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‌ ‌ BIGSS 2020 ANNOUNCED - AUGUST 25TH-29TH – BALLYVAUGHAN & GALWAY   This is our eight Biophotonics and Imaging Graduate Summer School. It is an important opportunity for graduate students in 2020 to access the kind of close contact with leading professors that only this kind of environment facilitates. Tutors for BIGSS 2020 will include:Gail McConnell (Strathclyde), Martin Booth (Oxford): Advanced MicroscopySteve Jacques (Washington): Tissue OpticsCaroline Boudoux (Montreal): EndoscopyDavid Sampson (Surrey): OCTSarah Bohndiek (Cambridge): Photoacoustics Arjun Yodh (U. Penn): Brain-NeurophotonicsBrian Wilson (Toronto): Photo Medicine, Radiation Medicine and NanoMedicineWei Chen (Oklahoma): Photoimmunology ABSTRACT DEADLINE: 16TH MARCH 2020 This year the summer school will be held in the picturesque Irish village of Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare. Ballyvaughan boasts stunning views of Galway Bay and the Burren. In addition to this hands-on training will be provided in Photoacoustic Imaging, Optical Coherence Tomography, Lightsheet imaging and MicroCT. For further information, please email bigss@nuigalway.ie

Congratulations to Dr Cerine Lal Congratulations to Dr Cerine Lal, who today did a great job defending her PhD thesis on Advancements in structural and functional imaging using Fourier domain OCT in the face of a rigorous questioning from Professor Adrian Podoleanu and Dr Alexander Goncharov. In the picture are Dr Alexander Goncharov, Professor Adrian Podoleanu (University of Kent, Canterbury)

StarSTEM Project Professor Martin Leahy of the Tissue Optics and Microcirculation Imaging (TOMI) group at the School of Physics,  NUI Galway will lead a consortium, who have been awarded a €6 million European grant, to develop a novel imaging platform for regenerative medicine. This new project, ‘STARSTEM’ will allow researchers and eventually, hospital doctors, to detect and measure the healing effects of novel stem cell therapies, even where they occur under the skin. Regenerative medicine and stem cell therapies provide unique opportunities for treating a wide range of human diseases. While clinical trials have shown very promising results, scientists do not yet fully understand how stem cells trigger healing, or indeed where the cells go after they are administered to the patient. This uncertainty makes it difficult for regulators to approve new stem cell therapies, and for doctors to prescribe them. The new STARSTEM project will address both of these challenges. Therapeutic stem cells will be ‘tagged’ with tiny gold star-shaped nanoparticles (‘nanostars’) invented at NUI Galway, which will make them much easier to detect with an exciting new imaging technology, optoacoustic imaging (OAI). This will enable researchers to track the location of very small amounts of stem cells, after they are administered. The effects of the stem cell therapy will also be measurable using OAI, which can detect healing as it happens, by measuring oxygen levels in the blood, formation of new blood vessels, and other signs of healing. These new insights will greatly help to take regenerative medicine into the clinic, a key aim of the Regenerative Medicine Institute (REMEDI) at NUI Galway. While STARSTEM is focused on developing new imaging technologies, it opens the door to new clinical research in regenerative medicine, with new tools and capabilities, and so helps to unlock the promise of regenerative medicine. Initially using osteoarthritis as its model disease target, STARSTEM’s platform has the potential to advance new treatments for cancers, neurodegenerative diseases and a host of other illnesses. Professor Martin Leahy, Coordinator of STARSTEM and the Director of TOMI at NUI Galway, said: “This is an exciting opportunity to use fundamental advances in the physics of imaging to validate stem cell treatments for arthritis. Once demonstrated in this application the STARSTEM technology can be used to enable a wide range of stem cell therapies.” Professor Frank Barry, Scientific Director of REMEDI at NUI Galway, said: “It is critically important that we understand dynamics and distribution of stem cells so that we can optimise treatments for patients. This project will allow us to make great strides in this regard.” STARSTEM brings together leaders in the nano-materials, regenerative medicine, and bio-imaging fields from across Europe. The team includes; NUI Galway (Project Co-ordinator); Technical University of Munich; University of Genoa; University of Cambridge; The Institute of Photonic Sciences, Barcelona; iThera Medical GmbH; Biorigen Srl; and Pintail Ltd, Ireland. STARSTEM has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

‌ BIGSS 2018 ANNOUNCED - AUGUST 28 - SEPTEMBER 1 – BALLYVAUGHAN & GALWAY This is our seventh Biophotonics and Imaging Graduate Summer School. It is an important opportunity for graduate students in 2018 to access the kind of close contact with leading professors that only this kind of environment facilitates. Tutors for BIGSS 2018 will include Martin Booth (Oxford), Sergio Fantini (Tufts), Irving Bigio (Boston), Ton van Leeuwen (Amsterdam) Sarah Bohndiek (Oxford) and Caroline Boudoux (Montreal). Previously we have had: 2008: Valery Tuchin (Saratov State), Peter So (MIT), Lihong Wang (St. Louis) 2009: Steve Jacques (OHSU), Gerwin Puppels (Rotterdam), Chris Xu and Warren Zipfel (Cornell) 2010: Bruce Tromberg (Irvine), Stefan Andersson-Engels (Lund), Jürgen Popp (Jena), Kirill Larin (Houston), Tony Wilson (Oxford) 2012: Wolfgang Drexler (Vienna), Tayyaba Hasan (Harvard), Anita Mahadevan-Jansen (Vanderbilt), Vasilis Ntziachristos (Munich) 2014: Johannes de Boer (Amsterdam), Paul French (London), Stas Emilianov (Texas) 2016: Matt O’Donnell (Seattle), David Boas (Harvard), Irina Larina (Baylor), Kishan Dholakia (St Andrews), Colin Shepperd (Genoa) This year the summer school will be held in the picturesque Irish village of Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare. Ballyvaughan boasts stunning views of Galway Bay and the Burren. In addition to this hands-on training will be provided in Photoacoustic Imaging, Optical Coherence Tomography, Lightsheet imaging and MicroCT. For further information, please email bigss@nuigalway.ie

International Day of Light 16 May 2018 The International Day of Light is a global initiative that provides an annual focal point for the continued appreciation of light and the role it plays in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy. The broad theme of light will allow many different sectors of society worldwide to participate in activities that demonstrate how science, technology, art and culture can help achieve the goals of UNESCO – education, equality, and peace. NUIG Physics shall be hosting an event on the day, the details are below;  International Day of Light in Ireland In Galway, we will have a programme to mark the International Day of Light. These will include a variety of hands-on workshops and talks for children, adults and families at the university. We will also be working with local schools. Contact: Adriana Cardinot (National University of Ireland Galway)