Biomedical Optics Workshop

Abstract:  Successful cellular transplantation outcome depends on proper localization of the donor cells in the recipient tissue, prolonged survival of the donor cells, and their ability to carry out appropriate cellular function in the host microenvironment.  Using hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and pancreatic islet transplantation as examples, I will discuss the use of in vivo cell tracking techniques to help uncover how donor cells home, engraft, and interact with the host tissue, as well as how the immune cells of both donor and recipient origins respond, leading to complication such as graft versus host disease (mediated by donor T cells) or graft rejection (mediated by recipient T cells).   I will focus on the following optical platforms for cell visualization and quantification: in vivo confocal/multiphoton microscopy, endoscopic microscopy, and in vivo flow cytometry.

Biography:  Charles P. Lin received his B.S. from Yale and Ph.D. degree in physical chemistry from the University of Chicago.  His thesis research was on magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the photo-excited triplet state of the photosynthetic reaction center.  He was a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. W. S. Warren, then at Princeton University, where he worked on coherent laser spectroscopy and laser pulse shaping. In 1989, he moved to Boston and started his career in biomedical optics, first in Dr. Carmen Puliafito’s group working on ophthalmic laser surgery, laser eye safety, and retinal imaging.  He participated in the early development of optical coherence tomography for ophthalmic imaging (with Professor James G. Fujimoto at MIT).  Since 1994 he has been at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, currently leading the Advanced Microscopy Program, developing optical techniques for in vivo cell tracking and molecular imaging.  He is fellow of the Optical Society of America, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, an affiliated faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Science and Technology, and also a member of the Center for Systems Biology at Massachusetts General Hospital.