Anna Devor is a world leader in the field of neurovascular imaging and microscopic underpinning of noninvasive imaging signals. With a broad background in cellular and systems-level neuroscience and neuroimaging, she is devoted to training, dissemination, and neuroethics. Her research is at the forefront of optical microscopy developments that enable tools for live, high-resolution, high-sensitivity measurements of neural, glial, vascular, and metabolic parameters.

Dr. Akkin develops noncontact optical imaging tools to study neural structure and function. His lab uses phase- and polarization-sensitive interferometric techniques to image tissue microstructure in real time with a few-micron spatial resolution and with sub-nanometer scale optical path length resolution. Neural imaging applications of particular interest include optical tractography and action potential detection.

Dr. Aponte studies the role of genetically-identified neurons and their projections in behaviors that are essential for survival. Her lab aims to understand how neurons in distinct hypothalamic circuits encode nociception and the rewarding/addictive nature of food intake. The activity of these neurons in mice are manipulated and measured using optogenetics, chemogenetics, electrophysiology, fluorescence endomicroscopy, and behavioral assays.

Dr. Augustine founded the Center for Functional Connectomics at KIST (Seoul, Korea). His Synaptic Mechanisms and Circuits Laboratory employs a wide range of technologies – from optical microscopy to optogenetics – to map brain circuitry and molecular mechanisms of synaptic transmission. Co-author of the textbook Neuroscience, Augustine is also a faculty member at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School.

Dr. Buckley’s research focuses on the development, validation, and clinical translation of diffuse optical spectroscopies. With early and advanced training in physics, she completed postdoctoral training in the Department of Neurology at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and in the Department of Radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Dr. Campbell is a world leader in the use of protein engineering for the development of optogenetic tools and genetically encoded biosensors for fluorescence imaging of cell signaling and metabolism. He is particularly focused on the development of red and near-infrared fluorescent biosensors. His background includes postdoctoral training in pharmacology, as well as doctoral training in biological chemistry.

Dr. Carp received his BS in chemistry and chemical engineering from MIT and his doctorate from UC Irvine. At UCI he developed a noncontact optoacoustic imaging system. After graduation, he moved to Massachusetts General Hospital where leads a research group that focuses on the development of medical devices for non-invasive diagnosis and treatment guidance using near-infrared light.

Jean-Yves Chatton received his PhD in pharmacology from the University of Lausanne, followed by post-docs at the US NIH and in Bern. His lab investigates neuron-glia interactions, mainly related to bioenergetics and ion homeostasis. Dr. Chatton develops and employs technologies in imaging, fluorescence, and optogenetics, combined with electrophysiology, in order to investigate these issues.

Jerry L. Chen obtained his PhD in biology at MIT, following earlier training at UC Berkeley. His lab investigates relationships between local circuits and long-range networks in the mammalian neocortex. Chen investigates long-range neocortical networks, including the principles of long-range cortical communication, technologies for large-scale imaging of neuronal populations, and long-range cortical circuits during development.

Dr. Cheng’s lab specializes in developing advanced technologies in optoelectronics and photonics, including spectroscopic tools for imaging and diagnosis, as well as tools for neural modulation and laser therapy. He received the 2019 Ellis R. Lippincott Award for outstanding contributions in inventing and developing a broad spectrum of vibrational spectroscopic imaging technologies with new discoveries and clinical applications.

Dr. Čižmár's research activities are focused on photonics in optically random environments (particularly multimode fibres) and deep-tissue in-vivo imaging. A professor of waveguide optics at Friedrich-Schiller University and head of the Fibre Research & Technology Department of Leibniz IPHT in Jena, he also leads the Complex Photonics Group at the Institute of Scientific Instruments in Brno.

Rob Cooper's research focuses on the advancement of diffuse optical tomography and wearable neuroimaging technologies for both neuroscience and clinical applications. His primary clinical interest is the newborn infant brain; he is engaged with neoLAB, an interdisciplinary collaboration between engineers and physicists at UCL and neonatologists at The Rosie Hospital, Cambridge.

Ippeita Dan received his PhD from the University of Tokyo in 2002. A former research fellow at the National Food Research Institute, his research missions lie in clinical application of fNIRS, methodological development of fNIRS data analyses, and application of psychometrics for marketing in food-related industry.

Patrick Drew’s research uses optical, electrophysiological, molecular, and computational tools to understand neurovascular coupling in rodent models. The Drew Lab is working to understand how neurons communicate with blood vessels, the influence of behavioral and arousal state on neurovascular coupling, and the dynamics of cerebrospinal fluid. Dr. Drew received his doctorate in neuroscience from Brandeis University in 2004.

Dr. Durduran was trained at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2009, he moved to ICFO where he leads the medical optics group. His research interests revolve around the use of diffuse light to noninvasively probe tissue function. His group develops new technologies and algorithms and routinely translates them to preclinical, clinical, and industrial applications.

Dr. Emiliani has pioneered the use of wave-front engineering for neuroscience. She directs the Wave Front Engineering team in innovative research to develop optical methods for investigating neuronal circuits. Her team has demonstrated novel techniques based on computer generated holography, generalized phase contrast, and temporal focusing, enabling efficient photoactivation of caged compounds and optogenetics molecules.

Dr. Fellin’s Optical Approaches to Brain Function Laboratory focuses on the study of the microcircuits involved in the brain’s processing of sensory information, and on the development of innovative optical methods to probe their function. He also co-directs the Neural Coding Laboratory, to advance understanding of the language the brain uses when it processes sensory inputs coming from the environment.

Dr. Foust leads the Optical Neurophysiology Laboratory at Imperial College London. Her research aims to engineer bridges between optical technologies and neuroscientists to acquire new, ground-breaking data on how brain circuits wire, process, and store information. She develops optical and computational strategies to enable fast, volumetric, cellular-resolution manipulation and readout of membrane potential.

Ling Fu is a researcher in biomedical optics, particularly in optical endoscopy. After her PhD and postdoc at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, Ling started her lab in the Wuhan National Lab for Optoelectronics. Her research focuses on in vivo optical microscopy technologies. Fu was elected a Fellow of the Optical Society in 2019.

Dr. Gandjbakhche obtained his PhD in physics with a biomedical engineering specialty from University of Paris. A senior investigator at the NIH in the Section on Translational Biophotonics, his areas of interest are using NIRS/EEG to apply to developmental disorders and diseases and using spectroscopic methods to quantify oxygenation in placenta. He is a fellow of SPIE.

Judit Gervain’s scientific interests include cognitive development, near infrared spectroscopy, and optical topography. She studies perceptual, behavioral, and neural mechanisms of early speech perception and language acquisition in young infants. She uses NIRS as well as EEG and behavioral techniques to investigate newborns and infants’ perceptual, cognitive, and learning abilities. 

Toward understanding cognition in both the healthy and diseased brain, Dr. Gilad’s lab adopts a mesoscale approach aiming to simultaneously image multiple brain areas as mice perform complex behavioral tasks involving different cognitive functions. Complementing the mesoscale approach, multi-area two-photon microscopy, optogenetics, and labeling techniques contribute to dissecting the relevant neuronal sub-populations responsible for different cognitive functions. 

The Han Lab seeks to discover the design principles for novel neuromodulation therapies to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. By inventing and applying various genetic, molecular, pharmacological, optical, electrical and nano tools, Dr. Han aims to reveal the network mechanisms of brain disorders.

Dr. Hillman received training in physics and engineering at University College London. A fellow of SPIE, OSA, and AIMBE, she has developed a wide range of multi-scale in-vivo imaging methods for high-speed 3D imaging of neural activity. She also uses these methods to understand blood flow in the brain, to improve human brain imaging.

Dr. Hochgeschwender received her MD degree from the Free University in Berlin, Germany, and pursued postdoctoral training in molecular and cellular immunology and molecular neuroscience. Her research combines optogenetics with bioluminescence, developing tools that use biological light to activate light-sensing opsins and applying them to investigate the mechanisms of and potential for non-invasive treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases.

Song Hu develops cutting-edge optical and photoacoustic technologies for in vivo structural, functional, metabolic, and molecular imaging for applications in neurovascular disorders, cardiovascular diseases, regenerative medicine, and cancer. Hu’s lab invented multi-parametric photoacoustic microscopy, which enables simultaneous imaging of blood perfusion, oxygenation and flow at the microscopic level.

Using concepts developed in astronomy and optics, Dr. Ji’s lab at UC Berkeley develops next-generation optical microscopy methods for understanding the brain at higher resolution, greater depth, and faster time scales. Those imaging technologies are applied to understanding neural circuit computation in the visual pathways, using the mouse primary visual cortex and superior colliculus as model systems. 

The Kara Lab solves puzzles in sensory perception and neurovascular coupling in the mammalian brain, using two-photon and three-photon imaging, optogenetics, and electrophysiological techniques in vivo. Dr. Kara obtained his early training in Physiology from the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and his PhD in physiology and biophysics from the University of Alabama–Birmingham, with a postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University.

Beop-Min Kim's research interests include fNIRS and OCT applications in neuroscience, as well as confocal microscopy, diffuse optical tomography, and nonlinear optics (second harmonic generation). With a background in biomedical engineering, he was formerly with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory as a research fellow in biomedical optics. He is a senior member of SPIE.

Dr. Kuzum’s lab takes inspiration directly from the brain to create efficient computers and electronic brain interfaces, advancing understanding of brain functions and neural disorders. In recognition of her innovative research, she has received numerous awards, including the NIH Director's New Innovator Award in 2020, and both the NIH NIBIB Trailblazer Award and the NSF Career Award in 2018.

Dr. Lecoq has an engineering degree from ESPCI-ParisTech, a French multidisciplinary engineering school and a PhD in Neuroscience from Paris-Sorbonne University. He splits his time between building novel neuro-technologies (surgical, instrumental and computational tools) to monitor neuronal activity and developing the OpenScope platform, the first Brain Observatory shared with the neuroscience community.

Rickson Mesquita’s research advances diffuse optics for biomedical applications. His interests span from fNIRS/DCS instrumentation and data analysis to the translation of these techniques to clinical settings. He is also interested in biophysical modeling of optical data. Areas of research include light transport in diffusive media, optical properties of tissues, and functional imaging and spectroscopy of living tissues.

Tim’s lab develops new imaging and optogenetic methods that have parallels to human brain imaging and stimulation tools, contributing to understanding the stroke recovery process on a circuit level. Using mouse models, he extends these approaches to mouse models of psychiatric disorders. To facilitate circuit interrogation in vivo, the lab develops high-throughput models which automate animal imaging.

Valentin Nägerl studies the structural mechanisms of neuro-plasticity, focusing on the nanoscale and dynamic architecture of neurons, glia cells and the intervening extracellular spaces. His team develops and applies super-resolution STED microscopy in the mouse brain in vivo and also combines it with patch-clamp electrophysiology and 2-photon glutamate uncaging in brain slices. 

Dr. Nishimura’s lab develops tools for imaging the contributions of multiple physiological systems to diseases. Using multiphoton microscopy to image cell dynamics in living rodents, and femtosecond laser ablation with quantitative analysis to dissect functions, her team studies living systems in their full complexity, comparing dynamics across multiple organ systems and diseases.

Francesco Pavone develops microscopy techniques for high resolution, high sensitivity imaging, and laser manipulation. These techniques have been applied for single molecule biophysics, single cell imaging, and optical manipulation. Pavone also works in the field of neural and cardiac tissue imaging, developing new techniques based on imaging and spectroscopic content to connect structure and functionality.

Darcy Peterka strives to develop and deploy cutting-edge optical and algorithmic methods to record and manipulate the activity of brain cells, or neurons. He also brings together and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams that combine advances in physics, chemistry, mathematics, and statistics to bear on complex and challenging questions about the brain and its functions.

Dr. Pisanello received a PhD in physics from the University Pierre et Marie Curie in 2011, following his MD degree from the University of Salento. Senior scientist at the Italian Institute of Technologies, he coordinates the Multifunctional Neural Interfaces lab at the Center for Biomolecular Nanotechnologies in Lecce. His research strives to develop new technologies to interface with the brain.

Anna Wang Roe is renowned for her studies in visual and somatosensory processing in primate cerebral cortex and for development of optical and MRI neurotechnologies. She developed a laser-fMRI method to map a mesoscale brain connectome in macaque monkeys. In recognition of her significant contributions, she is a fellow of Sloan, Packard, SPIE, and AAAS.

Dr. Shih studies how blood vessels grow, degrade, and respond to injury from birth to senescence, seeking ways to improve cerebrovascular function in brain diseases. The research performed by his team has led to new discoveries related to the consequence of small-scale stroke, mechanisms of neurovascular coupling, and regulation of blood flow through brain capillaries by pericytes.

Shy Shoham is a professor at the NYU Grossman Medical School and co-director of the NYU Tech4Health Institute. His research interests include the development and application of neurophotonic tools for direct spatiotemporal interfacing with populations of neurons. With Francesco S. Pavone, he is a co-editor of Handbook of Neurophotonics (2020).

Dr. St-Pierre’s laboratory develops new molecular tools to accelerate neuroscience research, including light-responsive proteins to monitor and perturb the brain. Examples include genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs), optogenetic silencers, and photostable fluorescent proteins. He also develops new optical technologies to accelerate the high-throughput screening of optical sensors and actuators.

Sungho Tak is a research scientist in the research center for bioconvergence analysis at the Korea Basic Science Institute. He received his PhD from KAIST on the topic of statistical signal processing for fNIRS data. His research focuses on developing and optimizing analysis methods for fNIRS/fMRI signals, and translating these techniques to clinical applications.

The Tian Laboratory for Optical Neurophysiology at UC Davis invents molecular tools for analyzing and engineering functional neural circuits and leverages those tools, in combination with optical imaging techniques, to study molecular mechanisms of neurological disorders at the system level and to enable discovery of pharmacological profiles and mechanistic action of therapeutic drugs in a patient-specific manner.

As principal investigator at the Laboratory of Optical Neuroimaging, Dr. Wang develops optical imaging techniques for structural and functional studies of the brain. Areas of research include adaptive optical microscopy for deep tissue imaging and light field microscopy for highspeed functional imaging. He is also interested in applying these methods to understanding sensory-to-motor transformation in small animals.

Martin Wolf is expert in technological, signal analysis, and application aspects of near infrared spectroscopy, optical tomography, and functional NIRS. His laboratory specializes in developing techniques to measure and quantitatively image oxygenation of brain, muscle, tumor and other tissues. Wolf aims to translate these techniques to clinical application for the benefit of adult patients and preterm infants.

Ji Yi’s lab designs and builds optical microscopy, specializing in volumetric imaging techniques to obtain sub-cellular structural and molecular detail in 3D and real-time. Combining multi-dimensional and multi-contrast imaging data, Yi develops computational approaches to synthesize highly multiplexed imaging data. Yi also develops retinal imaging techniques to quantify vascular dysfunction and structural alterations involved in early blinding pathologies.

Ofer Yizhar received his PhD from Tel Aviv University, working on the molecular mechanisms of synaptic transmission, followed by postdoctoral training at Stanford University. His lab develops new optogenetic tools and combines them with electrophysiology, imaging and behavior to study the organization, function, and dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex.

Meryem A. Yücel is an active contributor to the evolving field of fNIRS research and has directed and performed numerous fNIRS human imaging studies at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging and at Boston University’s Neurophotonics Center. She has been involved in developing advanced signal processing algorithms for fNIRS and is also a senior developer of HOMER3 and AtlasViewer.