Meet the UTA Team

The Biophotonics Laboratory is located in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin. We are developing technologies that use light (photonics) for biomedical applications including noninvasive skin cancer screening, laser surgery, image-guided surgery, and targeted hyperthermia using nanoparticle-enhanced photothermal therapy.

As part of Project Sentinel, the University of Texas at Austin Biophotonics Laboratory is responsible for developing tools for recording and analyzing surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) signals from an implantable biosensor. This includes the development of a handheld Raman Spectroscopy probe for measuring SERS signals from the implanted sensor and optimizing #MachineLearing algorithms for reliable measurement of cancer biomarkers from these signals.

The team is composed of James Tunnell, an associate professor in biomedical engineering whose research focuses on using optical spectroscopy and imaging for disease diagnosis and treatment, Jason King, a postdoctoral fellow who focuses on optical design, instrumentation, and Raman spectroscopy, and Mengkun Chen, a PhD student who focuses on machine learning for disease diagnosis.

More information about the biophotonics laboratory can be found here: https://sites.utexas.edu/biophotonics/