Major Research Efforts

This IGERT program involves three different institutions located in Buffalo, New York: the University at Buffalo (UB), the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute (HWMIR), the pioneering institute in protein research, and Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), a world leader in cancer research. These three institutions have research agreements in place. The faculty members involved in this IGERT proposal are well funded and have existing, although somewhat limited, collaborative research efforts that will be greatly enhanced and will blossom into trans-disciplinary research through this IGERT program. We envision a broad program with somewhat loosely defined research areas directed by lead faculty (in parenthesis) as shown in Figure 1. These areas are: (1) Bioimaging using new imaging techniques, (2) Biosensors, (3) Light Activated Therapies and Diagnostics, (4) Theoretical Modeling and Analysis of the interaction of light with biological materials, and (5) Material Synthesis and Characterization for the development of new materials and structures for biomedical and bio-inspired photonic applications. Each area includes faculty and students from many departments (the role of departments being de-emphasized). IGERT fellows entering this program will choose a primary area of emphasis and will choose an advisor who is associated with that area.

Figure 1: Organization of research efforts for Biophotonics at the University at Buffalo.

The Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics (ILPB), at UB, will serve as the lead organization in this program. Collaborations among faculty at the Institute, elsewhere at the University, RPCI, and HWMI will form the basis of this training program at the interfaces between advanced materials, analysis, and bioengineering. Furthermore, we will integrate technologies and programs in the areas of nanotechnology, and materials synthesis and characterization, with the design and construction of devices for imaging, visualization and modeling of biological molecules, cells and tissues. This program will also benefit from interactions with existing centers at the University at Buffalo in which members of this program are already active, including the Center for Advanced Photonic and Electronic Materials (CAPEM), the Center for Advanced Molecular Biology and Immunology (CAMBI), and the Center for Computational Research (CCR).

Research Program

There are ongoing research projects in each of these five areas that can serve as the foundation of, and be further integrated through, this IGERT program. Moreover, in each research subsection we present the research efforts that we envision resulting from these collaborative efforts. In addition, the researchers participating in this IGERT all have well funded research programs that can provide the facilities, materials, and supplies for our IGERT fellows to excel in their research efforts. This IGERT program will provide the additional funding of research fellows that can participate in new trans-disciplinary activities between groups without adversely affecting the researchers' performance on existing grants. We expect that new opportunities will result with the introduction of some well-targeted equipment acquisitions, but largely we expect that synergies will arise simply from the newly formed interactions, collaborations and interplay between ongoing research activities, as mediated by the IGERT fellows. Specifically, we expect a significant impact on our efforts in Modeling and Analysis, and Materials, Synthesis and Characterization (areas where we have active successful faculty with limited interactions with biological research). All IGERT Fellows will be exposed to the research in each division of research discussed here through research rotations and the multidisciplinary colloquium.