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Science & Technology Center
Room 245
Tufts University
Medford, MA 02155

Tel: 617-627-4353
Fax: 617-627-3231
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> Curriculum Vitae (PDF)
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Irene Georgakoudi
Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Education
1999 Ph.D., University of Rochester, Rochester NY, Biophysics
1996 M.Sc., University of Rochester, Rochester NY, Biophysics

Research Interests
Irene Georgakoudi's research interests focus on the development and application of spectroscopic imaging approaches that rely on endogenous sources of optical contrast to characterize the functional and morphological state of human tissues and its components. She is particularly interested in applications that focus on tissue engineering and regenerative medicine as well as cancer diagnostics and therapeutics. The three main research areas include:


Noninvasive biochemical and morphological assessment or apoptotic epithelial cells using autofluorescence microscopy

Optical schematic of In Vivo Flow Cytometer


Preadipocytes on a silk scaffold stained with live dead assay kit

Biography
Irene Georgakoudi has been working on the use of lasers for therapeutic and diagnostic applications since her undergraduate years. She started as a physicist at Dartmouth College and continued her graduate studies in Biophysics at the University of Rochester. Her interests in spectroscopy and spectroscopic imaging using endogenous sources of contrast were founded during her postdoctoral years at the MIT Spectroscopy Lab. After working on the development of fluorescence-based in vivo flow cytometry while an Instructor at the Wellman Laboratories for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, she moved to Tufts in 2004. She is the author of several patents on the development and use of spectroscopy and imaging to characterize tissues or to detect specific populations of cells and has published numerous peer reviewed manuscripts, review articles and book chapters in these topics. She is the recipient of a Claflin Distinguished Scholar, an NSF Career, and an American Cancer Society Research Scholar award. She has served on the Board of Directors of the Optical Society of America

Teaching

EN 31- Exploring Laser Light
Click on the PDF links below:
Lab1 Power Measurements
Lab2 Youngs Experiment
Lab3 Youngs Experiment
Lab4 Thin Lens Combinations
Lab5 Polarization
Lab6 Optical Fibers
Lab6 Supplement
Lab7 Hologram

BME 101 - Medical Optics and Lasers
Click on the PDF or PPT links below:
Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Lecture 3
Lecture 4-6
Lecture 7
Lecture 8
Lecture 9
Lecture 10
Lecture 11
Lecture 12
Lecture 13
Lecture 14
Lecture 15
Lecture 16
Lecture 17
Lecture 18
Lecture 19
Lecture 20
Lecture 24
Lecture 26

Honors and Awards

  • Research Scholar Grant, American Cancer Society (2009-2013)
  • Board of Directors, Optical Society of America (2008-2009)
  • Attendee of the "U.S. Frontiers in Engineering Symposium" organized by the National Academy of Engineering (2006)
  • NSF Career Award: Non-invasive modalities for optical imaging of cell-matrix interactions in engineered tissues (2006-2011)
  • Inaugural Sturge Price awarded for "pioneering contributions to spectral diagnosis of biological materials using optical spectroscopic methodology." (2005)
  • Claflin Distinguished Scholar Award, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School (2004)
  • National Research Service Award, U.S. National Institutes of Health (1999-2002)

Professional Positions

2010 Program co-chair, Microscopy, Optical Society of America Meeting on Biomedical Optics, Miami Beach, FL
2010 Program committee and session chair, Gordon Research Conference on Lasers in Medicine and Biology, Plymouth, NH
2008-2009 Board of Directors, Optical Society of America (OSA); Chair, Member and Education Services Council, OSA
2009 Program co-chair, European Conference in Biomedical Optics, Munich, Germany
2009 Session chair/organizer, Advances in Optics for Biotechnology, Medicine and Surgery, Engineering Conferences International, Burlington, VT
2008 Program co-chair, Optical Society of America meeting on Biomedical Optics, Tampa, FL
2008 Program committee and session chair, SPIE Photonics West meeting, San Jose, CA
2007 Vice chair, Member and Education Services Council, OSA
2006 Program committee, Annual CLEO/QELS meeting, CA
2005 Session organizer and chair (New Technology/Methodology), Gordon Research Conference on Lasers in Medicine and Biology, Plymouth, NH

Membership in Professional Societies

  • Optical Society of America
  • American Association for Cancer Research
  • SPIE – International Society for Optical Engineering
  • Biomedical Engineering Society
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