Lasers in Cells

From a single cell to a whole organism, the laser will play an increasingly important role in diagnosing and treating disease. So says Duke University bioengineer Tuan Vo-Dinh who is using the technology to peer into the genetic material of cells, to detect the earliest signs of disease in a single cell, and to non-invasively and optically biopsy tissue inside the body for the tell-tale traces of cancer. Read more.

Stars on Cells

Duke bioengineers have not only figured out a way to sneak molecular spies through the walls of individual cells, they can now slip them into the command center -- or nucleus -- of those cells, where they can report back important information or drop off payloads. Read more.

Coated Nanostars

Rods, cones, cubes and spheres -- move aside. Tiny gold stars, smaller than a billionth of a meter, may hold the promise for new approaches to medical diagnoses or testing for environmental contaminants. A new study by Duke University bioengineers indicates that stars may shine above all the rest for certain applications. Read more.

Detecting Esophageal Cancer with Light

A tiny light source and sensors at the end of an endoscope may provide a more accurate way to identify pre-cancerous cells in the lining of the esophagus. The device holds the promise of being a less invasive method for testing patients suspected of having Barrett’s esophagus, a change in the lining of the esophagus due to acid reflux. Read more.

Information Velocity Research

Can information go faster than the speed of light in vacuum? We address this question and the more general question of “how fast does information go?” by creating pulses of light that travel very fast or very slow and measuring information encoded on them. Read more.

Breast Cancer Research

ABC News featured new technology for breast cancer by Professor Nimmi Ramanujam of the Biomedical Engineering Department, Duke University. Her device is able to alert the surgeon during the surgery whether more suspect tissue needs to be removed which helps prevent patients from undergoing multiple breast cancer surgeries. Read more.

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Welcome to Duke Photonics at Fitzpatrick

The Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics is an extensively interdisciplinary Duke effort to advance photonics and optical sciences. The institute leverages Duke's faculty from the Pratt School of Engineering, Trinity Arts and Sciences, and the Duke Medical School to explore problems at the boundary nexus of nano-bio-info-opto convergence.

The mission of the Fitzpatrick Institute is profoundly educational. The institute was founded in 2000 in part to meet an unmet industry need for graduates with the knowledge and skills to transform industrial R&D in photonics and optical science. Our faculty teach undergraduates, master's and doctoral students and foster the technical, collaboration, interdisciplinary exploration, and team-orientation skills set that enables our proteges to thrive in their chosen professions.

As an extension of our education focus, we are highly tuned to the needs of the applied optics industry. We welcome opportunities to place students for internships, to conduct sponsored research, and to broadly collaborate. We invite interested companies to explore our industry partners program.

Our research encompasses eight broad initiative areas: biophotonics, nano/micro systems, quantum optics and information photonics, advanced photonics systems, nanophotonics, metamaterials and plasmonics, systems modeling and novel spectroscopies.

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