Biomedical Optics & the Value of Quantum Level Imaging in Medicine

by Dr Brian Pogue (Robert A. Pritzker Professor of Biomedical Engineering Dartmouth College)

Thursday 22 Oct 2026, 16:00 → 17:30 Europe/Lisbon

Salão Nobre, Pavilhão Central, Campus Alameda, Instituto Superior Técnico

Optics is the single largest technology sector in medicine today, with successes broadly across nearly all medical specialties, especially in point-of-care, homecare and as diagnostic detector components. Advances in camera technology have had an enormous influence, especially in areas such as robotic surgery, advanced displays, and molecular sensing. There is a significant potential opportunity in monitoring technologies and advances in sensors. In particular, quantum-level sensors that read out single-photon events per pixel have transformed x-ray imaging and radiation Cherenkov imaging, and have important value for features such as depth sensing or lifetime-based imaging.  The example of developing Cherenkov imaging to visualize radiation dose in humans undergoing radiotherapy will be reviewed, with technical innovations, entrepreneurial development into a successful medical device, and future prospects for advancement.