The quest for the physics of light-turbid soft matter (e.g., biological tissue and cells) interaction and the endeavor in engineering for noninvasively characterization and diagnosis of tissue and cells with light at the interface of physics, engineering and biomedical sciences are the current central themes of our research. In one part, we are exploring random photonics, focusing on propagation, depolarization and decoherence of multiply scattered light within random media and its control, and realistic yet succinct light scattering models for biological tissue and cells — to establish a solid foundation for applying light to biology and medicine. In the other part, we study the inverse problems arisen in applying light to characterize and diagnose biological tissue and cells, and develop novel approaches for biomedical optical spectroscopy, microscopy and imaging.

Our current research focuses on: (1) noninvasive imaging of the physiological and functional state of biological systems and early detection of tumors in both subsurface and deep tissues with modulated light; and (2) development of photonic pathology for cancer diagnostics and prognostics with pathological specimens with quantitative phase and fluorescence microscopy.