ROCKY MOUNTAIN SECTION OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA
                              &
           IEEE LASERS AND ELECTROOPTICS SOCIETY


                      March Meeting

Date:  Thursday, 19 Mar. 1998
Time:  7:00 PM refreshments, 7:30 PM talk
Place: National Institute of Standards and Technology
       325 Broadway, Boulder, CO
       Room 1107


Optical Biopsy: Optical Technologies for Minimally-Invasive Diagnosis of Cancer

       Irving J. Bigio, Ph.D. 
       Bioscience & Biotechnology Group 
       MS-E535 
       Los Alamos National Laboratory 
       Los Alamos, NM 87545 
       505-667-7748 
       fax: 505-665-4637 


Abstract:

A variety of optical spectroscopic techniques are being investigated for the 
development of noninvasive diagnosis of various cancers.  These have the 
potential to reduce the need for surgical biopsies while providing improved 
diagnostic reliability. 


Biography:

Irving J. Bigio received his Ph.D. in Physics from The University of Michigan in 
1974 and since then has conducted research in laser physics and optics at Los 
Alamos National Laboratory, including service as the Group Leader for the Laser 
Science and Applications Group (1988-1994).  In 1976-77 Dr. Bigio received a 
Fulbright Award and spent a year as a visiting professor at the Weizmann 
Institute of Science, in Israel.  He has also spent summer leave periods at the 
University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and during 1994-95 he spent a sabbatical 
leave as a Guest Fellow at the University of Oxford, England.  In recent years 
he has focused his research on biomedical applications of lasers and optics, 
including molecular dynamics of DNA and proteins, and minimally-invasive medical 
diagnostics and therapeutics.  He holds several patents for biomedical optics 
instrumentation, and he has received three R&D-100 Awards for the development of 
optical devices for biomolecular spectroscopy and medical applications.  Dr. 
Bigio is a Fellow of the OSA.