Melissa Skala (UW-Madison)
Title: Unraveling Immune Cell Metabolism and Function at Single-cell Resolution
Abstract: My lab is developing non-invasive imaging approaches and computational models to unravel dynamic relationships between immune cell function and metabolism at a single cell level. Immune cell function is closely coupled to cell metabolism, and significant heterogeneity exists between individual immune cells within a patient. However, current techniques to measure metabolism in single immune cells require sample destruction or the introduction of reporters that may alter the native context. Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) of the endogenous metabolic coenzymes NAD(P)H and FAD enables non-invasive metabolic imaging of single cells. I will discuss our efforts to characterize the function of immune cells using these label-free techniques, along with applications in cancer treatment and immune profiling.
Bio: Melissa Skala is an Investigator at the Morgridge Institute for Research and a Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Her lab develops biomedical optical imaging technologies for cancer research, cell therapy, and immunology. She is a fellow of SPIE, Optica, and AIMBE.
Lei Li (Rice University)
Title: New Generation Photoacoustic Imaging: From Benchtop Wholebody Imagers to Wearable Sensors
Abstract: Whole-body imaging has played an indispensable role in preclinical research by providing high-dimensional physiological, pathological, and phenotypic insights with clinical relevance. Yet, pure optical imaging suffers from either shallow penetration or a poor depth-to-resolution ratio, and non-optical techniques for whole-body imaging of small animals lack either spatiotemporal resolution or functional contrast. We have developed a dream machine, demonstrating that a stand-alone single-impulse panoramic photoacoustic computed tomography (SIP-PACT) mitigates these limitations by combining high spatiotemporal resolution, deep penetration, anatomical, dynamical and functional contrasts, and full-view fidelity. SIP-PACT has imaged in vivo whole-body dynamics of small animals in real time, mapped whole-brain functional connectivity, and tracked circulation tumor cells without labeling. It also has been scaled up for human breast cancer diagnosis. SIP-PACT opens a new window for medical researchers to test drugs and monitor longitudinal therapy without the harm from ionizing radiation associated with X-ray CT, PET, or SPECT. Genetically encoded photochromic proteins benefit photoacoustic computed tomography (PACT) in detection sensitivity and specificity, allowing monitoring of tumor growth and metastasis, multiplexed imaging of multiple tumor types at depths, and real-time visualization of protein-protein interactions in deep-seated tumors. Integrating the newly developed microrobotic system with PACT permits deep imaging and precise control of the micromotors in vivo and promises practical biomedical applications, such as drug delivery. In addition, to shape the benchtop PACT systems toward portable and wearable devices with low cost without compromising the imaging performance, we recently have developed photoacoustic topography through an ergodic relay, a high-throughput imaging system with significantly reduced system size, complexity, and cost, enabling wearable applications. As a rapidly evolving imaging technique, photoacoustic imaging promises preclinical applications and clinical translation.
Bio: Dr. Lei Li is an assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. He obtained his Ph.D. from the Department of Electrical Engineering at California Institute of Technology in 2019. He received his MS at Washington University in St. Louis in 2016. His research focuses on developing next-generation medical imaging technology for understanding the brain better, diagnosing early-stage cancer, and wearable monitoring of human vital signs. He was selected as a TED fellow in 2021 and a rising star in Engineering in Health by Columbia University and Johns Hopkins University (2021). He received the Charles and Ellen Wilts Prize from Caltech in 2020 and was selected as one of the Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review in 2019. He is also a two-time winner of the Seno Medical Best Paper Award granted by SPIE (2017 and 2020, San Francisco).
Karen Schloss
Title: Color semantics for visual communication
Abstract: Visual communication through information visualizations is fundamental to how humans share information, from weather patterns, to disease prevalence, to their latest scientific discoveries. When people attempt to interpret information visualizations, such as graphs, maps, diagrams, and signs, they are faced with the task of mapping perceptual features onto meanings. Sometimes, the designs of visualizations include legends, labels, or accompanying verbal descriptions to help determine which visual feature means what. But, the problem is, people have expectations about how visual features will map to concepts, and find it more difficult to interpret visualizations that violate those expectations. In this talk, I will discuss factors that determine those expectations, and how people use a process called assignment inference to infer mappings between colors and concepts. Our studies have shown that assignment inference can lead to results that are surprising, but well-explained by our models. For example, cases arise in which participants infer that concepts map to weakly associated colors when there are more strongly associated options. And, participants can systematically infer mappings between colors and concepts in data visualizations when some concepts represented in the visualizations have no strongly associated colors. This work has deepened our understanding of people’s expectations about the meanings of visual features, which can be used to make visual communication more effective and efficient.
Bio: Karen Schloss is an Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in the Department of Psychology and Wisconsin Institute for Discovery. Her Visual Reasoning Lab studies how people interpret meaning from visual features, with a focus on color. Her research addresses fundamental questions in information visualization and visual cognition, with the goal of making visual communication more effective and efficient. As part of the WID Virtual Environments group, her lab also develops virtual reality educational tools to help make science accessible and engaging. Dr. Schloss received her BA from Barnard College, Columbia University in 2005, with a major in Psychology and a minor in Architecture. She completed her Ph.D. in Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley in 2011 and continued on as a Postdoctoral Scholar from 2011-2013. She spent three years as an Assistant Professor of Research in the Department of Cognitive, Linguistic, and Psychological Sciences at Brown University before joining the faculty at UW–Madison in 2016. In 2022, Dr. Schloss was promoted to Associate Professor. Dr. Schloss was awarded the Steve Yantis Early Career Award from the Psychonomic Society, and her lab is supported by an NSF CAREER award on Visual Reasoning for Visual Communication.
Jules S. Jaffe (Scripps & UCSD)
Title: Welcome to the Underwater Micro World: The Art and Science of Underwater Microscopy
Abstract: Although most are aware that the oceans cover the major surface of the earth, a less known, and remarkable feature, is that they provide the largest volumetric biosphere for life on earth. Widely cited examples of their importance are that the small phytoplankton in the sunlit waters are a major source of atmospheric oxygen that we breath. In addition, as our earth heats up, considering the increased sequestration of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, as a precipitate is being ever-more considered. As ecosystems go, the smaller creatures support the larger ones, meaning there are lots more little guys than big ones. However, in a world where 3-dimensional shape is supported by the surrounding water, a myriad of amazing morphologies exists. Over the last 20 years, our work in underwater microscopy has considered the use of bright field, dark field, holographic, and shadow microscopy. Examples of a astounding variety of underwater organisms, smaller than centimeters will be shown. In addition, a most recent development has been to trace the development of fertilized fish eggs from small multi-cellular organisms to baby fish in the Cayman Islands using a towed underwater microscope. The observation supports the idea that we can replenish ecosystems if the transport of small baby fish is local. Another important and continuing challenge in ecosystem characterization is to not only inventory what is there but to also measure the rate coefficients of both matter and energy transport. Towards this goal, a new underwater microscope to measure the photosynthetic efficiency of coral symbionts has been developed and is being tested this summer. The beautiful pictures from this system will, hopefully, provide clues to measure coral survival, and explore options for a variety of opportunities that may help us in thwarting the oppressive influence of global change.
Biography: Jules has spent the last 35 years as a Research Scientist at the Scripps Inst. of Oceanography, U.C. San Diego. His program is broadly dedicated to aiding biologists in unlocking the mysteries of ocean life in sun lit waters. This includes the development of optical, acoustic, and robotic platforms for observing ocean physics and marine life. His academic background is in Physics/Art History (SUNY @ Buffalo), Biomedical Information Science (Georgia Tech), and Biophysics (UC Berkeley) where he participated in the development of cryo-electron microscopy. In 1985 he joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and participated in optimizing the design of the underwater video system that led to the discovery of Titanic. Accolades include being a fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, a visiting Miller Professor at UC Berkley, and an NSF Creativity Award. His early work in light sheet microscopy was celebrated by Nature Magazine as being a “milestone in microscopy”. Jules enjoys public outreach and has been featured on CNN as well as a major exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. His small, autonomous, robot is in the permanent collection of the British Museum of Science. His videos and photos of marine life have been featured on the front page of the NYTimes web site, the cover of the Keck Annual Report, and most recently, the cover of the SPIE publication “Photonics”.
Hooman Mohseini (Northwestern University)
Title: New Material and Devices for Imaging
Abstract: Traditional imaging arrays have experienced remarkable success, and modern solid-state imaging is significantly influencing various aspects of our social, economic, and scientific endeavors. However, the advancement of silicon-based imaging is limited by constraints pertaining to materials and devices. In comparison to natural imaging systems, such as the human eye, current artificial systems exhibit inferior performance in terms of power consumption, sensitivity, and adaptability.
Recent breakthroughs have unveiled new material and devices for bio-inspired imaging systems. During this presentation, I will provide an overview of these innovative developments and discuss our research on “bio-inspired retinas,” which consist of highly sensitive photodetectors and in-sensor computation techniques that consume extremely low amounts of energy. Furthermore, I will showcase our recent progress in integrating new 2D materials onto silicon CMOS chips through heterogeneous integration and explore potential future directions for the development of high-performance and energy-efficient 2D and 3D imaging systems.
Bio: Hooman Mohseni is the AT&T Chair Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Northwestern University. He is the recipient of several research and teaching award including W.M. Keck Foundation Award, NSF CAREER Award, DARPA Young Faculty Award, and Northwestern Faculty Honor Roll. Mohseni has served at many international conference committees, scientific review panels, and editorial boards. He has published over 260 articles in major journals including Nature and Nature Photonics. Mohseni has been involved in several startups as founder and CTO, including Kernel. He holds 34 issued US and International patents and patent applications. He is a Fellow of SPIE and OSA.
Jasper Tan (Glass Imaging)
Title: Towards the Next Generation of Smartphone Cameras
Abstract: Smartphone photography has become one of the most popular forms of imaging in recent years. In this talk, I will present how GLASS Imaging is leveraging computational photography to develop the next generation of smartphone cameras. I will first present our deep-learning-based image signal processing system that robustly performs demosaicing, denoising, super-resolution, aberration correction, and other forms of image reconstruction with great accuracy. Afterwards, I will discuss how the machine learning system can then be used in conjunction with an anamorphic lens design to ultimately produce a high-performing compact camera.
Bio: Jasper Tan is currently a computational imaging research engineer at Glass Imaging. Previously, he was an Electrical & Computer Engineering PhD student at Rice University doing research on machine learning and computational imaging. More specifically, he worked on (a) integrating deep learning with novel types of imaging devices and (b) analyzing the privacy implications of machine learning algorithms. He was part of both the Rice Digital Signal Processing Group and the Rice Computational Imaging Group and was advised by Prof. Richard G Baraniuk and Prof. Ashok Veeraraghavan.
Tomoo Mitsunaga (Sony)
Title: Computational Image Sensing at Sony
Abstract: We introduce development activities on computational image sensing in Sony. Sony may be regarded in public as a company for consumer electronics, pictures, music and games. but the imaging & sensing solution business is also one of the major business segments of Sony Group. As the first part, we would like to show Sony’s development capability of image sensor devices that exists behind our development activities on computational image sensing. As the second part, some examples of actual developments on computational image sensing are introduced by leading persons of those developments.
Bio: Tomoo Mitsunaga received his B.E. and M.E. degrees in biophysical engineering from Osaka University, Japan, in 1989 and 1991, respectively. He has been working for Sony Corporation since 1991. He studied computer vision and computational photography as a visiting scholar with Prof. Shree Nayar at Columbia University from 1997 to 1999. Recent ten years, He has worked on signal processing algorithms in and near image sensors, not only RGB image sensors but also image sensors for other than RGB, such as depth image sensors and event-based vision sensors.
Na Ji (UC Berkeley)
Title: Imaging the brain at high spatiotemporal resolution
Abstract: Neuroscience aims to understand the brain, an organ that distinguishes humans as a species, defines us as individuals, and provides the intellectual power with which we explore the universe. Composed of electrically excitable cells called neurons, the brain continuously receives and analyzes information, makes decisions and controls actions. Similar to systems studied in physics, where many properties emerge from the interactions of their components, the functions of the brain arise from the interactions of neurons. The fundamental computational units of the brain, neurons communicate with one another electrochemically via submicron structures called synapses. Synapsing onto one another, neurons form circuits and networks, sometimes spanning centimeters in dimension and specializing in different mental functions. To understand the brain mechanistically, we need methods that can monitor the physiological processes of single synapses as well as the activities of a large number of networked neurons. Using concepts developed in astronomy and optics, my laboratory develops optical microscopy methods for imaging the brain at higher resolution, greater depth, and faster time scales. In this talk, I will outline our past and ongoing research efforts.
Bio: Na Ji studied chemistry and physics as an undergraduate in the University of Science and Technology of China and later a graduate student at University of California Berkeley. She received her PhD in Chemistry in 2005 under the guidance of Yuen-Ron Shen. In 2006, she moved to Janelia Research Campus, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and worked with Eric Betzig on improving the speed and resolution of in vivo brain imaging. She became a group leader in Janelia in 2011. In 2017, she moved to the Department of Physics and Department of Molecular Cell Biology at the University of California, Berkeley as the Luis Alvarez Memorial Chair in Experimental Physics. She is also affiliated with the Bioengineering, Biophysics, and Vision Science Graduate Programs, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, and serves as a faculty scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. In addition to imaging technology development, her lab applies the resulting techniques to outstanding problems in neurobiology.