Guoqiang Yu, professor in the F. Joseph Halcomb III, M.D. Department of Biomedical Engineering, has received a 2021 College of Engineering Excellence in Research Award.
Guoqiang Yu leads the Biomedical Optics Laboratory, where his group has invented several highly powerful functional imaging technologies, including a speckle contrast diffuse correlation tomography system for noncontact imaging of brains, burns, wounds and reconstructive tissues; a wearable fiber-free optical sensor for continuous cerebral monitoring in freely behaving humans and animals; and a time-resolved laser speckle contrast imaging system. He has been awarded one SBIR/STTR grant for the commercialization of fluorescence eye loupes to guide brain tumor removal. Moreover, this innovative wearable fluorescence imaging device was selected by The Brain Race in 2019, a global competition to advance innovation in fighting brain tumors. These new technologies and devices hold great promise for imaging numerous organs in preclinical and clinical settings. Over the past five years, Yu has secured approximately $6.3 million as PI. This significant level of funding from competitive sources demonstrates the broad appeal of his research program. His group publishes an average of six papers per year and has established a track record of publications in high-impact journals such as Annals of Neurology, Arthritis & Rheumatism, Clinical Cancer Research, NeuroImage and IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, among others.