The International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) recognized ENRICO GRATTON with the 2021 Britton Chance Biomedical Optics Award at the SPIE Photonics West virtual conference. The award cited Gratton’s significant contributions to biophotonics – the science of producing and utilizing photons or light to image, identify and engineer biological materials. SPIE specifically noted his development of innovative ultrafast optical imaging and spectroscopy methods and their integration into microfluidic platforms.

This award was “a great honor” for Gratton who considers Chance, for whom the award was named, a “great friend.” In his conference presentation, Gratton shared his experiences meeting Chance, a National Academy of Sciences member and Olympic gold medalist in sailing who died in 2010, and doing research together.

Gratton is a professor of biomedical engineering and principal investigator for UCI’s Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics. A pioneer in the field of biomedical optics, Gratton’s achievements include development of the following technologies: multifrequency phase fluorometry, pulsed-source methods for frequency-domain fluorescence spectroscopy, generalized polarization to study cell membranes, spectral fluorescence lifetime measurements for cell physiology, photo-density waves, quantitative tissue oximetry with near-infrared spectroscopy and optical brain imaging.

During his more than 40-year career, Gratton has disseminated his work to researchers worldwide, trained younger scientists and interfaced successfully with industry. Under his guidance, more than 50 students have earned doctorates, with most currently occupying critical roles in academia and research institutions.

Read full article in UCI Department of Biomedical Engineering Discovery magazine.