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Interventional Biophotonics Week 2026: Advancing Imaging Innovation through Education, Collaboration, and Clinical Translation

  • by Jenny Harris

Hosted by the National Center for Interventional Biophotonic Technologies (NCIBT)
Dates: July 20–24, 2026
Location: Aggie Square, Sacramento, CA

This July, UC Davis welcomed researchers, clinicians, residents, and trainees from across the globe for the fourth annual Interventional Biophotonics Week Summer School (July 20-22) and Symposium (July 23-24). The five-day event showcased the latest advances in optical imaging technologies and their integration into clinical workflows. 

Close to eighty people attended the Symposium, including faculty, physicians, residents, graduate and undergraduate students, postdoctoral fellows and project scientists from institutions in Germany and the US, as well as industry scientists. 

Summer School: Hands-On Learning (July 20–22)

Prior to the talks and panels with leading scientists at the Symposium (Thurs-Fri), 30 trainees at various levels of experience benefited from lectures, hands-on training, and demos during the Summer School section of the event (Mon-Wed).

Monday: Biophotonics Foundations & Clinical Optical Imaging
After a brief introduction to biophotonics by Dr. Randy Carney and an intro on the need for interventional imaging by Dr. Griff Harsh, participants explored core concepts and clinical applications, including:

  • Principles of iFLIm for Tissue Characterization (Dr. Laura Marcu)
  • Principles of iDOS Assessment of Blood Flow & Tissue Oxygenation (Dr. Vivek Srinivasan)
  • iFLIm Identification of Brain Tumor Margins (Dr. Orin Bloch)
  • iFLIm Identification of Head & Neck Cancer in Canines (Dr. Stephanie Goldschmidt)
  • Challenges and progress in flexible fiberoptic neurosurgery (Dr. Cameron Sadegh)
  • Lecture: Relationship between optical signal & molecular features in iFLIM (Dr. Alex Adams)

NCIBT Co-director Dr. Griff Harsh moderated a panel on Clinical Optical Imaging, and hosted Dr. John Freund, founder and Managing Director of Skyline Ventures, and co-founder of Intuitive Surgical, who talked candidly about the development of the Da Vinci Robot and inspired learners to think about how to affect change in biomedical sciences.

Afternoon labs provided demonstrations and hands-on training with key instrumental capabilities developed by the NCIBT, including iFLIM and iDOS instruments, led by Dr. Andrew Thrapp and Dr. Alex Adams.

The day concluded with Bowling Night at Capitol Bowl, a jointly hosted event with the Optics Club, to allow participants to network and get to know each other better and to have a little fun after a full-day of learning. 

INSERT PICTURE FROM BOWLING?

Tuesday: Artificial Intelligence and Industry Perspectives in Biophotonics

Day 2 focused on AI, from basics to applications in imaging and industry perspectives in biophotonics. We started the day with a brief introduction to artificial intelligence (AI) by Dr. Randy Carney, followed by a lecture on Data Acquisition & Signal Processing of iFLIm Measurements from Dr. Julien Bec and Dr. Xiangnan Zhou. Followed by a professional development session from Dr. Alba Alfonso-Garcia on how to give an elevator pitch about your research. 

We followed up our AI session with our industry perspectives session with 

  • Pathways to Technology Commercialization: Sales and Business Development from UC Davis alum Ross Keyashian from Horiba
  • Dr. Marco Arrigoni from Light Conversion provided a lecture on Laser for Optical Imaging
  • A fantastic panel featuring Ross Keyashian from Horiba, Dr. Marco Arrigoni from Light Conversion, and Dr. Julien Bec from UC Davis highlighted the opportunities working in industry and the different career paths people have taken to get to their current roles.

We concluded our morning with a session on current methods for monitoring acute brain injury, and their limitations from Dr. Jeff Vitt, MD (UC Davis).

Our afternoon continued with a lecture on Principles of all-optical deep imaging using speckle modulated interferometry from Dr. Andrew Thrapp, followed by Hands-on AI labs for iFLIM and iDOS data analysis with Dr. Randy Carney & Dr. Andrew Thrapp.

Wednesday: Clinical Integration & Field Excursion
Trainees visited UC Davis Health for live demonstrations of biophotonics in the hospital:

  • Imaging in the Operating Room (Dr. Griff Harsh and Equipment Specialist Larry Burow)
  • Imaging in the Neuro Intensive Care Units (Dr. Ryan Martin)
  • Imaging in the Endovascular Suites (Dr. Stephen Palacio)

The day concluded with a group excursion to Sonoma Valley for networking and relaxation.

Scientific Symposium Highlights (July 23–24)

The symposium featured keynotes, invited talks, and industry partners from world-class experts in biophotonics and biomedical engineering:

  • Kimberley S. Samkoe, PhD (Dartmouth University) Keynote Speaker: Quantitative methods for molecular imaging during fluorescence guided surgery
  • Thomas D. Wang, MD, PhD (University of Michigan) Keynote: Microsystems-Enabled Microendoscopy for In Vivo Imaging
  • Tulio Valdez, MD, MSc (Stanford University) Invited Speaker: Intraoperative Fluorescence Imaging across wavelengths
  • Joseph P. Culver, PhD (Washington University Medicine in St. Louis) Keynote: Naturalistic optical mapping and decoding of human brain function
  • Prabhu Senthil-Kumar, MD (Virginia Commonwealth University) Invited Speaker: Intraprocedural Biophotonics: Clinical Applications and needs in Plastic Surgery
  • Nicholas Durr, PhD (Johns Hopkins University) Keynote: Advanced Label-Free Imaging with Multi-contrast Laser Endoscopy
  • Petr Bruza, PhD (Dartmouth University) Invited Speaker: Optical Quantum Imaging Sensors: Rethinking Medical Cameras
  • Travis W. Sawyer, PhD (The University of Arizona) Invited Speaker: Innovations in deep learning to advance label-free microscopy for digital pathology applications
  • Ajith Anand, PhD (Wexford Lab Director) Industry Partner: Wexford & Aggie Square Partnership Tour
  • Jumpei Ashida (Canon USA) Industry Partner: Overview of Canon’s SPAD Technologies - Empowering real-Time FLIM
  • Oybek Kholiqov (Neuralenz) Industry Partner: Towards scalable brain sensing with integrated iDOS

Faculty leaders and affiliates of the NCIBT addressed the need for interventional imaging and discussed progress in the field, including in advances in technology, AI, and biological mechanistic understanding. Key members in attendance included: Center Director Dr. Laura Marcu (UC Davis), Dr. Ahasan Ahamed (UC Davis), Dr. Stephanie Goldschmidt (UC Davis), Dr. Robert Zawakzki (UC Davis), Dr. Andy Thrapp (UC Davis), Dr. Vivek Srinivasan (NYU Langone Health), Dr. Soheil Ghiasi (UC Davis), Dr. Weijian Yang (UC Davis), Dr. Jinyi Qi (UC Davis), Dr. Aydogan Ozcan (UCLA), Dr. Andrew Birkeland (UC Davis), Dr. Randy Carney (UC Davis), Dr. Alba Alfonso-Garcia (UC Davis), Dr. Yi Xue (UC Davis), and Dr. Richard Levenson (UC Davis).

In addition to technical talks and didactic lessons, the program included poster pitches and a poster session with prizes for the best posters awarded to: 

First Place: Anika Kulkarni (UC Davis) for her poster titled “Non-invasive Image Guided Control of Macrophage Behavior Using Functional Nanoparticles to Promote Bone Regeneration”

Second Place: Henry Sansom (Technical University of Denmark) for his poster titled “Zee-Zoom-Zap: A new paradigm for pancreatic cancer theranostics 

Third Place: Brayan Perez (UC Davis) for his poster titled “Intraluminal Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Reveals Regional Biochemical Signatures in the Murine Female Reproductive Tracts”

About NCIBT

The National Center for Interventional Biophotonic Technologies is an NIH NIBIB-funded research center dedicated to developing and translating optical imaging tools for real-time, image-guided interventions in medicine.

🔗 Learn more: ncibt.ucdavis.edu