Stefan Andersson-Engels, Ph.D.
Professor and Director,
Lund University Medical Laser Centre
Lund University, Sweden

Upconverting Nanoparticles for Deep Tissue Imaging

Upconverting nanoparticles have recently drawn increasingly attention as contrast agents for optical bioimaging. They enable autofluorescence-free imaging within the tissue optical window, and improved spatial resolution as compared to conventional fluorescence-based contrast agents. We illustrate first a significant improvement in spatial resolution for UCNPs as compared to conventional dye fluorophores, due to the non-linear dependence on the excitation light fluence distribution within a tissue phantom for the UCNPs. Then we also show the use of highly efficient UCNPs for in vivo sentinel lymph node imaging in a rat. The results suggest that UCNPs can be very powerful as contrast agents for small animal optical imaging.

Stefan Andersson-Engels received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from Lund University in Engineering Physics 1985 and Physics 1990, respectively. He was a postdoc at McMasters University in Canada 1990-1991. He has since been at Lund University, and became a full professor in 1999. He is presently the director of the Lund University Medical Laser Centre and was the deputy head of Atomic Physics Division at Lund University 2009-2014. He is a topical editor for J. Biomed. Optics and an editorial board member for J. Biophotonics. His research interest include tissue optics as well as applications of light in biomedical diagnostics and treatments.

A reception will follow the seminar at 3:00pm outside room 2202.

Location
2202 GBSF