SPIE Honors Jürgen Popp for Bringing Biophotonics Closer to the Clinic

Jürgen Popp, Scientific Director of Leibniz IPHT and Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Jena, has received the SPIE Biophotonics Technology Innovator Award 2026 in San Francisco.

The award was presented on January 17, 2026, at the Photonics West conference and exhibition, one of the world’s most important events for optics and photonics. In the context of the award, leading international experts present current developments in optical biomedical research during the SPIE Hot Topics Session.

SPIE recognizes not only Popp’s scientific achievements, but also their consistent translation toward medically relevant applications. His work exemplifies an approach that combines key photonic technologies with data-driven methods, opening up new pathways toward more precise, personalized, and preventive medical strategies.
“Professor Popp has made a decisive contribution to bringing physics, life sciences, and engineering together in a productive way,” says Laura Marcu, Professor at the University of California, Davis. This interdisciplinary perspective, she notes, has opened up new ways to systematically translate research results into medically relevant concepts.