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Scientific Program Overview

The scientific program of ICOB2026 will explore the most pressing challenges and transformative opportunities in biophotonics for medicine and healthcare. A series of focused sessions—led by internationally renowned experts—will address unmet needs in diagnostics, the application of biophotonics in oncology, neurology, and infectious diseases, as well as advances in AI integration and in vivo diagnostics. In addition, a forward-looking session will reflect on future directions for medical diagnostics and the evolving role of biophotonics in personalized and preventive healthcare.

The sessions are curated by the members of the ICOB2026 Scientific Program Committee, who are also serving as session chairs. Together, they represent a broad spectrum of expertise across disciplines and continents.

Program

Wednesday, March 18th 2026

6:00 p.m. –  9:00 p.m.

We welcome all participants on the first evening. Meet old and new colleagues over snacks and drinks. You will receive your congress materials at the registration counter.

Thursday, March 19th 2026

9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

Welcome Notes by
Igor Lednev
Director of CeBAI, University at Albany, SUNY, United States

and
Jürgen Popp
Co-Director of CeBAI, Scientific Director at Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Jena/DE

Keynote Lecture
Chemical Bond Imaging: Decoding the Chemistry Using Molecular Fingerprints
Ji-Xin Cheng, Boston University, MA, USA

11:00 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Chair: Orlando Guntinas-Lichius, Jena, Germany

11:00 a.m. – 11:20 a.m. 
Point of Care Assessment using Multi-Modal Spectroscopy (POCAMUM) – Potential in Cardiovascular Disease
Jaishankar Raman, University of Melbourne, Australia

11:20 a.m. – 11:40 a.m.
Intraoperative surgical decision making based on real-time biophotonics
Orlando Guntinas-Lichius, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany

11:40 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. 
Illuminating the Gaps: Biophotonics for real-time, non-invasive solutions in reconstructive surgery
Prabhu Senthil-Kumar, Virginia Commonwealth University, VA, USA

1:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Chair: Juergen Popp, Jena Germany

1.15 p.m – 1.35 p.m.
Chemical histopathology with practical infrared spectroscopic imaging instrumentation and algorithms

Kevin Yeh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

1.35 p.m – 1.55 p.m.
Translating Optical Imaging for Guiding Endocrine Neck Surgery
Anita Mahadevan-Janssen, Vanderbilt University, TN, USA

1.55 p.m – 2.15 p.m.
AI-Enabled Fibre-Based Raman Spectroscopy and Multimodal Nonlinear Imaging for Intraoperative Tumor Margin Assessment and See-and-Treat Workflows
Juergen Popp, Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Jena, Germany

3:00 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.

Chair: Igor Lednev, Albany, United States

3.00 p.m – 3.20 p.m.
t.b.a.
Elizabeth Smith-Boivin, Alzheimer’s Association, Cohoes, NY, USA

3.20 p.m – 3.40 p.m.
Neuromuscular Diseases Caused by Repeat Expansions and Opportunity for Non-Invasive Biomarkers
Andrew Berglund, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, USA

3:40 p.m – 4.00 p.m.
Quantitative Lysosomal Profiling of Cellular Senescence Using LysoTracker Fluorescence Imaging and Automated Single-Cell Analysis
Javier Estrada Toro, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, USA

4:00 p.m – 4.15 p.m.
Raman Spectroscopy Coupled with Machine Learning as a Universal Tool for Disease Diagnostics
Igor Lednev, University at Albany, SUNY, Albany, USA

4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Chair: Anja Silge, Jena, Germany

4.15 p.m – 4.25 p.m.
Toward an Optical Digital Twin: AI-Enabled Raman Spectroscopy for Longitudinal Immune Profiling and Translational Diagnostics
Juergen Popp, Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Jena, Germany

4.25 p.m – 4.35 p.m.
Combating Anti-Microbial Resistance by AI-Powered FILM
Ji-Xin Cheng, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

4:35 p.m – 4.45 p.m.
Personalized Digital Twins for Interventional Healthcare
Laura Marcu, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

4:45 p.m – 4.55 p.m.
Bridging Spectroscopic Data‑Driven Modeling to Clinical Applications
Oleg Ryabchykov, Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Jena, Germany

5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.

Poster Session

Friday, March 20th 2026

9:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.

Chair: Prabha Balakrishnan Prabhakaran, Albany, United States

9:00 a.m. – 9:20 a.m.
t.b.a.
Christopher Yang, U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)

9:20 a.m. – 9:40 a.m.
AI Applications in Medical Diagnostics: A Neurologist’s Perspective
Marianna Spanaki Varelas, Albany Medical Center, NY, USA

9:40 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Unlocking the Power of Pixels with AI
Pingkun Yan, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, USA

10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
AI Applications in Medical Diagnostics
Neil Gildener-Leapman Albany Medical Center, NY, USA

10:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Chairs: Praveen Arany, Buffalo, United States and Young Mee Jung, Kangwon National University, South Korea

10:45 a.m. – 11:05 a.m.
Microfluidic Immunoassay Using Encoded Microparticles for Low-Volume Multiplex Detection of Cancer-Associated Proteins
Dong-Ku Kang, Incheon National University, Korea

11:05 a.m. – 11:25 a.m.
Multiplexed SERS Analysis of Extracellular Vesicles for Colorectal Cancer Diagnosis
Young Mee Jung, Kangwon National University, South Korea

11:25 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
From Vibrational Spectroscopy to Whole-Body Imaging: Multimodal Strategies for Cancer Imaging and Monitoring
Fay Nicolson, Harvard Medical School, MA, USA

11:45 a.m. – 12:05 p.m.
Endogenous Optogenetic Approach to Activate TGF-beta for Anti-Tumor Responses
Praveen Arany, University at Buffalo, SUNY, Buffalo, NY, USA

12:05 p.m. – 12:25 p.m.
Real-Time 3D Label-Free Interferometric Imaging Flow Cytometry
Natan Shaked, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel

1:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.

Chair: Juergen Popp, Jena, Germany

1:30 p.m. – 1:50 p.m. 
Label-Free Optical Metabolic Imaging of Neutrophils in Infection
Rupsa Datta, Morgridge Institute for Research, Madison, USA

1:50 p.m. – 2:10 p.m.
Trends and opportunities in Raman based infection diagnostics
Anja Silge, Leibniz IPHT, Jena, Germany

2:10 p.m. – 2:30 a.m. 
t.b.a
Michael Waxman, Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY, USA

3:15 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Chair: Nathaniel Cady, Albany, United States

3:15 p.m. – 3:35 p.m. 
A Disposable Photonics Approach to Multiplex Diagnostics
Benjamin Miller, University of Rochester, NY, USA

3:35 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.
Deploying Point of Care Technologies in Limited Resource Settings: Lessons from Cancer, Infection, and Nutrition
David Erickson, Cornell University, NY, USA

3:55 p.m. – 4:15 p.m.
Wafers to Chips; 300mm CMOS Foundry Compatible Silicon Photonics
Christopher Baiocco, AIM Photonics, Albany, NY, USA

6:00 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.

Join us for the Conference Dinner — an evening of great food, lively conversation, and relaxed networking with fellow participants. All registered attendees are warmly invited. Further details will be published on the conference website shortly. We look forward to celebrating together!

Saturday, March 21st 2026

9:00 a.m. – 9:45 a.m.

Keynote Lecture by
Kirill Larin
University of Houston, TX, USA

9:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Chair: Jaishankar Raman, Melbourne, Australia

9:45 a.m. – 10:05 a.m.
t.b.a.
Kevin Yeh, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

10:05 a.m. – 10:25 a.m.
Multi-Modal Spectroscopic Evaluation of Banked Frozen Cardiac Tissue
Jaishankar Raman, University of Melbourne, Australia

10:25 a.m. – 10:45 a.m.
Multimodal Vibrational Spectroscopy Evaluating Atrial Tissue
James Grant, St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Potential Applications of Vibrational Spectroscopy in Plastic Surgery and Burns Treatment
Prabhu Senthil-Kumar, Virginia Commonwealth University, VA, USA

11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Moderator: Gabriele Hamm, Jena, Germany

with:
Andre Kajdacsy-Balla, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA

Mandeep Sidhu, Albany Medical Center, Albany, NY, USA

Laura Marcu, University of California, Davis, CA, USA

Samir El-Mashtoly, Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Jena, Germany

Michael Matthews, Wasatch Photonics

Andrew Whitley, Horiba

Wilfred Ngwa, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)

Christopher Yang, U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)
1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Program Committee // Session Chairs

Igor Lednev

Director of CeBAI

University at Albany, SUNY, United States

Juergen Popp

Director of the Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technology, Germany

Co-Director of CeBAI

Young Mee Jung

Director of the Institute for Molecular Science and Fusion Technology at the Kangwon National University, South Korea

Bhavya Sharma

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, United States

Orlando Guntinas-Lichius

Jena University Hospital, Germany

Prabha Balakrishnan Prabhakaran

Director of AI Plus

University at Albany, SUNY, United States

Thenkurussi (Kesh) Kesavadas

Vice President for Research & Economic Development

University at Albany, SUNY, United States

Jaishankar Raman

University of Melbourne, Australia

Nathaniel Cady

University at Albany, SUNY, United States

Date

18 – 21 March 2026

Congress Management

Ewelina Mistek-Morabito

University at Albany, SUNY, United States