Our recent activities include non-invasive characterization of human skin and select pathologies, objective monitoring and optimization of laser treatments, investigation of novel nanostructures for bioimaging and therapeutics, and development of all-optical tomography based on photothermal radiometry.
Laser medicine and surgery
Our group is engaged in development of innovative laser treatments and improvement of existing irradiation protocols, primarily in the fields of dermatology (port wine stains), aesthetic surgery (skin rejuvenation, lipolysis), and dentistry. The approaches include detailed numerical modelling, testing in animals models, and clinical trials.
Collaboration with Fotona, d.o.o., Ljubljana, and University of California at Irvine, USA.
Noninvasive characterization of human tissue in vivo
We are developing innovative approaches for noninvasive characterization of biological tissues in vivo, primarily involving pulsed photo-thermal radiometry and/or diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. Potential practical applications of current interest are objective analysis of dermatologic laser treatments (e.g., skin rejuvenation, removal of tattoos) and assessment of the age of traumatic bruises (for forensic investigations).
Collaboration with Fotona d.o.o., Ljubljana, and Department of knowledge technologies (E8).
Nanostructures for bioimaging and therapy
This research concerns two innovative contrast agent classes: Inorganic nanoparticles that exhibit upconversion fluorescence (UCF; e.g., Yb3+, Tm3+:NaYF4) and nanostructures engineered from animal erythrocytes and containing IR-absorbing dye ICG. Such biocompatible nanoprobes have great potential for diagnostic imaging and therapeutic applications.
Collaborations with the Department for Materials Synthesis, IJS; Department for Inorganic Chemistry and Technology, IJS; the University of California at Irvine; and the University of California at Riverside, USA.