanning of living tissue", published 2000-01-19 
  7. ^ Jung, Woonggyu; et al. (2011). "Handheld Optical Coherence Tomography Scanner for Primary Care Diagnostics". IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng. 58 (3): 741–744. doi:10.1109/TBME.2010.2096816. PMC 3214662. PMID 21134801.
  8. ^ "New Device Sees Bacteria Behind the Eardrum". Live Science. 2012-05-30. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  9. ^ Erickson-Bhatt, Sarah; et al. (2015). "Real-time Imaging of the Resection Bed Using a Handheld Probe to Reduce Incidence of Microscopic Positive Margins in Cancer Surgery". Cancer Research. 75 (18): 3706–3712. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-15-0464. PMC 4749141. PMID 26374464.
  10. ^ Phares, Marguax (2015-08-22). "Flashlight-Sized Probe Can Spot Cancer Cells in Real Time". NOVA. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  11. ^ Chowdary, Praveen; et al. (2010). "Molecular Histopathology by Spectrally Reconstructed Nonlinear Interferometric Vibrational Imaging". Cancer Research. 70 (23): 9562–9569. doi:10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-10-1554. PMC 3213764. PMID 21098699.
  12. ^ Tu, Haohua; et al. (2016). "Stain-free histopathology by programmable supercontinuum pulses". Nature Photonics. 10 (8): 534–540. Bibcode:2016NaPho..10..534T. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2016.94. PMC 5031149. PMID 27668009.
  13. ^ Ahlberg, Liz (2017-01-25). "Tiny exports signal big shifts in cancer tissue, researchers find". Illinois News Bureau. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  14. ^ Paul, Kush; et al. (2017). "Coherent control of an opsin in living brain tissue". Nature Physics. 13 (11): 1111–1116. Bibcode:2017NatPh..13.1111P. doi:10.1038/nphys4257. PMC 6029863. PMID 29983725.
  15. ^ Collini, Elisabetta (2017-09-18). "Biophotonics: That quantum feeling". Nature Physics. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  16. ^ Ralston, Tyler; et al. (2007). "Interferometric synthetic aperture microscopy". Nature Physics. 3 (2): 129–134. Bibcode:2007NatPh...3..129R. doi:10.1038/nphys514. PMC 4308056. PMID 25635181.
  17. ^ Shemonski, Nathan; et al. (2013). "Real-time in vivo computed optical interferometric tomography". Nature Photonics. 7 (6): 444–448. Bibcode:2013NaPho...7..444A. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2013.71. PMC 3742112. PMID 23956790.
  18. ^ Kloeppel, James (2007-01-22). "Novel computed imaging technique uses blurry images to enhance view". Illinois News Bureau. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  19. ^ Adie, Steven; et al. (2012). "Computational adaptive optics for broadband optical interferometric tomography of biological tissue". PNAS. 109 (19): 7175–7180. Bibcode:2012PNAS..109.7175A. doi:10.1073/pnas.1121193109. PMC 3358872. PMID 22538815.
  20. ^ Shemonski, Nathan; et al. (2015). "Computational high-resolution optical imaging of the living human retina". Nature Photonics. 9 (7): 440–443. Bibcode:2015NaPho...9..440S. doi:10.1038/nphoton.2015.102. PMC 4750047. PMID 26877761.
  21. ^ Smith-Strickland, Kiona (2015-06-22). "Why You Should Thank an Astronomer for Preventing Blindness". Gizmodo. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  22. ^ Pressey, Debra (2006-12-04). "UI professor chosen to direct breast cancer center". News-Gazette. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  23. ^ McGaughey, Steve (2009-04-02). "New campus strategic initiative on imaging has far-reaching goals". Beckman Institute News. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  24. ^ Kaler, Robin (2015-12-11). "Boppart serving on Carle Illinois College of Medicine curriculum committee". U of I Public Affairs. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  25. ^ Ahlberg, Liz (2017-05-04). "Carle Illinois College of Medicine announces 100 inaugural faculty". Illinois News Bureau. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  26. ^ Graham, Meg (2016-01-07). "Chicago startup raises $3M for probe to prevent repeat cancer surgeries". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  27. ^ Oran, Nicole (2015-12-08). "PhotoniCare innovating the way doctors diagnose and treat common middle ear infections in kids". MedCity News. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  28. ^ "BioMedical Optics Award - SPIE". spie.org. Retrieved 2020-09-01.
  29. ^ Technology Review (2002-06-01). "2002 TR100". MIT Technology Review. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  30. ^ "CAREER: Functional Optical Coherence Tomography for Neural Imaging". www.nsf.gov. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  31. ^ "Hans Sigrist Prize Winners". www.sigrist.unibe.ch. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  32. ^ "Seven faculty named as Bliss Professors". Engineering at Illinois. 2011-04-28. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  33. ^ The Optical Society. "Paul F. Forman Team Engineering Excellence Award".