NSF Funds UB to be Nation's First Cross-Disciplinary Training Ground for Biophotonics Scientists

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- From biosensors to photodynamic cancer therapy, the intersection of biology and light is replete with promise for medicine, sensors, diagnostics, and even computers.

But because most scientists in the field lack a broad background in biology, engineering and chemistry, that promise has yet to be fully realized.

That's about to change with the National Science Foundation awarding $2.7 million to the University at Buffalo to establish the nation's first comprehensive, multidisciplinary training program for biophotonics scientists.

The result will be a new breed of 21st-century scientist, one who is well-versed in and able to conduct research in biological, photonic and electronic systems.

Over the five years covered by the grant, UB will train approximately 40 new biophotonics scientists at the doctoral level.

"This prestigious grant -- the second IGERT grant for the University at Buffalo -- underscores the role of UB as a major player among American research universities, particularly in exciting new fields such as biophotonics," said UB Provost Elizabeth D. Capaldi.

"We will be educating the first wave of scientists in this area and creating a prototype for other multidisciplinary programs in the future," Capaldi added.

Alexander Cartwright, Ph.D., principal investigator on the grant, noted that "many of the most challenging problems in science and medicine could be solved if the scientists working on them were speaking the same language."

"This grant takes a major step in that direction for biophotonics, added Cartwright, UB associate professor of electrical engineering and deputy director of UB's Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics.

The grant recognizes UB's stature in the field and the work of its Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics. This is UB's second prestigious IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education, Research and Training) grant, putting the university into a select group: fewer than 20 universities in the U.S. have more than one such award. The first was awarded to UB in 1998 to develop the nation's first multidisciplinary, doctoral-level program in geographic information science.

The goal of IGERT programs is to immerse doctoral students in multidisciplinary environments so that when they graduate they will be able to bring those collaborative skills to their positions in research and industry, which prize the ability of scientists and engineers to work together on common goals from within different disciplines.

"Biophotonics is an incredibly hot field right now. It's where a lot of exciting research is being done in medicine, diagnostics and new technologies," said Cartwright. "This is the only biophotonics training program in the U.S. that has been funded by the NSF -- that's a critical statement about what our program has done and what NSF believes it will do in the future," he said.

During this academic year, the funds will pay tuition and provide a stipend of $18,000 per year for six IGERT fellows enrolled as doctoral candidates in one of three departments in UB's College of Arts and Sciences -- physics, chemistry and biological sciences -- as well as the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. Their degrees will be granted by the individual's home department after completion of all of its requirements, as well as the requirements for a biophotonics certificate, which includes cross-disciplinary training in biophotonics, experimental optical techniques, computational techniques and research ethics.

According to Cartwright, the education of students in the area of biophotonics research at most institutions is highly "departmentalized;" students are educated primarily in a single discipline in a particular department.

"It is still rare for students to venture significantly beyond their specific academic department and to develop the breadth of experiences and expertise necessary for biophotonics," he explained. "We have developed new curricula and research experiences that initiate and nurture synergistic relationships and the continuous exchange of ideas among faculty in engineering, physics, chemistry, biology and the medical school, as well as with clinical faculty."

A broad, multidisciplinary emphasis has allowed photonics and laser research to thrive in the UB Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics. Researchers affiliated with the institute are required to become conversant in disciplines other than their own, an environment that has pushed the institute, barely 2 years old, into the national research spotlight where it is a leader or major participant on several multimillion-dollar research grants.

According to Cartwright, UB has among its faculty a critical mass of researchers in biological sciences, chemistry, physics, engineering and medicine, all of whom have expertise relating to biological interactions with light. That combination, along with strong research collaborations between the faculty and other Buffalo institutions such as the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, are what distinguish UB's program from other biophotonics research programs.

"We have successfully integrated lasers, photonics, nanotechnology and biotechnology," said Paras Prasad, Ph.D., SUNY Distinguished Professor in the departments of chemistry and physics, executive director of the institute and co-investigator. "This program in biophotonics is truly multidisciplinary, it's at the cellular level, the tissue level and even the clinical level. No one else has that."

IGERT fellows will conduct research on a broad range of materials, techniques and technologies that institute scientists are investigating as promising targets for new biophotonic applications.

These include:

-- Use of nanotechnology to develop new and improve existing techniques for real-time imaging of cells and cellular processes

-- Development of the next generation of biosensors

-- Combining nanotechnology and laser technology for diagnosing, targeting and treating cancer and other diseases through light-activated therapies

-- Theoretical modeling and analysis of the interaction of light with biological materials

-- Material synthesis and characterization

-- Application of computer and information technologies in developing models and data analysis for understanding cellular mechanisms

-- Development of new photonic devices and systems that benefit from the natural patterns of biological systems for use in information technology applications that are a hybrid of traditional IT materials with biological materials

UB centers participating in the IGERT grant are the Center for Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials (CAPEM) and the Center for Computational Research (CCR).

In addition to Prasad, Cartwright's co-investigators on the grant are: Earl J. Bergey, Ph.D., research associate professor of chemistry and microbiology and a deputy director of the institute; David A. Kofke, Ph.D., professor of chemical engineering, and Bruce D. McCombe, Ph.D., SUNY Distinguished Professor in the UB Physics Department and director of CAPEM.

Sixteen additional UB faculty members are working closely with the co-investigators to develop the program.

IGERT fellows will participate in internships in industry and government labs, including Pixel Physics in Rochester, which designs and develops photonics systems; Coherent, the world's leading supplier of lasers; Laser Photonics Technology; the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate of the Air Force Research Laboratory, and the Center for Imaging Science at the Rochester Institute of Technology.