Yelin Dvir, Associate Professor

Research Interests:

Miniature endoscopy, Advanced optical microscopy, nanotherapy, laser therapy

Short Synopsis:

Current projects include the study of new approaches to medical endoscopy, and the development of a novel minimally-invasive therapeutic approach which takes advantage of gold nanoparticles and high power femtosecond lasers to selectively target cells in situ.

 

The Biomedical Optics Laboratory, headed by Prof. Dvir Yelin (PhD), studies the applications of advanced optics to address some of today’s clinical challenges. Main research projects include the development of minimally invasive diagnostics tools and novel therapeutic approaches for cancer with minimum toxicity and side effects.
Diagnostics – Among all clinical imaging modalities, optical imaging provides the highest resolution and contrast. A main research effort in our group is the study and development of optical imaging techniques that are useful for clinical applications, including minimally-invasive endoscopic techniques with minimal mechanical scanning, low coherence interferometric imaging, and reflectance confocal microscopy.
Therapy – Lasers are becoming increasingly popular for numerous medical applications. The use of femtosecond laser pulses is particularly attractive for such applications thanks to the “cold” process of tissue ablation which is confined only to the focal volume of the laser beam. In our group we use femtosecond pulses of various wavelengths to excite specifically targeted noble-metal nanoparticles at their plasmonic resonance. The combined effect of the short pulses and small particles allows for specific manipulations of cells and tissue with minimal toxicity and collateral damage.