Join the Northeastern OSL Team

The OSL program is accepting applications for graduate students who can conduct MS or Ph.D. level research in biomedical optics. You can find OSL's primary research areas are listed below. These are mostly unfunded projects, but all have the potential to lead to viable proposals for future funding. If you are interested in pursuing thesis research in or close to any of these areas, search our publications for further details, and then contact Professor DiMarzio to arrange a meeting for further discussions.

OSL is also accepting undergraduate applications. Undergarduate students work on a smaller part of one of these problems, or help current graduate students on existing projects found on our research page. If you see something that looks interesting, contact Professor DiMarzio.

Imaging of Collagen: This project is a collaboration with Prof. Ruberti in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. Our interest currently is in using second-harmonic generation (SHG) to produce microscopic images in which the alignment of collagen fibrils can be determined. Research involves collecting and processing forward and backward SHG images, potentially exploiting polarization effects, and developing algorithms for determining the orientation from these images.

Spectroscopy of Melanin Fluorescence: We have discovered a stepwise three-photon-excited fluorescence process in melanin that can be excited with CW laser light. Currently, we are conducting research on imaging the emitted light. We also have a capability to measure the spectrum of the emission, and doing so may provide insights into the fundamental science, as well as the ability to discriminate between different types of melanin in normal and cancerous skin.

Structured Illumination Microscopy: We have developed a technique for single-image structured illumination microscopy that has potential for sectioning of skin imaging for dermatological applications. We are looking for students interested in both experimental and computational work in this area.

Speckle Contrast: Blood flow in skin results in a degradation of the contrast in the speckle pattern of the reflected light. We are interested in using structured illumination in combination with speckle contrast to enable sectioning of blood-flow images.