Archive for category: News

ACES Program Creates Pipeline for High-Achieving HBCU Students in Graduate Research

UC Irvine Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic has been awarded a $159,400 grant from the University of California Office of the President’s (UCOP) Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) Initiative. This funding will support the Access to Careers in Engineering and Sciences (ACES) program, an intensive eight-week summer program that opens doors for talented HBCU students in STEM fields.

ACES impacts students’ academic futures by immersing high-achieving undergraduates in cutting-edge research at UC Irvine – one of the nation’s premier research institutions. Participants gain hands-on experience in biomedical engineering, biophotonics, and related STEM disciplines while working alongside distinguished faculty and graduate student mentors.

The program goes beyond laboratory work, offering comprehensive preparation for graduate school through targeted workshops and providing insights into both academic and industry career paths. This holistic approach ensures students leave with both technical skills and strategic knowledge.

“ACES represents our commitment to providing transformative opportunities for exceptional HBCU students in STEM,” said Dr. Eric Potma, Director of UC Irvine’s ACES program. “Through ACES, we are not just introducing students to research possibilities – we are helping to shape the next generation of scientific leaders.”

The numbers tell a compelling story. Over seven years, ACES has created a robust pipeline to graduate education: 11 program alumni have entered UC STEM Ph.D. programs, with nine choosing UC Irvine specifically. An additional 27 ACES graduates have enrolled in graduate programs nationwide, demonstrating the program’s effectiveness in preparing students for advanced study.

This success reflects the broader impact of the UC-HBCU Initiative, which has hosted 994 scholars across all ten UC campuses during its first decade. The initiative’s investment has yielded remarkable results: 82 Ph.D. students currently enrolled at UC institutions and 43 Ph.D. graduates can directly trace their academic journey to the UC-HBCU program.

 The UC-HBCU Initiative exemplifies how partnerships can advance the UC system’s core mission of teaching, research, and public service. By creating pathways for talented students who might otherwise lack access to premier research opportunities, the program enriches the entire academic community while expanding excellence in STEM representation.

“ACES represents more than just a summer research experience – it’s an investment in the future of STEM fields,” said Dr. Potma. “We look forward to hosting our Summer 2026 participants and are grateful to the UC Office of the President for its partnership and commitment to fostering academic excellence and opportunity.”

As the program prepares for its next cohort, ACES continues to demonstrate that targeted investment in high-achieving HBCU students creates lasting change, building a stronger and more innovative scientific workforce for the future.

Click here or visit https://bli.uci.edu/aces/ to learn more about UC Irvine Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic’s ACES program.

Funding backs four-university research effort to solve perennial issue of light scattering

Irvine, Calif., Sept. 24, 2025 — A multidisciplinary research team led by the University of California, Irvine has been awarded a prestigious $3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health Common Fund’s Venture Program to develop a revolutionary optical imaging system capable of seeing deep inside living tissues with unprecedented resolution and speed.

The award is part of the NIH’s new Advancing Non-Invasive Optical Imaging Approaches for Biological Systems initiative, which seeks to overcome the longstanding physical barrier of light scattering – where light bounces off tiny particles in tissue, resulting in blurry, unclear images. UC Irvine is one of only four institutions nationwide to receive this highly competitive funding, which supports groundbreaking, high-impact research aimed at solving critical biomedical challenges.

The UC Irvine-led project, titled “Breaking the Scattering Barrier: Multimodal Non-Invasive Deep Tissue Imaging Using Reflection Matrix-Based Wavefront Shaping,” will receive $1.5 million annually for two years. There’s also the possibility of a third-year extension, dependent upon the achievement of specific milestones. This groundbreaking technology the team is developing has the potential to revolutionize real-time, noninvasive visualization of dynamic biological processes, with wide-ranging applications in neuroscience, cancer research and cardiovascular disease.

“This award from the NIH is a powerful validation of the transformative science happening at UC Irvine,” said Aileen Anderson, the university’s vice chancellor for research. “It recognizes our researchers’ commitment to pioneering technologies that can rapidly transition from the lab to real-world health applications. We are incredibly proud to be at the forefront of this national initiative.”

The project’s principal investigator is Zhongping Chen, UC Irvine professor of biomedical engineering. He is joined by Fei Xia, assistant professor of electrical engineering and computer science at UC Irvine, Song Hu of Washington University in St. Louis, and Guifang Li of the University of Central Florida.

“For decades, the scattering of light has been a fundamental barrier to seeing deep into living tissue with clarity,” Chen said. “Our goal is to break through this barrier. We are developing a fast, advanced imaging system that uses innovative light techniques to see deep inside the body in clear detail, in real time. This will allow scientists to study how the brain functions, how tumors grow and how the cardiovascular system behaves in ways that were previously impossible, dramatically accelerating the development of new therapies.”

The NIH Common Fund’s Venture Program is designed to catalyze rapid, innovative scientific discovery. The Advancing Non-Invasive Optical Imaging Approaches for Biological Systems initiative is a collaborative effort of the Common Fund, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. In total, NIH will fund approximately $14.7 million in research across the four participating institutions.

The award was made possible, in part, by seed funding from the UC Irvine Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, which provided critical early support for the project’s development.

About the University of California, Irvine: Founded in 1965, UC Irvine is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities and is ranked among the nation’s top 10 public universities by U.S. News & World Report. The campus has produced five Nobel laureates and is known for its academic achievement, premier research, innovation and anteater mascot. Led by Chancellor Howard Gillman, UC Irvine has more than 36,000 students and offers 224 degree programs. It’s located in one of the world’s safest and most economically vibrant communities and is Orange County’s second-largest employer, contributing $7 billion annually to the local economy and $8 billion statewide. For more on UC Irvine, visit www.uci.edu.

About the NIH Common Fund: The NIH Common Fund encourages collaboration and supports a series of exceptionally high-impact, trans-NIH programs. These are managed by the Office of Strategic Coordination in the Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives within the NIH Office of the Director. More information is available at https://commonfund.nih.gov.

Media access: Radio programs/stations may, for a fee, use an on-campus studio with a Comrex IP audio codec to interview UC Irvine faculty and experts, subject to availability and university approval. For more UC Irvine news, visit news.uci.edu. Additional resources for journalists may be found at https://news.uci.edu/media-resources.

Click here and https://bit.ly/nih-chen-deep-tissue to read full press release.

UC Irvine laser scientists pioneer optical technologies to save lives on the battlefield and beyond

When someone suffers a devastating injury – whether from a roadside blast, a car accident or a house fire – seconds matter. Doctors need to know instantly what damage has been done and how best to treat it. At UC Irvine’s Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic, researchers are developing new tools to give physicians exactly that kind of real-time insight – using beams of light.

Thanks to a $7.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Air Force Office of Scientific Research, a team led by biomedical engineering professor Bernard Choi, acting BLI director, is pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in trauma medicine. The three-year initiative, officially titled “Advanced Optical Technologies for Defense Trauma and Critical Care,” spans six interconnected projects. Together, they aim to bring light-based diagnostics and therapies out of the lab and into the hands of doctors treating the most urgent cases.

A 30-year evolution

The Defense Department’s investment in medical photonics isn’t new. It stretches back more than three decades, when BLI founder and seminal biological and laser researcher Michael Berns helped pioneer the Medical Free Electron Laser Program in the early 1990s. Originally focused on how high-powered lasers interacted with tissue, the program has since evolved into today’s Military Medical Photonics Program, with an emphasis on trauma and critical care.

What’s different now is the urgency and practicality. The projects under Choi’s leadership are designed not just for theoretical advances, but to solve “DoD-defined medical technology gaps” on the battlefield – needs that often mirror challenges in civilian hospitals.

Lighting the way in trauma medicine

The six projects under the current center grant cover a wide range of medical crises:

• Airway injuries from smoke or toxic gas inhalation, where high-speed optical imaging can detect early signs of injury and monitor therapy deep in the airways.
• Burns from thermal, radiation, and directed energy exposure, where light can help assess severity and guide very early treatment.
• Hemorrhagic shock, a life-threatening condition when blood loss pushes the body toward collapse. Optical sensors could allow doctors to detect it before it becomes irreversible.
• Lactate acid, a metabolic indicator of severity of injury, can be continuously monitored by a miniature light-based sensor to assess a patient’s condition, need for critical support and response to treatment.
• Traumatic brain injury, where monitoring blood flow in the brain can inform lifesaving interventions.
• Compartment syndrome, a painful swelling in the limbs after injury that can cut off circulation and seriously injure muscle function—detected noninvasively using light.
• Compact field-deployable laser surgical device for debridement of complex soft tissue wounds.

“The goal is to give clinicians fast, accurate, and noninvasive ways to see what’s happening inside the body during trauma care,” Choi says. “That benefits not only military medicine but civilian patients as well.”

From lab to real life

Not all of these technologies are years away from application. Some are already making their way into hospitals. One standout is Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging, a technique that maps tissue health using patterns of projected light. SFDI has been commercialized through Modulim, a Costa Mesa-based medical technology company that grew directly out of Beckman Laser Institute research.

Today, Modulim’s devices are being used to monitor tissue health in patients with diabetes and vascular disease, helping prevent dangerous ulcers and amputations. It’s a prime example of how defense-funded research can translate into tools that improve everyday healthcare.

The bigger picture

For Choi and his team, the progress is steady and encouraging. “We keep making progress, and the Defense Health Agency seems to be pleased with our work,” he says.

Ultimately, the promise of optical technology is its ability to deliver quick, precise, and actionable data – without invasive procedures. Whether on the front lines of combat or in the emergency room of a community hospital, that information can mean the difference between life and death.

What started as an exploration of powerful lasers decades ago is now reshaping the future of trauma medicine. With continued support from the Department of Defense and partnerships with industry, UC Irvine’s scientists are proving that sometimes, the best way to heal is to shine a light.

Generative AI assisted in the writing of this story.

Click here to read full story on UC Irvine News.

Electromechanical reshaping tweaks pH to correct the cornea

By Meghie Rodrigues |02 Sep 2025

A new, promising technique has the potential to replace laser surgeries in ophthalmologists’ offices in the future, for a fraction of the cost. Called electromechanical reshaping (EMR), the technique offers a gentler approach to correcting the cornea than Laser-Assisted in Situ Keratomileusis (LASIK), today’s gold standard for treating vision issues including nearsightedness, farsightedness, and astigmatism.

The eye develops these and other conditions when the cornea’s curvature is off—too steep, too flat, or too uneven. To solve the problem, surgeons generally use laser techniques such as LASIK to “sculpt” the eye surface by cutting away small parts of corneal tissue. The results can be life-changing, but the procedure has its risks, as LASIK permanently reduces corneal strength, raising the risk of new vision problems.

Alternative nonsurgical methods such as specially designed contact lenses can temporarily mold the cornea, but these require nightly wear and can cause infection. Now, engineers and eye doctors are trying to find a way to permanently reshape collagen-rich tissues like the cornea without cutting, burning, or removing material.

Brian Wong, a surgeon-engineer at the University of California, Irvine, stumbled upon a possible solution about a decade ago. He had long worked with thermal techniques for reshaping cartilage tissues—which include the cornea—but found a puzzling “Goldilocks problem” during his research: The heating needed to change shapes often killed too many tissue cells. Then a “happy accident” opened a different perspective, he says. “My postdoctoral fellow connected a pair of electrodes and a Coke can to a power supply…and out of spite, fried a piece of cartilage,” Wong recalls. The cartilage began to bubble, which the postdoc thought was from heat. “But it wasn’t hot. We touched it and thought, this is getting a shape change. This must be electrolysis,” he says.

That surprise pointed to electrochemistry rather than heat as the mechanism. To explore further, Wong partnered with Michael Hill, a chemist at Occidental College. Together, they began exploring the chemistry behind EMR and testing it in different tissues. In mid-August, they presented results from their most recent tests at the American Chemical Society’s fall meeting that took place in Washington, D.C.

How Electricity Reshapes Tissue

EMR uses small electrical pulses to split water at the tissue surface into hydrogen and oxygen, releasing protons that spread into the part of the corneal tissue that gives it structural integrity, the ability to hydrate, and other mechanical properties.

Once protons are spread throughout the cornea’s surface, they disrupt the chemical bonds that hold collagen fibers in place, also changing the corneal tissue’s pH. This, Wong explains, is the moment when the cornea becomes moldable. Once shaped with a metal contact lens–like mold, it “locks in” to the new shape as the electric pulses are turned off and the body’s natural physiological response returns the cornea’s pH back to its normal value.

In 2023, Wong and Hill coauthored a proof-of-concept paper in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, showing that EMR could reshape rabbit corneas without compromising transparency. “That paper was really about asking, is it even possible? Can we change the shape of a cornea without gross damage?” Hill says. “Now, after two more years of work, we’ve systematically gone through the parameters—and we can say yes, it is possible, and we can do it safely,” he adds.

Their team built custom platinum contact lenses, press-molded to precise curvatures, and connected them to electrodes. Mounted onto rabbit eyes immersed in a saline solution, the electrodes delivered pulses of around 1.5 volts. X-ray imaging tests confirmed the corneas had indeed matched the mold’s shape. Microscopy tests also confirmed the collagen tissue remained organized post-surgery. “Fine control is the key,” Wong observes.

The cost of procedures using the new technique can be significantly lower than laser eye surgery, according to Wong. That’s because, unlike LASIK, EMR doesn’t rely on “laser platforms that cost as much as luxury cars.” The new technique could also be more affordable for clinics and regions priced out of LASIK.

While the technique has a long way to go before being used in eye surgeries, the research is advancing to in-vivo animal tests to prove safety and durability—and for long-term tracking to ensure the results last. “Nobody’s getting this at the optometrist next year,” Hill cautions. “Now comes the hard work—refining parameters, confirming long-term viability, and making sure treated eyes don’t revert back,” he adds.

That hard work, Hill adds, depends a lot on funding for basic science. EMR was born not from a targeted medical-device program but from curiosity-driven experiments in electrochemistry. “You don’t always know where basic research will lead,” Hill says. “We were looking at electroanalytical chemistry, not eye surgery. But those foundational insights are what made this possible. If you cut off that basic research, you don’t get these kinds of unexpected, transformative opportunities,” he adds.

Click here to read full article on the Spectrum website.

By Sanjana Gajbhiye
Earth.com staff writer

For millions of Americans, daily life involves coping with altered vision, from blurriness to complete blindness. Glasses and contact lenses offer solutions, yet many prefer not to rely on them.

In response, hundreds of thousands turn to corrective eye surgeries every year. Among the most common is LASIK, a laser-assisted procedure that reshapes the cornea to sharpen sight.