Biomedical optical imaging allows researchers to observe structures and processes across a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. However, major limits remain in imaging depth, speed, resolution, sensitivity, and accessibility. Overcoming these limits requires advances in optical physics, sensing hardware, computational methods, and system design.
Yide Zhang,
University of Colorado Boulder
In this seminar, I will present our efforts to address these challenges through photoacoustic, ultrafast, and quantum imaging. I will first discuss photoacoustic computed tomography methods for high-speed three-dimensional imaging of biological structures and functions at depth, followed by ongoing efforts to improve their sensitivity, scalability, and range of biomedical applications. I will then introduce ultrafast imaging methods that capture the propagation of light, sound, and biological signals at time scales beyond the reach of conventional cameras. These methods allow researchers to observe rapid physical events and electrical activity in biological systems and provide new ways to study how signals travel through complex environments.
Finally, I will present quantum imaging approaches that use correlations between photons to improve resolution, suppress noise, and recover information that conventional measurements cannot readily access. Together, these projects show how new ways of generating, detecting, and processing optical signals can expand the range of information available for biomedical discovery and future health applications.
Yide Zhang is a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he directs the Boulder Optical Laboratory for Translational Science (BOLTS). His long-term research goal is to pioneer optical imaging technologies that overcome current limitations in speed, accuracy, and accessibility, leveraging these advances to accelerate translational research. Dr. Zhang earned his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, where he advanced multiphoton fluorescence lifetime imaging, super-resolution microscopy, and machine learning approaches for disease diagnosis, and created the first microscopy denoising dataset, now a benchmark for image restoration.
As a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology under Prof. Lihong V. Wang, he broadened his expertise to photoacoustic, quantum, and ultrafast imaging, developing methods for single-shot, 3D in vivo imaging and real-time visualization of dynamic biological and physical processes. His work has resulted in numerous first-author publications in leading journals such as Nature Biomedical Engineering, Nature Communications, and Science Advances, as well as multiple patents and international awards, including the NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award. At CU Boulder, BOLTS integrates optical imaging, engineering, and biomedical science to develop portable photoacoustic devices, practical quantum imaging systems, and ultrafast imaging methods, with the goal of translating fundamental discoveries into impactful diagnostic and therapeutic tools.